Lee mold for a 1911

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Lee mold for a 1911

Post by Centaur 1 »

I recently bought my first .45, it's an RIA 1911-A1. I need to start casting for it and I'm wondering who uses a Lee 6 cavity mold,and which style you like? I don't like round nose bullets, so I'm looking at the 200gr RF, 200gr swc, and the 230gr tc molds. I'm leaning towards the 230-tc, i'm thinking it would be better than a swc if I decide to shoot an animal. I do like RF bullets but the Lee has a crimp groove, I assume it's for the 45 colt and not an acp. Any suggestions on which mold to buy?
"We have federal regulations and state laws that prohibit hunting ducks with more than three rounds. And yet it's legal to hunt humans with 15-round, 30-round, even 150-round magazines." Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California)
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by izzyjoe »

the 230gr tc will serve you well, that's my favorite for 1911 shootin'.
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by Centaur 1 »

Thanks Izzy, this would be a whole lot easier if Ranch Dog made a .45 acp mold.
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by Ranch Dog »

Centaur 1 wrote:Thanks Izzy, this would be a whole lot easier if Ranch Dog made a .45 acp mold.
I did but it was for the Taurus series of 45s. They need a .457 bullet! I love my TL457-240-RF, it is one bad boy. It is shooting in the Taurus 1911, PT145, PT745, PT845, and PT945.

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It could be sized down to .453 without issue but decided not to market it except to a local crowd. Too many .452 offerings to compete with.
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by izzyjoe »

Wow, that bullet look's like it would be a Hoss.
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by Centaur 1 »

Now that is huge. I know that it's just the anal machinist in me, but I don't understand how a manufacturer can sell a gun with a barrel that's .005" oversized. When I built rifles for Knight's Armament, Boots Obermeyer never sent us a barrel that was more than .0002" from the desired dimension. Granted we paid more for a barrel blank than Rossi gets for an entire rifle, but it just seems to me that pride in workmanship has taken a back seat to corporate profits.

When I started looking for 45 molds I saw one at Accurate Molds that looks similar your design, but $125 for a 4 cavity mold is way out of my price range. Having two kids in college really puts a damper on my hobbies, I keep telling my daughter that her nursing degree will come in handy when I get old and need someone to change my diaper. :D
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by Ranch Dog »

izzyjoe wrote:the 230gr tc will serve you well, that's my favorite for 1911 shootin'.
I noticed that Lee has TL452-230-RF six cavity molds on their closeout/clearance page for $37. That is a heck of a price for a really good bullet. The only thing that would be better would be a large meplat like my bullet has. That would make it a great self defense round. Still with a round nose bullet protecting me, I would take a wheel weight bullet over a jacketed bullet any time.
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by Ranch Dog »

Centaur 1 wrote:Now that is huge.
It is. It is like they use their 45-70 barrel stock rather than their 45 Colt stock. I do not believe that Braztech makes any distiction for stock as I have looked at all of them in depth. For instance; the 357 Mag (handgun and longgun), 380 auto, 38 Spl and 9mm Luger are all indentical. 45 ACP and 45-70 share the same stock.

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My speculation is that there is some worry with +P pressures in their designs with the 45 ACP. Again, I have looked at current production 1911s and all the PT-X45 series. With the deep bore diameter, .446", they shoot jacketed ammo very well but missed calculated velocities. I hang on a Taurus forum and the common belief is that 45s are not meeting velocity expectations due to the short barrels but the truth is even the 1911s miss the mark and it is because pressure is being relieved down the gap between bore and groove diameter.

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This is a .251" Speer Gold Dot being pushed down a PT25 barrel but I suspect that the 45 ACP Gold dot would look the same. There might be some concern with the CIP standard for this cartridge, outside the US where there still is a large market for this cartridge. I use a .256 bullet in my 25PLY.

That said, I would not trade out of my Taurus handguns for any others. I'm a Front Sight member and attend self defense training on regular basis. I've put thousands of rounds downrange in the Nevada desert and the Taurus product will stand or exceed the performance of any of them. I was a Glock shooter and decided to try a PT745 Pro against the G36 and the rest is history. Same with the G26 vs. PT111Pro. I never could warm up to the Glocks polygonal barrel. It is actually not a true polygonal barrel as rather then depending on the radius of the polygonal to rotate the bullet, they rifle it. To me that is just wrong. I've seen two KA-BOOMs and this is the reason for it. Well, that the pistol will fire out of battery is 50% of it. I wander...
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by Centaur 1 »

I'm not a Glock fan, don't have a reason, just don't care for them. I have a G26 that belonged to my dad, and because of that I won't sell it. This is the 9mm that I told you about, it loves your 100 grain bullet. I get no leading in the factory barrel, and that's pushing them over 1300fps.

I haven't pulled the trigger yet on buying a mold, I'm still on the fence between the 200gr swc or the 230 tc. Call me cheap, but I hate wasting the extra 30 grains of lead just to put a hole through paper. I'm assuming the heavier tc bullet would be better than the swc if I ever shoot a deer with my 45. Then again maybe I'm better off carrying PDX1 factory rounds when I go hunting. My problem is that I think too much, I need to just pick one and go shooting.

If anyone is looking for a mold Natchez sells all the 6 cavity Lee molds for only $32.99. They charge a little more for shipping than Graf's, but on a larger order the savings can add up.

http://www.natchezss.com/category.cfm?c ... catLevel=2
"We have federal regulations and state laws that prohibit hunting ducks with more than three rounds. And yet it's legal to hunt humans with 15-round, 30-round, even 150-round magazines." Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California)
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Re: Lee mold for a 1911

Post by MT Gianni »

This is old for the OP but I have found good results with the 200 gr bullets in 45 ACP. Lee makes a close copy of the old H&G that would work well.
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