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I have an older 1911 that is finicky with cast bullets, currently using the Lee 200gn SWC with fairly good success. However, I want a bullet that as much as possible always feeds with no hang-ups, and was looking at the Lee TL452-230-2R or TL452-230-1R. The bullets will be powder coated, and I'll be buying one of the two Lee molds rather than Lyman or something else.
Any experience with these two molds?
Thank you.
The very first 45 acp mould I ever bought was the Lee 452-228-1R ... This wasn't the Tumble Lube boolit , I wanted a regular lube grooved boolit .
It sucked so bad ... I sold it at a garage sale for $2.00 , the guy wanted it for revolver loads ... I warned him that 1R nose just loved to hang up on feed ramps ...
It is the only mould I ever sold !
I would get the 2R design or the Truncated Cone .
My Star Model PS 45 acp had no problem with Lyman 452460 semi-wadcutter boolit but choked on the Lee 1R nose every time ... it's not designed quite right ...
the 2R nose is more like 45 Ball Ammo .
Gary
The 1st mold I bought for 45ACP was also the Lee 452-228-1R (It's not a tumble lube design). My experience was like gwpercle's. Both my 1911's wouldn't feed the darned thing in spite of it looking like hardball, which is what they are supposed to thrive on. I put it aside for many years. Then I decided that the design had to work better than what I had experienced and took the barrels out of my pistols and did the old "plunk" test with a loaded round. AHA!! I had the OAL a bit too long and the bullet was hitting the rifling which explained why the slide didn't want to close 100% sometimes. But it also jammed going up the feed ramp too. Figured there was nothing to lose by adjusting OAL to allow easy chambering and giving another try shooting. It turned out that the adjustment fixed the feeding issue too. It shoots absolutely reliable in both my guns now and I have about 2,000 of them loaded up in reserve for practice.
I had bought the other design you mentioned, TL452-230-2R thinking the "skinnier" nose might fix my issues but I got the other bullet (452-228-1R) working before ever trying the 2R design so it sits unused in the box for now.
This was exactly my experience with the 452-228-1R. I only bought a 2-cav mold probably 12-13 years ago. I ended up purchasing a 452-200-SWC in a 6cav about 4 years ago and haven't looked back. I still have the 2-cav mold somewhere. I keep telling myself I'll end up buying a single action 45 Colt one of these days and it'll come in handy. Haven't bought one yet though...Quote:
Originally Posted by 35 Rem
I have loaded a lot of the Lee TL452-230-2R in 45 ACP and it always fed flawlessly for me. I loaded it so about .010 of the top driving band was above the case mouth. It fed in my Springfield Armory 1911-A1 with many different types of magazines and feedlips.
my only .45 acp mold has been and it's the TL-452-230-2R #90358: never gave me feeding problems_
I bought a Lee 6 cavity 452-200 BB, I hated the bevel base and got their other 6 cavity 452-200? Flat base. It was better but just didn't care for it.
I just got a 4 cavity Brass 452-200 TC from MP molds. I can't say enough good things about the company. The bullet this one throws is based on the H&G #68 boolit.
I went to the range today and found this #68 bullet feeds like a dream and it is accurate. Tried 3 loads, Bulleye @ 4.5 and 5.5 grs along with 4 grains of Clays. All shot very well, but the 5.5 grains of Bullseye heaved brass farther than I like to see. (harder on slide and gun). Between the Clays and light load of Bullseye I couldn't tell the difference. 8 shots groups of 2 7/8ths" vs 3 1/8th" off hand isn't really significant. I have about 13#s of Clays and that will load a LOT @ 4 grains.
I use the Lee 240 TC bullet with no problems.