Quirks of Lymans 452664 for the 45 colt

by Sarge , Central Misery, Thursday, October 22, 2015, 19:28 (3259 days ago)
edited by Sarge, Thursday, October 22, 2015, 19:32

I'm loading these for a 4 1/2" Bounty Hunter. The revolver has a tight barrel-cylinder gap and produces velocity is entirely consistent with what I've seen in Ruger SA's up to 5 1/2 inches. It is also proving to be just as accurate.

Oddly, it's taking at least a grain more HP38 to get the 452664 to the velocity I was getting from MO Bullet's 250 RNFP, chrono'ed from the same gun. I bought this bullet for a do-all and I want at least 850 fps from that load.

Comparing 452664 to similar weight RNFP and SWC bullets reveals that 452664 has about as much bullet outside the case as SWC's of the same weight. The SWC's also run noticeably slower for me, charge for charge.

Early results indicate that it is shooting only about half as well as the Missouri bullet RNFP. I learned just the other day that the design is less than 20 years old and was contrived for the tin cowboy shooters. I suspect it wasn't designed with top velocity or fine accuracy in mind. Kind of a shame because the bullet looks good has a nice big meplant. I'll probably give the Lee 45-255-RF a try next. It has an even bigger meplat and it's a good proven 45 Colt bullet.

I mostly just ruminating here but any thoughts on this are appreciated.