One bullet for both 45LC and 45ACP?

[steve-in-kville]

Folks- I own a Blackhawk in 45LC with a 45ACP conversion cylinder. It shoots both rounds very well. Both loads used .452 bullets. I would like to purchase a mould in which the bullets can be used for both the LC and the ACP. I did some research in my Lyman manual and figured that something along the lines of the 230 gr. RN would do the trick. I am trying to simplify my casting and loading. Has anyone tried this approach to casting the 45's before?

steve

[John Traveler]

Yes, a .452" diameter 230 grain RN bullet bullet works very well in both the .45 ACP and the .45 Colt.  I've used that combination for several years and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition.  It will shoot a bit lower than the standard 250-255 grain bullets in the .45 Colt revolver when sighted for 50 yards.  I used the Ohaus mold, but you can use the similar molds by Lyman, Lee, RCBS, etc.  The Lyman 225grain RN is essentially the same bullet.

It may interest you to know that in the late 1870's when the US Army standardized the issued .45 ammunition to fit both M1873 SAA and the Schofield revolvers, they settled on a 230 grain RN lead bullet using 28 grains of black powder.  The combination served for many years, and that is where the 230 grain RN bullet for the M1911 came from after the 1910 trails in selecting a new service pistol.

[John Traveler]

I forgot to mention that for lack of a crimping groove on the 230 grain RN, you have to crimp at the beginning of the ogive, by seating the bullet deep enough to just cover the bearing surface of the bullet.  This presents no problem because COL will then be within specs as compared to using the SWC .45 Colt bullets.

[Larry Gibson]

I picked up a 6 cavity Lee 452-190-SWC and use it in both .45 ACP and .45 Colt.  Cast of WWs the bullets weigh 195 gr and drop from the mould at .454. The .454 is a great fit to the throats of my Uberti SSA and over 7.5 gr Bullseye it runs 930 fps out of the 5 1/2" barrel. Same load shoot marvelously out of my 24" Rossi M92 at 1240 fps. In the .45 ACP out of my M1911s the same bullet sized .452 over 5 gr of Bullseye runs 910 fps out of my M1911 Series 70.  Same load runs 850 fps out of my S&W 6 1/2" .45 AR.  The bullet is very accurate in all 4 firearms.

Larry Gibson

[Castaway]

I've done it in reverse.  A 255 RNFP shoots extremely well from my 1911's and Black Hawk.

[Lloyd Smale]

Why compromise when you can get a lee mold for about 20 bucks. Ive never really got guilt edge accuracy with acp bullets in colt cases and most of them arent good hunting bullets anyway and my 1911s arent beaters and i shoot them ALOT and would want to subject them to the pounding heavys put on them and also dont want to deal with the extra recoil using them. Buy a 250 lee round flat for your colts and either there h&g swc copy or there 190swc (lyman copy)

[toysoldier]

A few years back I got a good deal on a box of reloading and bullet-casting stuff, including a Lee .456 RN 220 mold intended for the Ruger Old Army. I wanted to reload for a Ruger P-90, so bought a Lee .452 sizing die. I cast a batch of lead/wheelweight slugs, coated them with Lee Lube, and ran them through the sizer. Loaded over 5gr of Bullseye, they work just fine.