SSShooter wrote on Mar 8
th, 2020 at 2:51pm:
Greg - that mold looks interesting if I decide I can't avoid casting.Thanks to everyone thus far. More suggestions welcome.
FWIW- I like casting so I have more molds (all calibers) than the law allows.
I have found in the two Win. 1892's I have, that the longer, heaver bullets can be too much of a good thing. As the bullets approach 90 grains, my accuracy drops off.
I am not sure what your intended use is but if it is for pistol cal. Cowboy silhouette, it does not take much velocity or mass to knock rams down. And the rest of near targets are light as a feather, so light loads are great for them.
Anyway...
NOE makes a very nice 80grn mold. Either GC or plain base. I chose a 4 cavity and had him cut two of each, GC and Plain. The mold and bullets are "best workmanship" quality. I am very happy with them.
I also have an 82grain 6 cavity LEE made to a Ranch Dog design which is almost as good as the NOE and the bullets cast and shoot very well too.
Last on the list of the good shooting bullets, I have Lyman's 257 420 at 65 grains on Lyman's list but mine casts 74grns in Lino. It shoots well enough but no better than the NOE 80 grain. I don't often use it because the GC shank is too large to install a GC of any make, so I ended up making a gas check expander button to blow out the standard Hornady check enough to install on the (dumb) Lyman 257 420. That ends up being too much work if you already have a choice of bullets that shoot well.
On the not so good list: I have the Lyman 257 312 which weighs in at 94 or 95 grns plus a gas check. I never found real accuracy with that bullet even at or near full powder charges.
I also have a hansom Hoch mold made by R.Hoch his-self. Also too long and not so accurate int the 1982's. I am likely going to build a singleshot with a slighter faster twist just to see if I can make these longer bullets shoot well. "Some day projects." Right?
So the long story short of my experience would be to keep bullet weight 80 grains or less and if you go heavy, figure on also using heaver loads to keep the velocity on the fast side.
I hope this helps,
Michael Rix