45-70 collar button

[Brad]

I decided that as long as the weather was crap I might as well cast up some collar buttons.

I have a Lee 6 cav from a long ago group buy. It can be a bear to cast with as the bases like to round off. Mould heat is an issue. Bottom pour didn't cut it but with a ladle it is easy to cast hot enough that I need to slow down a bit.

I made a new die for the Star with a single row of holes. I don't want to add shot to holes in my existing .460 die as I would need to remove it to size my 420gr bullets.

Notice the huge lube groove. In the past I lubed these on my Lyman 450. Needed to crank the handle on each bullet to get lube groove filled. No chance of "running out" of lube, is there?

I see loads of Unique being useful. Maybe start around 10 gr and see what I get. I could see 6-8 gr of Bullseye working well too.

 

[KHornet]

Have a batch of them from Brads mold. Shot a few, way back from 25 yds, and they
were close to one holers. Can't remember the load. Tis an interesting looking and
shooting critter you must admit.

 

[Chris]

I have been thinking of getting an NOE version but wondered if they would shoot. Would they hold well enough for plinking out to 50?

Wonder how they would shoot with BLL or 45-45-10 and a light charge of Unique or a Dot powder?

 

[Ian]

Those do indeed look like collar buttons, and a good use for all the lube from many old experiments. Think you'll see a lube star? Or lube nebula?

 

[Brad]

Those do indeed look like collar buttons, and a good use for all the lube from many old experiments. Think you'll see a lube star? Or lube nebula?

More like a lube galaxy. A soft, wet lube on a hot day-yikes.

I have been thinking of getting an NOE version but wondered if they would shoot. Would they hold well enough for plinking out to 50?

Wonder how they would shoot with BLL or 45-45-10 and a light charge of Unique or a Dot powder?

Not sure how they would do with BLL. Not a bunch of bearing surface to hold lube. Unless pressure was low and fit was right I would fear gas cutting. That huge groove full of lube prevents gas cutting very well.
Might be worth a shot anyway? Easy enough to try.

 

[JonB]

I 'had' that Lee GB mold, I cast several jars full of them (alloy 99.5 to 0.5) to shoot in a Ruger Old Army. The bases easily deformed when levering them into the cylinder and I got the worst accuracy. So I sold it, that was 4 years ago. Last year, I bought a Ruger #3 in 45-70, now I wish I had the mold. I use to wonder about all the empty space in the case for gallery loads. Just recently, I read that an old timer loaded them in 45-70 and pushed them way down into the case, so the bullet sat on a cookie, that sat on the powder, and danged if I can't remember the powder or the charge?

 

[Brad]

I will admit that I'm likely to load 20-30 rounds with this bullet then melt the rest down.
It just doesn't fit in with my normal loading style. I'm not prone to using many gimmicky bullets.

 

[Ian]

Jon, Titegroup is your friend if you have empty warehouse syndrome, just make sure your process is immune to double-charging.

 

[fiver]

if he was pushing them down like that it was probably 2-F.
20 grains would be a gallery load 30 would be a little flatter shooting for those long 50yd shots.

when I first seen the bullet pic I thought Brad had bought a big bore pellet rifle.

 

[Brad]

With a little enough charge I did. Maybe a pinch of trail boss?

 

[fiver]

I'd hang on to them.
going out and doing some piddle diddle shooting from time to time with a big ol heavy gun is pretty fun.

 

[Brad]

I do that now, I just use 420 gr of lead at a time.

 

[freebullet]

Live on the edge Brad. More than one load for the same gun could ruin your entire mindset though.

 

[Brad]

I have multiple loads, they just all use the same bullet.

 

[freebullet]

Ah, I see. I do that too sometimes but, I'm getting enough molds don't have to anymore for most cals unless I want. That is definitely an interesting design.

 

[Rick]

I have multiple loads, they just all use the same bullet.

That's sure taking the fun out of it.
.