Lyman 452389 Wadcutter in the Ranger 45

One of my favorite internet auction sites is the EBAY cast bullet section, they have several hundred bullet casting related items for sale or auction.

I found a single cavity .452 Lyman mold with handles for not too much, and wanting something to replace the RB in my 45 Ranger I jumped on it.

This morning I cast some up with pure lead that I also got on EBAY. They came out a little large at 454 but chambered fine in the Ranger 45 without sizing. With pure lead they came out at 195 grains.

I did a fill of 3800 PSI and shot two shots, refilling each time to check my zero established with 420's. I was about 6 inches high at 30 yards with a velocity of 875 on medium power, the two shots went into the same hole.

I readjusted the POI with the little Burris 2x7, filled to 4000 PSI and fired one over the chrony, I was greeted with a meek "Ping", and the velocity was 712 FPS, I fired another and got 875 again, and then fired three more shots of 1033, 1073. 1022.

I checked the pressure and was at 2600 PSI, so I refilled to 3600 PSI and was back at 1066 FPS.

Informal accuracy while doing the chrony testing indicated that at least at 30 yards, this should be a one holer at 500 FPE. With a 70 yard zero, it is never more than 1.5 inches from the POI out to 80 yards where it still has 390 FPE.

I think I have found my plinking load and small/medium game for the Ranger, all in all I only have $50.00 in the mold.

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