LEE's 452-255-RF

[Chief_10Beers]

Boolit Mold. If I crimp to the Cannelure, my COL is 1.550 with a case lenght of 1.275. Minimum COL in all my Reload manuals is 1.600. What gives?.....................................

Edit to correct the Boolit Mold Number............................

 

[45Colt_Man]

Chief, I believe the 1.600 is max not min.

Dana

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Chief, I believe the 1.600 is max not min.

Dana

Max? How do you know if you went too far in if it is not listed? Maybe the Flat Nose is throwing my measurements off and I'm worring over nothing?.................................

 

[DGW1949]

Chief, I believe the 1.600 is max not min.

Dana

Max? How do you know if you went too far in if it is not listed? Maybe the Flat Nose is throwing my measurements off and I'm worring over nothing?.................................

Me thinks that you hit the nail on the head.

DGW

 

[wizofwas]

Chief, I also believe that the 1.600 is Max. not Min. Most measurements that I've seen only mention the Max. mieasurement. The reason for this is so the cartridge will fit in any 45 Colt weapon. Also remember that you're loading a smaller than standart boolit, ie 225 vs a 250 gr. and that will make it shorter COL also. I think for the most part, you're worried about about something that just isn't relevent.

 

[M'BOGO]

Where is the 225 RF at? I see a 200 and a 250 RF.

 

[Olsherm]

I am with M.Bogo.I only see a 228-1R,and I do not see a 250 in Lees 2012 catalog.Next thing up from the 228 is a 230 and nearest thing to 250 is the 252SWC mold.I have a new catalog now.Could be an older mold??

 

[Olsherm]

Sorry triple post. Seems something went wrong with my computor

 

[Olsherm]

sorry double posted

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Chief, I also believe that the 1.600 is Max. not Min. Most measurements that I've seen only mention the Max. mieasurement. The reason for this is so the cartridge will fit in any 45 Colt weapon. Also remember that you're loading a smaller than standart boolit, ie 225 vs a 250 gr. and that will make it shorter COL also. I think for the most part, you're worried about about something that just isn't relevent.

Uh Oh, it's a 452-255-RF, 255gr ...............................

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Where is the 225 RF at? I see a 200 and a 250 RF.

It's 255 I'll correct that in a min.........................

 

[Chief_10Beers]

I am with M.Bogo.I only see a 228-1R,and I do not see a 250 in Lees 2012 catalog.Next thing up from the 228 is a 230 and nearest thing to 250 is the 252SWC mold.I have a new catalog now.Could be an older mold??

I corrected the Thread Title, it's a 452-255-RF that I bought last year when I bought my 45C Blackhawk..............................................

 

[M'BOGO]

I wasn't sniping Chief, just curious.

Honestly, with most of the std SAMMI .45 Colt data, I havn't seen good sealing of the cylinder. Meaning, the brass hasn't been expanded, and sealed the chamber. At least that is the way I'm taking the sooted up cases. The charge was IIRC 8.5 or 9 g unique, under the Lee 452-255-RF tumble lubed. Very accurate, and spot on to the factory sights on my 4.62" NV.

There's been a couple of loads with the 452-200-RF, that acted about the same, soot wise, with different powders.

I do wish the 452-255-RF had a longer nose, with just one lube groove, but it seems to be a good slug, and eats up that air space in the big case, with standard loads, soooo....

 

[Biggfoot44]

Yes , the nose is particularily flat and short compared to a 454190 , or BP era RNFPs generally, so the bullet will be slightly shorter overall for same wt.

Meaning crimp in the crimp groove , and you're good.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

I wasn't sniping Chief, just curious.

Honestly, with most of the std SAMMI .45 Colt data, I havn't seen good sealing of the cylinder. Meaning, the brass hasn't been expanded, and sealed the chamber. At least that is the way I'm taking the sooted up cases. The charge was IIRC 8.5 or 9 g unique, under the Lee 452-255-RF tumble lubed. Very accurate, and spot on to the factory sights on my 4.62" NV.

There's been a couple of loads with the 452-200-RF, that acted about the same, soot wise, with different powders.

I do wish the 452-255-RF had a longer nose, with just one lube groove, but it seems to be a good slug, and eats up that air space in the big case, with standard loads, soooo....

I know you were not sniping

Yeah I noticed the soot too. I load up with 7.0gr of Universal, I might bump that up to 7.5gr ( 7.8 is max according to Hodgdon Reloading Data). I have to be carefull of not going beyond SAMMI Pressures as My 45 is the Smaller frame 45C FT BH.

I tumble Lube too, using recluse's 45-45-10 formula..........................

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Yes , the nose is particularily flat and short compared to a 454190 , or BP era RNFPs generally, so the bullet will be slightly shorter overall for same wt.

Meaning crimp in the crimp groove , and you're good.

That's good to hear! Thanks fo the INFO..............................

 

[Olsherm]

I was not meaning to be "saucy" either about the mold size. I was just thinking maybe Lee had a new mold out that I did not know about.Bby the way M'Bogo I have not fired a 45 colt load yet where the cases filled out in the chamber like the old 38/40 and 44/40 do?They seem to come out of the cylinder "sooty" no matter what the charge of powder is.However they are worse with very lite loads. olsherm

 

[DGW1949]

I was not meaning to be "saucy" either about the mold size. I was just thinking maybe Lee had a new mold out that I did not know about.Bby the way M'Bogo I have not fired a 45 colt load yet where the cases filled out in the chamber like the old 38/40 and 44/40 do?They seem to come out of the cylinder "sooty" no matter what the charge of powder is.However they are worse with very lite loads. olsherm

Yeah, on the sooty cases. The 45LC is famous for that, and the lighter the load, the more soot you'll see.
In my foggy brain, I seem to recall that you are using 7-something grains of Unique. If you get that up past 8 with a 250-ish bullet, proper neck-tension and a heavy crimp, me thinks that you'll be seeing a lot less "blowby".
FWIW, most 6-shooters seem to prefer 8.5, which has perty-much been the standard charge behind a 250 bullet for more years than any of us here has been alive.

Hope this helps.

DGW

 

[M'BOGO]

Hey Chief, did you get the issue of Reloader last fall with the write up, and load data for the midframe Flattop .45. Excellent read. Wouldn't worry about max standard .45 loads. Ruger green lighted +P .45 ACP, so the ceiling is clear to 23,000 psi.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Hey Chief, did you get the issue of Reloader last fall with the write up, and load data for the midframe Flattop .45. Excellent read. Wouldn't worry about max standard .45 loads. Ruger green lighted +P .45 ACP, so the ceiling is clear to 23,000 psi.

No I did not. Reloader is hard to find around here. I tried to subscribe twice and nada....................

 

[Rclark]

carefull of not going beyond SAMMI Pressures as My 45 is the Smaller frame 45C FT BH.

Not to worry. Your medium flattop (and New Vaquero) will handle what Brian Pearce calls Tier 2 loads ... as stated above that is around 2000+psi. Note that he puts modern USFA/Colt revolvers in this tier as well. Definitely not in ROL territory of 30,000psi, but still plenty of head room above anemic SAMMI loads. If you were shooting a 1900 Colt SAA, then I would be 'worried' about staying under SAMMI (actually it would be a blackpowder cartridge only revolver) . FYI, I sure do enjoy both my medium frame .45 Colt flattop convertibles. Keepers!

Here is some good reading that should put your mind at ease :

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/HL%20246partial.pdf

 

[Chief_10Beers]

carefull of not going beyond SAMMI Pressures as My 45 is the Smaller frame 45C FT BH.

Not to worry. Your medium flattop (and New Vaquero) will handle what Brian Pearce calls Tier 2 loads ... as stated above that is around 2000+psi. Note that he puts modern USFA/Colt revolvers in this tier as well. Definitely not in ROL territory of 30,000psi, but still plenty of head room above anemic SAMMI loads. If you were shooting a 1900 Colt SAA, then I would be 'worried' about staying under SAMMI (actually it would be a blackpowder cartridge only revolver) . FYI, I sure do enjoy both my medium frame .45 Colt flattop convertibles. Keepers!

Here is some good reading that should put your mind at ease :

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/HL%20246partial.pdf

You sure got that right, definitely a Keeper fer sure and fer certain :mrgreen:

Thanks for the Link.........................