Lee .457 500gr FP GC mold

[Frank V]

Yesterday I used my Lee .457 500gr GC mold for the first time. I was hoping it'd throw a .459 bullet. My Wife got it for me for Christmas & I'd emailed Lee & they told me that is the minimum it'll throw usually they are .459.
Mine wasn't it miked .4575, cast out of wheel weights. The weight was pretty uniform at an average of 496grs. I may email Lee again & see if it can be brought up to .459. I thought for the price I'd take a chance.
Pretty bullet though.

[MaLar]

I have two of the same mold. They'r both small on the bands at .457" but the nose is .450".
This is from a 20 to 1 alloy.

They may cast larger from Lyno.

I shot them in a wildcat I built and top loads was getting 1820fps with GCs.
I also sprayed them with the old Lee mold Dropout graphite spray. Seems to get another 100fps this way.
Maybe the softer alloy was bumping up when fired.

All the bullets recovered was about the size of a half dollar. No way to see what the bands looked like after firing.
If I remember right they grooped at about 2 1/2" at a hundred.

But after coming here and reading others results on alloy and speed.
I don't think I would like to shoot anything with this load. Might act like a large varmint load.

[Frank V]

Thanks MaLar, Did you get any leading with the smaller diameter?
That's what I don't want.