Pretty nice score

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TomSp8

Active Member
Long time no post, hope everyone is well. I scored pretty good this week locally on a bunch of stuff from an older bullseye shooter. Among the best are three Saeco 4 cavity molds (all .452 swc's) with one set of handles, and a 1 cavity Lyman 452423. I had never heard of this bullet before. Also several Lee molds, a bunch of reloading die sets, about 93 lbs of old coww's, and some other misc stuff. Two of the Saeco's are marked on the mold itself, while one is marked on the sprue plate with no markings on the blocks. Can anyone tell me anything about these? I cleaned up and cast a few with the 068 this morning. 20240312_202619.jpg20240314_105713.jpg20240314_105723.jpg20240314_111023.jpg20240314_111037.jpg
 
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TomSp8

Active Member
Have a little bit of light passing through on the far cavity of the 068, so switched sprue plates with the 130, but still a slight gap, with some base flashing on that one far cavity . Both sprue plates fit true on the 130 mold. So it's a 3 cavity for now...suggestions?
 
M

MW65

Wetside, Oregon
TomSp8 said:
Have a little bit of light passing through on the far cavity of the 068, so switched sprue plates with the 130, but still a slight gap, with some base flashing on that one far cavity . Both sprue plates fit true on the 130 mold. So it's a 3 cavity for now...suggestions?
Click to expand...
Is it the top of the mould or the sprue plate which is goofed up?? I would dykem the top of the mould and/or the original sprue plate and pass them along a fine stone to ensure both are perfectly flat...
 
M

MW65

Wetside, Oregon
Btw, the 452423 is a great little bullet!!! Pine cones and bowling pins don't stand a chance!
 
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TomSp8

Active Member
Just did a little research on the 452423 and I guess it's not a very common one, originally designed for the WW1 military 45acp revolvers? I happen to have my grandfather's S&W M1917 bringback.....I've only shot it once, with some light target fodder and moon clips. It needs a little love, but functions. Of course, the trigger is atrocious. Will play with that mold soon. I have loaded some 250gr RNFP in the 45acp for bowling pins way back.
 
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TomSp8

Active Member
Closer inspection of the mold indication some very minute movement between the blocks you could just barely feel, side to side and up/down. Along with a smidgen of light between the halves. I could actually rock it back and forth and make light appear and reappear between the halves. Dragged the faces across some 600 grit backed by glass very lightly and evenly a few strokes and saw some shiny metal just starting along both halves of the molds at the tops mostly in the center. Musta been miniscule burring along the top edges. Cleaned and reassembled and all seems good, no more gap between sprue and mold either! Cast some this morning and putting out 4 perfect bullets. Happy camper!
 
Matt_G

Matt_G

Curmudgeon in training
Pretty sure that 068 is their copy of the H&G 68BB.
The Saeco 069 is a plain base copy rather than beveled base.

The Saeco 451 is supposed to be a copy of the Lyman 452460, which in turn was a copy of the H&G 78 designed by Ed Rowland.
I have read though that the 451 may have a shorter nose than the 452460.
Not sure on that as I have never seen one in person.

The Saeco 130 is a copy of the H&G 130.
That bullet was also copied by Lyman and sold as the 452488.
Back in the '50's (or "60"s?) the H&G 130 became the most popular bullet with the Bullseye shooters of the day.
According to the NRA reprint I have, the traditional load for 25 yard work with the H&G 130 was 3.5 grains of Bullseye.
Most would up the charge to around 4.2 grains for 50 yard work.

You have 2 very good molds for the 45 ACP and maybe 3 if that #451 is a faithful copy of the Lyman 452460.
Two most critical things to watch when loading these is the amount of taper crimp applied and what magazine type(s) you use.
The 130 should like the early release/parallel lip style which is what most mags sold today are.
The others though will probably prefer a hybrid or GI style magazine.

Here are links to 4 old posts here that are absolute gems with regards to loading the 45 ACP and getting a 1911 to run reliably.
Lessons Learned
1911 Loads and Tips
.45 ACP taper crimp update
Happy 1911

Have fun!
 
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TomSp8

Active Member
Thanks, Matt. That'll give me something to read tonight. I really wanted the 068 to cast well, as I prefer them over the short nosed 130's, so I'm very happy I can bang out 4 good ones at a time. I generally seat the shoulder out to about .025 (I modified my seating stem to seat on the shoulder) and at a coal of 1.250 they plunk in and out and seem to feed and eject just fine. Very grateful to the gentleman who passed these along to me at an extremely fair price! So, I assume the 451 is older than the other two, as it is only marked on the sprue rather than the blocks? Any idea when they changed?
 
Matt_G

Matt_G

Curmudgeon in training
TomSp8 said:
Thanks, Matt. That'll give me something to read tonight. I really wanted the 068 to cast well, as I prefer them over the short nosed 130's, so I'm very happy I can bang out 4 good ones at a time. I generally seat the shoulder out to about .025 (I modified my seating stem to seat on the shoulder) and at a coal of 1.250 they plunk in and out and seem to feed and eject just fine. Very grateful to the gentleman who passed these along to me at an extremely fair price! So, I assume the 451 is older than the other two, as it is only marked on the sprue rather than the blocks? Any idea when they changed?
Click to expand...
That is just about the perfect COAL for that bullet.
Bill (Pistolero) advocates 1.250 to 1.270.
Too bad he doesn't post here any more. :(

I can't answer your question about the age of that mold, nor when they changed the way they marked them.
I do know that the 451 hasn't been in their catalog for a while.

Jeff is right, that carrot cake looks really good.
 
358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
The 068 and the 130 were made after Redding acquired SAECO, so they're relatively newer than the other mould. I have a pair of 068s from the same era, but I honestly haven't made much of an attempt to date them.
 
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