Rio 45-70 working....finally?????
Posted: 17 Aug 2017 09:57
So, NOE just keeps on sending out those "On Sale this week only" e-mails. And I just had to have one of the 350 RD molds for my 45-70 Rio Grande. Even though I had become real disappointed in the gun, because of misfires and hard feeding problems. But even with all the problems, the Rio would turn in some pretty good groups, but I figured it could get better if I would just put forth a little more effort.
I had figured out that a lot of the hard feeding was because of the bullet mold I was using, a Lee 405 grain. This is the old type two hole mold, and the two halves never did seem to line up just right, and would make a slug that was wide at the seam where the two halves meet, and narrower at 180* from the seam. I do understand that the nose on this slug is pretty long, and not really lever gun friendly. Then on top of that, my powder coating added to the diameter of that nose. And I was sizing them @ .459, which is a little on the big size and did nothing but add to the hard cycling of the gun. All in all, not the right choice of projectile for that particular gun.
I figured a change was in order, so I decided to give the NOE mold a try. If it did not work out, I could use the bullets for a heavy weight slug in my 45 colt and 454. So I wasn't gonna waste time or money, and it's always fun to try out a new mold.
When I got the mold in, I also wanted to try a cheap Walmart hot plate for preheating the mold. WOW! this is a major improvement in casting. For the past 40+ years I have always started casting in a cold mold and going fast as I could to get the mold up to temp. This works ok but does add to the length of time it takes to cast a few hundred bullets. Once you get the temp dialed in to match your lead temp, your first pour just might be a keeper! It may take a few tries to find that just right temp, but when you do, it's like magic. And if you need to take a break for whatever reason. Put the mold back on the hot plate, and when you start back, they will be dropping perfect once again. I should have thunk of doing this a long time ago.
So I cast up a hundred or so, and in usual NOE fashion, the mold worked perfectly. Bullets drop out with a tap from my piece of broom handle that I use as a mallet. I drop into water, not to harden them but instead to cushion the fall so I don't have to be so danged gentle with them and do not get dents in the fresh soft nuggets. Then put a coat of pretty blue powder on them and ran them through a .458 sizer that I made and spent a few hours honing on, creeping in on the exact thousands of an inch.
I loaded up a few empty cases to check seating depth and to get the die adjusted correctly for the crimp I wanted. They still did not chamber as smoothly as I liked, and you could tell that they were bumping up against the rifling a little and that throat was still a little tight. Not that the Rio is made to tight, it's not. It is exactly what SAAMI sez it should be. But that does make it a little hard for us casters that like to load fat bullets. I made up a lap and that did nothing but focus on the freebore and lead section of the chamber. I only wanted maybe a .001" or so in the freebore, and to smooth/blend the lead forward a tiny bit. It took two tries and maybe 15 minutes total working with the lap to get what I was after. Now the cartridge would pass the "plink?" test, meaning you could now drop a cartridge into the chamber, and it would go all the way home, THEN turn the gun muzzle up and the round would fall back ou. That means it wasn't touching anywhere in the chamber, throat, or lead. I could do this before with jacketed bullet, which told me it was really close and all I needed to remove was a thousands or so.
I'm gonna continue in another post cause I have a tendency to hit the wrong button and loose everything. Then I get pizzed and don't rewrite it.
I had figured out that a lot of the hard feeding was because of the bullet mold I was using, a Lee 405 grain. This is the old type two hole mold, and the two halves never did seem to line up just right, and would make a slug that was wide at the seam where the two halves meet, and narrower at 180* from the seam. I do understand that the nose on this slug is pretty long, and not really lever gun friendly. Then on top of that, my powder coating added to the diameter of that nose. And I was sizing them @ .459, which is a little on the big size and did nothing but add to the hard cycling of the gun. All in all, not the right choice of projectile for that particular gun.
I figured a change was in order, so I decided to give the NOE mold a try. If it did not work out, I could use the bullets for a heavy weight slug in my 45 colt and 454. So I wasn't gonna waste time or money, and it's always fun to try out a new mold.
When I got the mold in, I also wanted to try a cheap Walmart hot plate for preheating the mold. WOW! this is a major improvement in casting. For the past 40+ years I have always started casting in a cold mold and going fast as I could to get the mold up to temp. This works ok but does add to the length of time it takes to cast a few hundred bullets. Once you get the temp dialed in to match your lead temp, your first pour just might be a keeper! It may take a few tries to find that just right temp, but when you do, it's like magic. And if you need to take a break for whatever reason. Put the mold back on the hot plate, and when you start back, they will be dropping perfect once again. I should have thunk of doing this a long time ago.
So I cast up a hundred or so, and in usual NOE fashion, the mold worked perfectly. Bullets drop out with a tap from my piece of broom handle that I use as a mallet. I drop into water, not to harden them but instead to cushion the fall so I don't have to be so danged gentle with them and do not get dents in the fresh soft nuggets. Then put a coat of pretty blue powder on them and ran them through a .458 sizer that I made and spent a few hours honing on, creeping in on the exact thousands of an inch.
I loaded up a few empty cases to check seating depth and to get the die adjusted correctly for the crimp I wanted. They still did not chamber as smoothly as I liked, and you could tell that they were bumping up against the rifling a little and that throat was still a little tight. Not that the Rio is made to tight, it's not. It is exactly what SAAMI sez it should be. But that does make it a little hard for us casters that like to load fat bullets. I made up a lap and that did nothing but focus on the freebore and lead section of the chamber. I only wanted maybe a .001" or so in the freebore, and to smooth/blend the lead forward a tiny bit. It took two tries and maybe 15 minutes total working with the lap to get what I was after. Now the cartridge would pass the "plink?" test, meaning you could now drop a cartridge into the chamber, and it would go all the way home, THEN turn the gun muzzle up and the round would fall back ou. That means it wasn't touching anywhere in the chamber, throat, or lead. I could do this before with jacketed bullet, which told me it was really close and all I needed to remove was a thousands or so.
I'm gonna continue in another post cause I have a tendency to hit the wrong button and loose everything. Then I get pizzed and don't rewrite it.