doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Double Rifles, Paradox Guns & Gauge Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Bullet Mould for 450 BPE 3 1/4

Anybody with experience casting for their double(s)? Does a bear s----in the woods, right? Following Sherman Bell's advice, I looked into Veral Smith's system. For a new caster of roundballs only (so far), it seems like a lot of intimidating hoopla. I can guess you'll get the absolute God blessed mould at the end of all the slugging and filling your fired cases with lead and shoving down a 3 ft rod of cold rolled steel and...(and that's just for starters)etc etc. What have you had success with? measuring from groove to groove and getting a mould to cast a bullet from that(albeit one with wide enough lube grooves, I understand)? Or do you not bothe and just buy them outright (ouch! mucho dinero, no?)? Please take pity on this poor old soul and tell me the best way you've found in your experience. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Until you decide if this is what you really want to spend alot of $$$ on I suggest you look at the Lee molds and pots.

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1283111854.2934=/html/catalog/bullmol2.html
I've shot the 340 and 405's with good success using smokeless and fillers.
But having someone else make you some is the best way to find the ones you like best.Try several and decide then buy the mold.


The guys over at

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/index.php

will have a wealth of information for you too.

Thanks, Mike but LEE doesn't seem to have a mould for the 450 BPE 3 1/4. Am I missing something? I don't think I saw any moulds for your 340 or 405 either. I'm new at this casting for obscure bullets,

You're right,I definitely DON'T want to spend all that money, that's why I'm trying to find anybody who has an alternative.
You mention having someone else make me some bullets and then decide which ones I like the best. Would mould manufacturers actually do that? If so, please tell me who.

Also, thanks for the link to CAST Boolits, the guys there did seem to be into a lot of different things. Since I just registered I couldn't post yet, just lurked about reading other posts.

Follow the Lee link to the 45-70.. That's the 45 caliber you need. Have you slugged the barrels yet? What's the diameters?
I didn't say the mold makers would cast bullets for you. There are commercial casters that will make what you need or want.

OK, I follow you now, Mike - I haven't slugged the barrels. Could I get by just measuring from groove to groove? You mention "commercial casters that will make what (I) need or want. Straighten me out on this just so I know I understand you. You're not talking about MOULD makers, but guys with moulds who will make up a batch of different sized bullets to test out to see what works and what doesn't?

You need to drive a slug thru the length of each rube and then measure.Most 450's have a .458 bore diameter but not all.

A commercial caster makes bullets for a living. Lee, Lyman ect ,make molds for casters.. They don't make the bullets.

I think you should get a copy of "Shooting the British Double Rifle" By Wright and read it thru carefully. It's got alot of great info.
Then consider haveing a gunsmith slug your bore. It should be cheap and accurate.

Thanks, Mike - I have the 2nd and 3rd editions of Graeme Wright's book. Great stuff, but I'm just cracking the third. Good advice on getting a pro to do the slugging. Reading the Veral Smith site got to seem like thremal dynamics in Chinese, and everything had a price to pay! Not kidding. Want a sprue plate with that mould? 20 bucks. Want an Allen wrench for the screws with that? Another 75 cents! Besides I kept getting lost slugging barrel, slugging chmabers filling up a spent cartridge with lead, go to a hardware store and pick up a 3 foot length of cold rolled steel thinner than the barrels.... I'm sure there's guys here who'd say "piece a ' cake" but I ain't one of 'em.

The mold is for your Henry Dr, is it not? Almost all Henry rifles had a tapered bore and HENRY rifling. You need to cast a slug at the end of the barrel and then turn the slug in the jaws of a micrometer and turn down until it gets harder to turn. This will give you a really close value for the size bullet you need. Henry rifles were made for PAPER PATCH bullets, that is what I would use. I would guess the taper cut the patch as it went down the bore and the lead slug emerged clean.

Mr Davidson - It is indeed for my Henry Double. I've been under the (misguided?) assumption that the Henry rifling was only, or primarily, for the Martini-Henry rifles. I do recall other makes of rifle having "Henry Rifling", but those words were stamped on the barrel(s). I'm aware that it sounds silly to say I don't think a Henry rifle has Henry rifling! But, I'm willing to change my belief at the drop of a dime the minute I see some kind of documentation or proof that it indeed does. I hope I'm not coming off as belligerent, it's just the way an e-mail somehow imparts an attitude not meant. Anyway, yes, I do want to slug the barrels asap. Question: once I get a reading on the diameter, should I then want bullets with that diameter EXACTLY or should I back off a very little bit.

You are correct about the paper patching, by the way. At least that's how original ammo from Kynoch were packaged.

According to genuine whiz-kid Sherman Bell, the patching can be disposed of with modern rounds. Can't remember WHY at the moment, just that he does not do it.

I was going to ask how one slugs a barrel (or 2) but I imagine that information MUST be on the internet somewhere, or in a Ross Seyfried article from an old DGJ, so I won't bother you about that.

I very much appreciate your correspondence and help, as I do others' as well. There's definitely a lot of knowledgeable members on this site and it seems I always post a problem or question here before searchng elsewhere. Best Regards - Marc