Rossi Rifleman

Yes, the RF design has been around forever. But in the last several years it has really taken over the cast bullet world. With good reason though as the "new" breed of RFs are altogether different from the ones of old. And really, I don't mean all that long ago! Like one of my favorite bullets the lyman 311008 for the 32-20 and 30 carbine pistol, and the 454190 for 45 colt. Both great bullets but back then, the meplats were tiny compared to todays versions. Back then, more worry was put on reliable feeding 100% of the time in 100% of all the guns out there. Then, good ole Elmer and a few others got the semi wad cutter going strong. And it was king for years and years. But those sharp shoulders can sometimes cause problems with feeding in revolvers and rifles.

Nowadays, the meplats on the RF designs are huge, in comparison to the old ones. I recently got a new mold from NOE that they call a 311008. The meplat is probably has twice the area as my old lyman bullets meplat. It should give the tiny bullet a lot more of the "whap" effect when hitting something. The originals would just make a neat little hole and slide right through. And the modern 45 RF meplats are enormous compared to the old 190, which was really a round nose with the point flattened just a little. But they feed oh so nice. I sometimes load them in my m1917 45 auto rim, when I'm using the moon clips. Makes loading a snap, just get it close and drop em, they'll find the way home.

Finally got a chance to spend some time with the Lee mold I wrote about. After cleaning it up to as close to new as I could get it, I noticed that there seemed to a lot of play at the hinge point that would allow the blocks to slip out of alignment. I've "cinched" that down and taken most all of the play out of it. I wonder if it's possible that the pins are too small or the matting holes to large to allow that much slip. Hopefully later this week I'll get the time to pull out the pot and get some alloy hot to test the adjustment.

Make smoke,