Hi Guys,

This is my first time in any sort of forum, so please bear with me... I'm new to casting and wish to start casting bullets for my Casull due to the fact that over here in South Africa, its almost impossible to find a supplier of quality .4515 bullets in the wieghts that the Casull likes. Theres plenty of 45ACP bullets but they only go up to about 230g and these are not suitable for hunting our many species of game here.

My question is this... is there anyone who has had experience in hunting (using cast bullets) with the casull, what wieght have you found to be most effictive, what sort of penetration did you achieve, what velocity, what bullet design, which molds ect.

Any help or coments would be appreciated...

Many thanks,
hillbilly_za

hillbilly,
Scads of folks have very good luck using cast loads in the .454 for hunting. The best and most popular seem to be the LBT-style bullets with their short ogives and wide meplats (nose diameter). These are generally designated Long Flat Nose (LFN) and Wide Flat Note (WFN), although some mold makers, (notably Lee) make molds for this style bullet, calling them Round Flat Nose (RFN). Click on the Beartooth Bullets tab at the top of this page and shop around. They offer some of the best store-bought cast bullets around and prices are reasonable. For hunting, a gascheck-based bullet is probably your best bet to take advantage of the high pressure and velocity of the Casull. Bullet weight and penetration go hand-in-hand (along with recoil). Heavier bullets penetrate deeper and kick harder. For non-dangerous game up to about 250kg, I don't see the need to go heavier than around 300 grains. Lee makes a decent gas-check design in this weight (and a similar plain-base in 255 grain). For bigger varmints that bite back (which you should have in abundance), I would shoot the heaviest bullet you can handle and get to shoot safely and accurately at around 1400fps, with a very wide meplat for the most shock and biggest wound channel. Do a Google search for 'Linebaugh Penetration Tests' and you'll see that velocity has a lot less to do with penetration than does bullet mass, with the sweet spot being around 1400 fps. If your primary use will be hunting with little target or plinking, you might consider buying some cast bullets from Beartooth (or another vendor) since you can try a few different weights and styles to find the one you and your gun shoot best before investing in the mold(s) and equipment needed for casting a relatively small amount of bullets.

If your primary use will be hunting with little target or plinking, you might consider buying some cast bullets from Beartooth (or another vendor) since you can try a few different weights and styles to find the one you and your gun shoot best before investing in the mold(s) and equipment needed for casting a relatively small amount of bullets.

Sucks to be in Hillbilly's position.

Shipping charges alone for bullets to South Africa will cost more than most bullet molds.

Dave

Hi Shoot,

Nice to meet you, thanks for the advice and the comments. I agree with many of the things that you have said, shoot the heaviest bullet you can, wieght = penetration ect ect. I have tested some 380g localy made bullets, but performance and accuracy was less then sepctacular! and that was all that is avalible here.
Do you know of any mold manutacturer that does a .452 bullet in 350g or heavier? I will definatly checkout the linebach test results and Lee's bullet mold. Is LTB also a manufacturer of molds? will research them also.

Thanks again.
Hillbilly.

Hillbilly,
Few mold makers put out a 350+gr. .45 mold. LBT lists a couple of 340gr. molds at http://www.leverguns.com/lbt/index.htm
Another cheaper option is to go to http://www.mountainmolds.com/ and order your own custom-designed mold. The owner can help you thru the details and prices are VERY reasonable.
Hi Shoot,

Nice to meet you, thanks for the advice and the comments. I agree with many of the things that you have said, shoot the heaviest bullet you can, wieght = penetration ect ect. I have tested some 380g localy made bullets, but performance and accuracy was less then sepctacular! and that was all that is avalible here.
Do you know of any mold manutacturer that does a .452 bullet in 350g or heavier? I will definatly checkout the linebach test results and Lee's bullet mold. Is LTB also a manufacturer of molds? will research them also.

Thanks again.
Hillbilly.

Hi,

In the .454..... there are a couple of considerations.

Basically, you have enough 'power' that subtle changes in the bullet design will not really make a huge difference on the game performance.

Any flat-nosed gas-check design should work OK. Try for a nose flat of around 0.300" or better.

300gr. bullets will likely be plenty; a little heavier won't hurt but recoil starts to go up. Before you order a mould make sure you can get an appropriate powder for whatever bullet weight you choose.

Use a gas-check; again, make sure you can get a supply of these before ordering a mould!!! If you can't get gas checks or the cost is prohibitive, a plain-base bullet can be made to work BUT you will have to keep the velocities (pressures) down. In that case you might as well get the heaviest plain-base mould you can, and substitute bullet weight for velocity, basically.

Bullet material - I'd suggest some wheelweights for starting, if you can determine what they are made of. Hopefully you can find some local casters who can help you out in that respect.

Make sure your bullets are ductile and won't shatter. The .454 can really push them..... take a few bullets, and put them on a concrete floor or anvil and pound them flat with a hammer. If they break up, your alloy is too brittle. Add more tin, and try the next batch.

Load development - be prepared to accept some reduction in velocity over what you can achieve with jacketed, not because there is anything wrong with cast bullets, but because you will likely not have the materials (including the best bullet lubes), facilities, or experience to push cast bullets to the .454's full ability. Anyway, a 300gr. or heavier bullet at 1200fps or faster, is pretty destructive on game.... don't get caught up in velocity. Penetration will be measured in feet..... You may find better accuracy at lower velocities, anyway.

Make sure the bullet nose isn't too long for your Casull.

Good luck and keep us posted on your experiements.

Shoot...

You'r an untapped well of knowlage :D

Thanks again for the help.

Hillbilly

[QUOTE=MikeG]Hi,

Hi Mike G,

Nice to meet you, thanks for the advice, I'm inclined to agree with you about penetration (weight) over velocity. I like the tip about testing bullet hardness, good one. :)
Thanks for the comments and the help, will certainly let you know how things go.

Hillbilly.

Dan at www.mountainmolds.com makes and sells superb custom molds for not much more than the usual ones from lyman, rcbs, etc. I highly recommend his work. No, I'm not related to him and don't get a kickback.