Conicals for my ROA

[ronbow]

About a year ago I bought some R.E.A.L. 220g conicals from a company called Black Jack Hills. They appear to have gone out of business. Anybody know where I can find these same bullets ? They are easy to load in my Ruger Old Army and accurate and pack more of a wallop than a ball.

[longcaribiner]

Were these the 45 caliber REALs for muzzleloaders.  I never thought of shooting them.  I got the Lee mold which is cheap, maybe $20.00.

I do shoot some wad cutter type, 456 diameter 210 grain bullets from an Ideal mold I have.  They are little squat cylinders with a slight upward cone in the center.  I have never found the mold listed in an Ideal catelogue and they are slightly heavier than the 45-70 collar button bullets.   Once for kicks I put a 300 grain 45-70 bullet in the ROA and it sure did,........ kick.

[howdy doody]

You might find this interesting or maybe not. I cast a bullet that I shoot in ROAs and also load into 45lc cases and shoot as a cartridge bullet. I shoot nothing but BP and these little pills have a huge lube groove. I luber/size these at .454. I shoot them in big quantities and they are cast from wheelweights and weigh 148gr without lube. Pictured is from left a 45spl, lubed EPP bullet, a .457 ball, a unlubed bullet and a loaded 45lc cartridge.



Yes, I shoot cowboy action. I don't need the weight, since I don't shoot at any great distance. Casting of wheelweights gives me a distinct ding over the splat of pure lead balls. Recoil is nothing to speak, and compares to a .457 ball that I was using. These were designed for ROAs, but I like them for cartridge too. The shorter cartridge is not a russian, is is called a 45colt special. You can load a full load of powder, the small bullet and the round compares with about a .38 spl for recoil. I have been casting them now about 3 or 4 years and they work for my application. The huge lube groove carries more than enough lube to keep fouling soft.
However, to load them in my ROAs, I have to remove the cylinder and use a press made for the purpose and load powder, then bullet, no wad or filler and then install in revolver and cap. 

[longcaribiner]

Doody, they look alot like the old Ideal collar button bullets.  Who made the mold? 

[StrawHat]

Doody, they look alot like the old Ideal collar button bullets.  Who made the mold? 

I believe that the molds are sold by Dick Dastardly.

http://www.biglube.com/

I have used them, I prefer the collar button bullet.  Enough so that I have a Lee six cavity version of it.  It casts out at 155 grains and .462.  I have used it in 45-70s, 45 LC, 45 Schofield and 44 Colt.

[howdy doody]

Doody, they look alot like the old Ideal collar button bullets.  Who made the mold? 

Yes and yes. The molds are made by Lee and sold by Dick Dastardly. He has them special ordered at a 100 a time. Lee does not sell them or the other big lube bullets they make molds for. There are a number of them and they are all six gang molds. DD also sells the press I have on my guncart to load those bullets into the cylinder of my ROAs between stages and it works very well. I have never tried to shoot the bullets further than about 25 yards. I shoot cowboy action and that is the game. It is not long range. For long range however there are a couple molds DD has for 45-70 and 38-55. I haven't tried them.

[longcaribiner]

the collar button has a rounded edge for the nose.  Doody's bullets with that square edge would cut nice clean holes in paper targets.  I have a 190 grain .456 Ideal mold with the square edge but with a slight cone rising in the middle and two small grease grooves.  They were designed around 1900 by the President of the American Revolver Association for cutting clean holes in paper targets.    I load those in the ROA.

[howdy doody]

Maybe you are interested in why I bother with those bullets and I can explain. I actually had no problems with casting pure lead .457 balls and still have plenty of pure ingots. Then when these bullets were designed and an order gotten together I jumped in on it some 4 years ago. I wanted to cast something out of wheel weights and had tried that with Lee's ROA mold, but I couldn't load them without wrecking the rammer.
The press is made by ? Don't know, but they are available at Powder Inc a place I buy a lot of BP. Then Dick Dastardly got them too. I don't even have my ram attached to the lever any more. I remove cylinder and set in stand, pour powder and then just bullet on top of powder. I don't fear chainfires, because the bullet is low in a deep ROA chamber and the huge amount of lube is about like a cookie on the sides, plus the bullets sized at .454 are a tight fit.
My reason? The ding on steel I get with wheelweight lead bullets. I have had so many bad calls by spotters that listen for hits and a lot of times with the pure lead ball you don't get much more than a splat, add the boom and the smoke and I had spotters holding up fingers when I knew damn well I had hit my targets. 5 second penalties for each miss will make you think of different paths to take. Trust me on that one. It works for me and I get fair calls now and any misses are my fault not the spotters. 

[kevthebassman]

Doody, they look alot like the old Ideal collar button bullets.  Who made the mold? 

I believe that the molds are sold by Dick Dastardly.

http://www.biglube.com/

I have used them, I prefer the collar button bullet.  Enough so that I have a Lee six cavity version of it.  It casts out at 155 grains and .462.  I have used it in 45-70s, 45 LC, 45 Schofield and 44 Colt.

Am I the only one that was scared to click a link called "biglube.com" run by a guy named Dick Dastardly? 

[howdy doody]

Heh, heh. In cowboy action shooting all members of sass have a registered alias that we shoot with. I don't know the real names of folks I have shot with for years. As you have already guessed my alias is Howdy Doody. Picked it, because as a little tyke, he was the first cowboy I ever saw. Way back when TVs were round and mostly just test patterns back in N.H. where I was originally from. Dick Dastardly is known as a straight shooter on his selling of supplies. I can recommend him from the three or four times I have bought from him.
I didn't just date myself, did I ?