question regarding price of .45 Colt cowboy ammo

The harder the lead the harder it will be to load in a revolver. It will also come out of the mold a tad larger than pure lead because it wont shrink as much when it cools. .457 balls are generally used in Rugers. Pietta's and Uberti's do well with .454 balls. IMO trying to cram a hard lead .457 into a Pietta without using an off the gun loader is eventually going to end up breaking something in the loading lever assembly.
 
Hawg, I purchased the lead for casting .452 bullets for 45 Colt Conversion. The .457 mold was bought to make balls for the ROA, and from what you said, I guess pure lead should be used for those. I have used .451, .454 and .457 Hornady balls in my 1851 and 1858 models. In your opinion, is the .457 in pure lead a bad idea in cap and ball Pietta and Uberti revolvers? To me it seems that the shaving is just larger and they load easily. Guess I will also order a .454 mold when I purchase the pure lead.
 
Its not a bad idea as long as they're not unduly hard to load. They will all swage down to the same size but you will get a larger flat area for the rifling to grip with the .457's which is a plus.
 
I'm working my way through a few hundred HARD RBs I cast using wheel weight lead. I have to load with my stand alone press. Soft is better.

If you aren't getting a shaving or a good swaged seat, you may have leading issues or the much talked about chain fire. Undersized balls are at least prone to inaccuracy and moving forward during recoil.
 
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