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Howdy Friends. The bullets I usually buy are commercial and come from a local gun shop. The ones pictured just arrived from an internet auction purchase. They are 265 gr. Keith style and will be used in my Marlin Cowboy and Ruger Blackhawk. Unlike the bullets from the shop, there is a lot of excess lube on these. Should I wipe of the excess before or after I load them or just leave them like they are and make sure they don't come in contact with any dirt? Never dealt with any that had so much outside the groove.
Below is a statement from the auction listing to give you a little more info. Would appreciate a general opinion on what you see if you will. Many Thanks.
T.
These bullets are cast in a RCBS mold and cut from a #2 aloy. They have been lubed with 50/50 Beeswax/Alox and Sized to .452 Dia.
"A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast."
--Proverbs 12:10
That 50-50 lube can be kind of messy. I'd just rub off the excess before I crammed it in a case. Commercial cast bullets usually have a hard lube so they stay pretty during shipping.
Just double up a paper towel and wipe the bases off just before you put the bullets in the case. That's all I do and I use the same type of bullet lube.
I've also use a lot of the 265gr Keith bullets. Cast from wheel weights, #2 alloy, 16-1 lead-tin and probably other alloys. Those that are around 12-14 BHN are fine, they don't need to be harder. Wheel weights are around 10 ish or so and they work great.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
Lube aside, I wouldn't expect great things in terms of accuracy. IMO, his mold or the pour is too cold, giving that uneven or rough appearance. The sprue plate is loose, leaving that "teat" on the base. Cumbustion pressure NEEDS a flat surface to push against to start the bulet straight.
Those would have gone back into my pot as rejects. Hope they were inexpensive.
Griff,
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be careful about a molding mark "teat" on the tip because I have heard of this causing a tubular mag discharge. Could be urban legend but a small point could act as a firing pin.
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And what is the throat diameter of your revolver and lever ...?
That is the MOST important question.. If those bulets do not fill the throat you are gonna learn alot about lead minning.
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Griff wrote:Lube aside, I wouldn't expect great things in terms of accuracy. IMO, his mold or the pour is too cold, giving that uneven or rough appearance. The sprue plate is loose, leaving that "teat" on the base. Cumbustion pressure NEEDS a flat surface to push against to start the bulet straight.
Those would have gone back into my pot as rejects. Hope they were inexpensive.
Thanks Griff!
I was starting to think I was the only one with nit-picky thoughts like that.
Also note that there are no sharp edges on the drive bands. Either the mold didn't fill out properly, indicating low temp, as Keith always thought best, or the mold design is not a real Elmer Keith design.
Old Elmer always wanted sharp shoulders on the drive bands and didn't care if it did cause manufacturing or even casting problems. he felt the sharp shoulders improved both accuracy and killing power. I do not disagree with the gentleman.
Last edited by Doc Hudson on Thu May 27, 2010 9:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The bullets look better after wiping them down a little. Griff, they were not expensive, and I only bought 100 for a trial. El Chivo, will take your idea into account. Missionary, I've only recently learned the importance of this, but have done no measuring yet. Guess I put the cart before the horse. I will work on getting the measurements so I can buy correct dia. bullets for my guns. APPRECIATE the input boys...
T.
"A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast."
--Proverbs 12:10
By the looks of those bullets they are not true Keith design as the nose is too big. Probably made that way to increase the weight.
The casting bump from the spru is on the base of the bullet and will be inside of the case. No chance in the world it could cause a tube mag detonation.
That is a strangely designed bullet. I've never seen nor used them. Please let us know how they work.
As an aside I've found that I get the best accuracy out of my five different .45 Colts if I keep the bullet diameter at .454". My Uberti works well with .452", my Ruger prefers .454", my S&W 25-5 works best with .457" and both my rifles work best with .454" bullets.
It also depends on the design of the bullet and what alloy it's cast from. The harder the bullet the closer it needs to be to the revolvers throat diameter, and to .002" over the rifles grove diameter. So, for harder bullets, .454" is a good average dia.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
J Miller wrote:By the looks of those bullets they are not true Keith design as the nose is too big. Probably made that way to increase the weight.
Joe
Joe, the guy I bought'em from called them Keith style so I knew they wouldn't be but so close to a Keith.
The shooting I get to do is 300 miles from here so I only get to go once a month or so. Makes it hard to stay focused on load development and such. Having bought the Marlin Cowboy and Blackhawk in the last year, there's been more emphasis on getting back into reloading (after 30 yrs away from it) and shooting rather than thinking about making measurements to help insure the bullet diameters are the best ones for my guns. I intend to try some .454's, but haven't gotten my hands on any yet. Some places want you to purchase 500 or so. Do any bullet makers you know of sell a small box of samples in a chosen caliber? Be nice if they did. Then I'd just get into trial and error and be able to easily make decisions on what to order in larger quantities.
Thank you for your help and suggestions, and I will make comments on how these bullets do for me though possibly not for a couple of weeks.
T.
"A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast."
--Proverbs 12:10
Thank you for that email. The bookmarks are real valuable to me. I've looked through them and appreciate not having had to come up with them on my own. I may place an order from Black River. Price & product look good. Will let you know how things go. Shooting time is pretty limited for the next month or so.
T.
"A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast."
--Proverbs 12:10
The only way to tell how they shoot is to shoot them.
I have had good luck with bullets that were of lesser quality than those.
They don`t look bad to me unless you are going for bench rest accuracy.
Have fun!!
.***
