Finally got my Trapdoor on the range!

[Dalton Masterson]

Here is proper use of a Trapdoor...

[Dalton Masterson]

And another....

[Sagebrush Burns]

It is necessary to be sure you don't have any fun there...

[Advertising]

[Dalton Masterson]

LOL! Its always fun! (Could just be the powder residue affecting my mind too...)

[Oregon Bill]

That's gotta be the holy black itself!

[Dalton Masterson]

Always! About 45-50 gr 3F and a 405 gr hb bullet. Too bad I don't have a bullet sizer for it yet... They were unlubed and of course fouled the barrel pretty quickly. Clean now, but yikes.
DM

[pony express]

DM, you don't need a sizer die for those, you could pan lube, or.....just wipe on some Crisco into the lube grooves by hand. That's how I do mine, and I've had some rounds loaded for long periods with no problems with the Crisco affecting the powder. Wouldn't plan on storing ammo like that for years and years, though.

[Dalton Masterson]

Yeah I could, but I will end up just getting a die for star and using my homemade lube I normally use. I thought about just pan lubing but had the range time only briefly so loaded up a dozen and went.
DM

[pony express]

Well, if I had a Star, I guess I'd use every opportunity to use it....

Do have a Lyman, but the biggest standard die I have seen is .459, I'd like to have one at least .460, or even 461, so as to leave the bullet basically unsized, but lubed.

[Dalton Masterson]

Yeah, my mould casts at .459, but I haven't sized my bore yet. I will probably end up getting one of the Big Lube moulds eventually, if this thing is as fun as it seems to be now.
Are you using an alloy or pure soft lead? I thought if I cast some pure soft, with that hollow base I might end up expanding a tad to bore size if I am undersized.
DM

[Pitspitr]

I've been using 20:1 or 30:1. I like 30:1 best and sized about .460. I still don't feel like I have enough lube so have recently been filling the hollow base with lube too. Seems to me like it's been working better.

[Dalton Masterson]

Sounds like an idea!

[Pitspitr]

You might want to try bumping up the powder charge to about 55 gr. too.

[cpt dan blodgett]

You may want to get ahold of Cowboy Bullets (Deparado bullets) Ol #4 Pinto Annie Shalako et al and see if they have a 460 as cast soft lead bullet.

Apples and Oranges but their soft lead 44 bullets bump up and shoot accurately at 100 yards from my .434-5 over bored rossi 92 44mag.

[Dalton Masterson]

I'll get this one worked out here eventually. The mold I am casting with now is a good one, I just need to get my lubing set up and do some more shooting to see what it likes. It's got a short barrel so I am not overly optimistic on long range but maybe....

[pony express]

My load for CAS distances is the Lee 405 grain flat base, made with scrap lead/wheel weights, so it's probably not going to expand any on firing. I use a 3/8 Circle Fly  hard lube wad under it, with 55gr FFG. Haven't really tried it at any great distance, though.