HEAVY HITTERS FOR 45 COLT

[30calpal]

Veral, may the Lord bless you! I found a SS Bisley Blackhawk 45 in a pawn shop and it followed me home. I began to read all I could to help it 'be all it can be'.
I have twice almost ordered a 280gr WFN GC (sledgehammer) from Beartooth but have balked at the last minute and decided to ask you...I think I've heard that their mold are LBT 'knockoffs', not a genuine Veral product...so, I know you will be brutallly honest, is the BT boolit a good accurate gamegitter or do I hold out and get an LBT mold?  If you suggest the mold, can I get this same boolit in 300gr WFN GC with the .370 meplat, .453? The weight is not that critical, just a starting point. I just had the throats opened and a Horn .452 XTP will easily jiggle through.  I plan to fire lap the FC. I have never shot this revolver so I don't know what it'll do right now.  It was dirty as pig when I got it.
I got an antique Ideal (Lyman) 45 sizer the other day, $50. Will this be OK to size 45's if needed and seat GC's? Any tips/ suggestions about this little machine would be appreciated.

[IDMoose]

I did not know Beartooth bullets sold molds? I do not own a LBT mold yet, I have cast bullets with them and they WORK GREAT Just my 2 cents.

[30calpal]

I'm sorry if I confused anyone.  I didn't say that Beartooth sold molds and I didn't mean to infer that Beartooth sold molds, only that Beartooth sells cast bullets but those bullets, I bet, come from a mold and I bet ,Beartooth has molds from which they cast their bullets and I have heard those molds are quite similar to LBT (Veral's) molds.     The OP was to Veral and it read "...or do I hold out and get an LBT mold?"  

[IDMoose]

 I would buy the LBT mold and then you don't have to order bullets from anyone. You know what you have.

[calvon]

+1 on what IDMoose said. I'm a long time user of Veral's molds and wouldn't have anything else in the house. Follow his instructions on getting a throat slug and the mold will throw bullets tailor made for your gun.

[30calpal]

Thanks guys. 

[saddlebum]

Something to look at and read till Veral gets back to you.

http://www.lbtmoulds.com/orderform.shtml

http://montanabulletworks.com/45_Colt.html


You can also search Veral's forum here for interesting reading on the subject of 45s.

[srussell]

heavy hitters i have a lbt mould well servial the 45 is a 300grain gc i shoot it in 45colt and 454 its a shooter too. veal can tell you a whole lot more talk to him a few times nice guy to deal with . and makes the best moulds ive ever used and what he says he backs up

[Veral]

  Beartooth is using LBT molds, at least for many of the bullets he sells, as I sold him a lot of them before we had a falling out.  I don't know what he says he uses for lube, but it isn't LBT lube, unless he is buying it on a merrygo round, so to speak, which he did with many of the molds he has and lube for several years at least.

  By all means, buy your own mold, from me of coarse, and have me fit YOUR gun, so you KNOW you'll get performance.  The cost will be forgotten  once you start knocking out precision bullets for pennies each.
 
  A 300 gr WFN will work like lightning on any north american game if you kick it out the barrel at 1200 fps.  Nothing wrong with a 280 gr and I'd go chasing moose with it, personally, but most shooters feel more comfortable with 300 gr and heavier.

  If the antique  Lyman is all there and not broken, you will have a good one, better than their new ones, if it's over 40 years old.  It takes the same dies that are being sold today, and uses hollow lube sticks.  Get our Blue soft, and it will flow through smoothly.  Best dies to buy are RCBS, which fit fine, and have better lube ports than Lyman dies.  Best way to give you more information is for you to have a go at it then ask questions so I know what you don't know.

[30calpal]

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT...and the info about the old sizer is exactly what I needed to hear.  I've never sized before and really don't have a clue.  The previous owner of the sizer had appearantly used lube that was too hard w/o  a heater and put too much force on the piston and rod...they 'jumped' threads...threaded rod and piston was ruined.  I had a machinist make me a new piston and rod, used the orig brass ring to seal the gap on the new piston plus made another piston fitted with two Viton O-rings (a bag of x-tra 0-rings) in case the old brass ring ever gave up the ghost. So unless I brake the lever or bust the main housing, it ought to out-last me.  I will be getting back to you from time to time and pretty soon I'm gonna have to swap some of my $$ for some of your goods.     <><

[Veral]

  Forgot to mention a very weak point about the Lyman sizers, of all ages.  The nut which clamps the sizer dies in has very fine threads which are hard to get started straight if they have ever been started crooked, or if the lube is too firm or tacky.  Warm the sizer body and nut till the lube gets almost runny, and start the nut with your fingers untill it is screwing in smoothly for a few turns, before using a wrench on it.  If the threads get stripped the iron body almost always gets the worst of it, so replacing the nut won't help.  The whole thing is turned to junk.

[pourboy]

To help start the nut, I found it helps to start by turning the nut backwards a few turns. You'll be able to feel where the start of the screw threads are so you can really focus on getting the threads started since you know where they are. Veral is absolutely right about having the sizer at using temperature when changing the sizers. This way you aren't fighting the lube to get your die aligned, so you can screw the darned nut on straight.

After 10 years of Lyman sizers, I sold both of mine & bought a Star. Lyman sizers seem to need a fair amount of finagling to achieve the best results, but it can be done.

[gypsyman]

Just to give you a tip. For many years on my Saeco sizer, which is mounted on my bench in the basement, I used a desk lamp with a flexible neck, and had a 75 watt bulb in it. It put out a bit of heat, and I would bend it to the base of the sizer, and let it warm up the sizer for 15-20 minute's before I started to size. After a short time, it would get to hot, and the lube would get to runny, so I backed off the lamp. It didn't take to long and I had a system worked out.
About 15 years ago, I had a good friend of mine give me his heater that bolted under the sizer, so been using that ever since. But the lamp works well. gypsyman