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.45 Colt Loads With 454424 Keith
Bullets In Mid-Frame Rugers
You never know where you’ll find a 454424 Keith lurking around.
Here’s Lee Precision’s 6- cavity banger of the legendary mold,
made by Lee’s custom shop.
Going through a shooting buddy’s casting and handloading gear after they’ve gone to the big shooting range in the sky is becoming an all-too-common occurrence. I was on my yearly pilgrimage to the Whittington Center in Raton, N.M. and a friend brought a truckload worth of my friend Denny’s handloading accessories. The proceeds would go to his widow.
I happened to snag an unused custom Lee Precision 6-cavity mold for the 45 Keith, as well as 300 pieces of new .45 Colt Starline brass. What my friend never got around to doing, I will make sure I do. I’m not knocking Denny; he simply ran out of time, as we all will, down the road. It will be used properly, hopefully before my clock runs out because we just never know.
Tank preheats his mold on a hot plate to save time and effort.
Casting
Many people speak poorly of Lee Precision molds. I can understand their frustration, but I love them! You just need to be patient. Once you unlock the key to operating them, you’ll love them, too. They’re the best bargain in town. You’ll never make cheaper cast bullets in your life, especially when scrounging your own lead. All they’ll cost is your time, which will be greatly offset by the sense of pride and satisfaction of making your own bullets.
A second or two after the sprue solidifies, swing your sprue
plate to make the cut easier and less stressful on the mold handle.
Gettin’ Started
After filling my RCBS casting furnace with lead alloy, I turn it on, as well as my single-burner electric hot plate for preheating my mold. I’ve learned it takes about the same amount of time to preheat the mold as it does for the alloy to melt and get up to temperature. This really saves time, because when the mold is up to temperature, your first cycle will drop perfect bullets, saving you the trouble of running 4, 5 or 10 cycles, or until perfect, wrinkle-free bullets drop from the mold.
Another trick to running a Lee 6-cavity mold is to swing your sprue plate 1-2 seconds after the sprue solidifies. This makes cutting the sprues easier and places less strain on the sprue plate handle. If the mold gets too hot, leaving lead smears on the mold top, simply cool it by touching the bottom to a damp sponge.
I have Lee 6-cavity molds I’ve used hard for over 20 years, and they still drop beautiful bullets. Some of the Lee bullet designs are also some of the most accurate in many of my guns. The fact that they cost less is just an added benefit.
After I cast my bullets, I powder coat them with polymer powder and size them using my Lee Automatic Processing Press (APP) — in this case, .452” for the .45 Colt. Now they’re ready to load.
Freshly cast bullets in their cavity ready to drop.
Favorite Loads
Old Elmer had things pretty well figured out when it came to the .45 Colt. Using mostly Colt Single-Actions, he had three load levels for it. He used 5-6 grains of Bullseye powder for light target loads, 10 grains of Unique for heavier everyday shooting, and 18.5 grains of 2400 for full-power hunting loads. He stated that full-house loads should only be loaded in guns designed for smokeless powder or guns with modern steel cylinders.
I’ve used all the above loads with success and admiration. Whenever I feel the need to get my Elmer on, these are the loads I shoot.
Using a Lee 6-cavity mold makes piles of bullets quickly — and easily. A true bargain!
New Powders
As great as Elmer’s loads are, it’s always good to have options, especially in these desperate powder times. You just never know what you’ll find on the shelf in your favorite shop. When you find a powder you like, stock up!
I have a dandy mid-frame Ruger New Vaquero from Tyler Gun Works. It’s slick as can be but is limited to what loads can be shot in it. It surely can’t digest some of the loads I use in my large-framed Rugers without damaging them. All the following loads are used with the Keith 454424 style bullet from the Lee mold, weighing 255-260 grains, depending on the alloy used.
Using the powders I currently have in stock, I used the following loads obtained from various loading manuals and other periodicals.
• I’ve become quite fond of Power Pistol propellant from Alliant. With 9-10 grains of this powder, I get 900-1,000 fps. Clean burning and accurate, it’s very useful and a great substitute for Unique powder.
• Longshot is another powder gaining favor with me, especially in .32 caliber guns, but it does well with the .45 Colt, too. Using 10-11 grains of Longshot will get you 1,000-1,100 fps, depending on barrel length.
• Accurate No. 5 is a useful, clean burning powder. Using 11-12 grains provides 900-1,000 fps for a good shooting load.
• Lastly, we have Ramshot Silhouette. Using 11-12 grains runs around 1,000-1,100 fps with good accuracy.
Final Shot
During these trying and often frustrating times of powder accessibility and price, it pays to know/have different options available to you. Just as there’s more than one way to skin a gopher, there’s more than one way to cast bullets and load ammo. And there’s more than one powder to use; you just need to educate yourself and learn the new ways to keep yourself shooting. And do it before your clock runs out.
