Lyman 330g .457 hollow point

[geezerbiker]

I'm looking for opinions on this mould from those that use it.  Is it hard to use and how well do the bullets perform? 

I've cast .358 Hollow points that weren't to bad to make but I don't know how much trouble this much bigger mould would be to use. 

Tony

[cjensen]

I have one. I casted some bullets with it. No trouble at all casting, just slower due to the hp plug and 1 cavity. Never shot the bullets, figured it should be a gas check bullet at that weight. Wish it were a gas check, I would like to try that in my 458 SOCOM.

[geezerbiker]

I'm specifically avoiding gas check bullets these days.  I've gotten to where fiddling with as checks is too much bother and I'd just as soon shoot them slower...  Also checks can be expensive and sometimes hard to find and this is taking some of the cheap and fun out of bullet casting.

Anyway I'm hoping to hear about how well they shoot before Mid South has them back in stock...

Tony

[twoshooter]

I use these, have had good luck with them. No problems casting, they are slow. I have 1 hole groups with mine @ 50 yards, I use 34 gr of IMR 4198. Have taken several deer with them in a Ruger #1.

[geezerbiker]

I've heard cast hollow points can fracture on impact.  Were you able to recover any of these from the deer you shot?

Tony

[Swampman]

The nose pin has to be hot or you'll get wrinkles around the nose.

[geezerbiker]

Both Midway and Mid South show it as being out of stock until toward the end of May so I bought a 292g .457 mold to play with while I wait for the 330 HP to come back into stock...

Tony

[srussell]

i cast some with 20/1 lead  tin shot them at 1100fps  are so. they are deadly on deer. just get everything good and hot. and you,ll be good

[twoshooter]

I usually cast either WW or just a little harder and drop them in water. Never had any wrinkle problems. None were ever recovered FROM the deer, but many were from the ground beyond or below. Most were nearly perfect, rifling marks clean and everything. Some that hit a large bone had a slight mushroom to it, none ever broke or fractured. For Elk I might pour in some more powder, but for deer they zip right through. It is like you took a piece of copper pipe like a cookie cutter and just put a hole through them. None went far, most just went down, I prefer a spine shot usually as I am getting too old to drag them very far.

[geezerbiker]

I'm wondering if it's worth the extra effort to cast a hollow point if it doesn't expand.  There's other .457 FN bullets in that weight range that would be easier to cast.

Tony

[twoshooter]

That I cannot say. I bought the mold nearly 40 years ago to shoot from a Ruger in case bullets got hard to find. Imagine that ! At that time you had to sign and show ID to get 22 LR ammo, what a Charlie Foxtrot. Took 30 years to get John Q Public to pull their heads out. Now they are putting them back. Anyway, I found the load I mentioned made 1 hole groups with that rifle, not much recoil or noise. I shot a little buck at 180 yards, he just jumped like a fly bit him and looked around, went back to eating. I thought I had missed him, put in another shell and looked through the scope- he just trembled all over and dropped . When I field dressed him (I always eat the heart that day) I held up his heart and you could see through the hole. Several more deer and smaller game followed, I just never felt compelled to go farther. I would say that hard cast and with good lube you could get close to 2000 fps if you want to, I imagine it would expand more then. If you decide not to go with the HP I recommend you look at the Lyman 385 gr FB, It used to be the gold standard to hunt with and is also extremely accurate. You get double cavity mold there.

[Tractorsaw1]

Geezer, while I realize I am waay late on this one, curious if you had gotten anywhere?  Twoshooter had sent me some to "test drive".  I got some loaded up, shot 3 to get the scope zeroed, but haven't got to the heavy duty testing yet.  Tim had posted a link to western bullet company & I think later down the road I may buy these from them, as right now I don't have time to cast them & there price was pretty good.

[geezerbiker]

I haven't gotten back to them.  I'm still waiting for the mold to come back in stock.  It still will likely be fall before I get to casting again.  Work is picking up and I don't have time and energy for bullet casting right now.

Tony

[siamese4570]

geezerbiker: I cast and shoot these out of my handi-rifle.  Using a 4x scope, i can just about get all the holes to touch.  I read a article on cast in the 45-70 and the author stated that most rifles that he had tried shot this bullet well.  I shoot mine slow, about 1400fps.  I cast out of pure stick-on wheel weights which is pretty soft.  Works fine.  Tested for expansion in water filled milk jugs and found the back half of the bullet in the 3rd or 4th jug.  the bullet had expanded back to the bottom of the hollow point.  I wish I could tell you how it performs on deer but haven't got any to cooperate so far.  seems to be a good bullet.
siamese4570

[cwlongshot]

Old thread I know...

One of my favorites as a hunting bullet. The Gould Express I even size down and shoot in my Bolt 450 Bushmaster.