Mold Modifcation

H

Hunter Customs

New member
Several months back I purchased a Lee C452-300-RF mold because I liked the large meplate of the bullet.

However I did not really want a 300 grain bullet especially one designed for a gas check.

So I removed the mold handles from the mold, took the mold to my mill and set the mold up in the mill vise for some metal removal.

After pulling my zero across the top of the mold I removed .075 from the top of the mold making the bullet .075 shorter.
This removed most of the gas check area from the bullet.

I'm not sure what the weight of the bullet will be now, however I should know tomorrow as I plan on doing some casting with the mold tomorrow if all goes well.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
Ther problem with that is you have no idea of how the bullet will fly because you undobtably have unbalanced it. If you wanted to make it a bit lightter it might have been better to convert it to a hollow point.
 
i saw a few people doing that to the huge lee 230gr blackout molds to reduce them down to 180

i was trying to find the particular thread i was talking about without success, it was cool because he used a lube ring or something for a gas check shank. but there are a bunch of people doing the same on cast.boolts. as long as you leave yourself with enough boreriding surface, i couldn't see how your going to effect performance.

heres one
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...E-6-5mm-Cruise-Missile-Mold-Best-Sized-Bullet
 
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I would wager your going to be down around the 275'ish grain area. How it flies will be more of a function of your revolver than the bullet in reality. Look at all of the long wide nose designs by Veral Smith, most seem to shoot well.
 
The only way I could see it throwing the bullet off balance would be if the mold were cut out of square, making the base of the bullet angled. Then, spinning from the rifling would throw it out.
As long as there is still good bore contact to keep it straight, it'll be fine.
 
I have functionally had the same done to a Lee 155 grain C312-155-2R mold. Removed all of the gas check and just a very little of the first drive band. New weight is 130 grain or a very little less.
I powder coat these neat little 30s and have pushed then to over 2700 FPS, respectful for a cast bullet. These are my prime bullet for my .300 Blackout at 2124 FPS.
The master metal man that did the job for me told me he worked hard to the base square. I think he did an excellent job.

Enjoy,

OSOK
 
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How it flies will be more of a function of your revolver than the bullet in reality. Look at all of the long wide nose designs by Veral Smith, most seem to shoot well.
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The long wide nose designed molds is what gave me the ideal to try the mold modification.

If it does not work out all I'm out is some time and the price of the two cavity Lee mold, less then $20

If it does work out then I saved some bucks by not ordering a higher priced mold which would be in the neighborhood of $125 plus shipping.

The base of the bullets should be just as flat and true as the original mold would cast them, I pulled my zero from the top of the mold when I set it up in the mill vise.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
Theoretically, removing a cylindrical portion of the bullet measuring 0.075" x 0.429" (common .45 cal gas check shank diameter), will result in a loss of 30.6 gr, when using WW alloy. Some shanks do come in undersized at 0.420-0.426", though.


So, if your alloy is fairly close to WW, I'd guess you'll be looking at 267 gr, sized but not lubed.
 
FrankenMauser thanks for taking the time to do the math in figuring the weight of the bullets, Mike your guess of 275 was just about right on the money.

I cast 116 of them today and so far I'm a very happy camper.
I was hoping for bullets close to 280 grains, I grabbed some at random from the pile ended up being seven, weighed them and they averaged 277.4 grains not sized or lubed.

I decided to go ahead and size and lube the ones I cast so I can test fire them this Friday.

I knew I was going to need another top punch because of the large meplate on these bullets so while the lubri-sizer was warming up I went to my lathe.
Picked out a piece of .500 inch diameter bronze round stock and whipped me out a top punch for the new bullets, worked like a charm.

The SWC bullets I've been using seat .350 of the bullet in the case.
I have two choices on crimp grooves on the new bullet, the groove closest to the bottom will seat the bullet with .335 of the bullet in the case, the top groove will seat .405 of the bullet in the case.

I'll do an update on this as soon as I get a chance to shoot the new bullets.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
Mike your guess of 275 was just about right on the money.
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Well I DID throw in that, 'ish on the end...;)

I doubt you will be disappointed in your end result. To be honest I picked up that same mold in a 6 cavity version after I found it shot so well in the 452300 that I use for my 454. I managed to get some downrange and to group but I never could get my sights to adjust right for them on my RH. Now the 14" Contender barrel with the scope mounted they do 1" groups from, but toting that thing around is about like having a shovel under your arm pit. Fun at the range but not much for packing through the woods.
 
Well I DID throw in that, 'ish on the end...
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Yes you did, good job.:)

Now if I can make them shoot groups, get them up to about 900/950 fps from a 5.5 inch barrel I'll have one heck of a good whitetail load.

I have a Colt clone that shoots a little low with my current 255 gr load, maybe this bullet will correct that.
Seeing that it has fixed sights I would rather do it with the bullet then shorten the front sight.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
Wel see there, I have my good ones and my whoops as well.

In my last post I was intending to say that I use that particular bullet in my 454 almost exclusively and I am using the 6 C version of it.

But I also meant to say that the 430310 version is the one I picked up since the other one did so well. But the 310 shoots higher than my sights allow me to adjust to on my 44.

See that is what happens when you get interrupted by the dinner bell. You know like a dog that is happily trotting along beside you and then "SQUIRREL"...:D
 
But I also meant to say that the 430310 version is the one I picked up since the other one did so well. But the 310 shoots higher than my sights allow me to adjust to on my 44.
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That's another mold I thought about buying to modify.
If the 45 bullets work out I'll try to do the same with the 44 mold and see what I end up with.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
Done a little pretesting with the new bullets from the modified mold and everything seems to be fine.
From previous experience with 255 gr SWC bullets and IMR 4227 powder I decided to start my new bullets at 17.5 grs of powder.

I worked my way up to 19 grs of IMR 4227 with no pressure signs, as a matter of fact I opened the loading gate, tip the barrel skyward and the brass falls out of the cylinder.

There's no leading issues in the cylinder or the barrel, however as always there's a little bit of what appears to be unburned powder in the barrel.

I'll see how accurate the new bullet is with 19 grs, if need be I believe I can go up on the powder charge.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
Here's an update on the bullets from the modified Lee mold.

I checked a dozen more bullets for weight, they are averaging 279.5 grains.

I've only tested three types of powder, Alliant2400, IMR 4227, and Unique.

So far I've settled on two loads that shoot really well, they are 19.5 grains of IMR 4227 and 9.5 grains of Unique.

I'm a very happy camper as I've got the bullets and loads that I want.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
Glad everything worked out for you. Sounds like it will be a pretty mean projo headed downrange there.

Ya know thinking about the above, I had shot one of three hogs that trotting out of the woods and out across an open pasture. ( Course I also shot a 2" grapevine in half with the first shot at them as well.) Anyway, when I shot the first hog with that Lee 300RF out of the Raging Bull, it rolled it literally rear over ears as if the rope got tight on it's front legs. The other two caught a gear and lit the after burners. Course they were running almost straight away.

After I got rid of the giggles from watching the first one tumble end over end, they had made about 250yds. I settled the front sight on the nose of the furthermost one, and touched off. I guarantee that hog could hear that big 300gr Lee bullet sailing out across that pasture as it appeared to me that he ducked his head and almost stopped as it hit right in front of him, and away he went again. Same with the next round. By then I had the giggles again and couldn't hold steady on them to save my rear.

I would wager a cold one that yours is going to be VERY similar when it rolls out across clear air. :D
 
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