to size or not?

[Will52100]

I'm getting ready to cast and will be casting for black powder cartiges, mainly 45 colt and 38 long colt with a few 45-70.  Do I realy need to size?  I plan on pan lubing.

Thanks,

Will

[JBMauser]

I would pose your question after you buy your moulds and see how the bullets drop.  Some moulds will drop bullets close to spec.  The Spec is generally set by casting with Lyman #2 or linotype (hard stuff).  I cast with wheel weights and they always seem to cast larger than the mould spec.  The answer is found with how much over groove dia. your cast bullets drop.  A few thousanths over will be fine but if they are much over sized you may want to size.  BP bullets are forgiving on being undersized as they can bump up with softer blend.  If you plan on pan lubing consider Lee push through sizers, cheap and effective and they mount on your press.  JB

[fffffg]

the less you size and dont go under bore size the better.. the cylinder will size after you size, then the bore will size.. the more the bullet is sized the more it can be out of whack..  pros like thier bullet to drop .0005 over bore from the mold and size at that size or right on bore size.. youd do not whan your  crimp or neck sizeing to under size your bullet after youve just made it perfect..  load your bullet in a unloaded round then pull it out in press with pliers as you drop the lever down without a die and measure the bullet diameter and see if it is under sized..  for black powder loads pure lead can work very well in .45 colt..  250 grain hollow base p;ure lead bullts with  abut 37 grains 2fg, with measure,  was the standard colt .45 factory load.  for accuracy make yourself a cleaning kit for your belt and clean between shots for max accuradcy, and then after 6 rounds for general acccuraacy.  trim your cases constantly, and soak your cases with a bit of murhy soap oil and water as soon as you can to keep from ruinging them..  different crimp testing is exceptionally important for accuracy..  a littleharder lead like 20-1 or 30-1 and more or less powder may help..   grease cookies, wax checks,  bullet lenght, crimp, primer type, and gun quality allhelp..  the heavy recoil with added weight of black powder and heavy bullets ,long barrel time with slow burning powder,  and curved grip on the gun make your choice one of the hardest guns to shoot accuratly.. good luck dave.

[fffffg]

when i said pros use  ,0005oversized bullets i should mention i meant 45-90 and 45-110   1000 yard shooters, with pistol it will not matter that much..you just dontwant to get undersized if possibel, and get a larger expander for cases if you are having problems.. o rderded 2 from rcbs and tried them all for best results.. trimmed cases are very important to keeping crimp constant..   hollow base pure lead bullets take care of severe gun problems as under sized cylender force cones and barrel crimp at frame and missalinged cylinders..  i shoot the pure lead bullets with 7 1/2 grains of unique with cimmeron that has missaligned cylinder and they shoot well enough for coywboy action practice... dave...

[Will52100]

Thanks, I may continue to buy 45-70 bullets, I don't shoot it that much, but the main casting will be for a set of converted 51' navies and hopefully a Henry rifle in 45 colt, if I can ever break down and turn loose of the cash to get one!  And a few round balls to feed the 36 and 44 cap and ball revolvers.  Most all the shooting will be at close range, and the Henry at less than a 100 yards.

[Leftoverdj]

Will, if you are going to get set up to cast anyway, the Lee 459-405-HB mould will cost you less than 100 commercial cast bullets and give you better bullets.