Lee Hollow Base Bullet Mold

[Niederlander]

Gentlemen,  Who here has used the Lee hollow base .45-70-405 bullet in a Trapdoor?  How did it work?  Was it worth the trouble?  I've had the mold for at least twenty five years, and finally figured out how to make it work today.

[Drydock]

All my trapdoors except for the H&R loved the thing.  Keep the hollowbase empty and seat the bullet on the powder, no wads.

[Niederlander]

What did you size it to, or did you shoot it as cast?

[LongWalker]

If it chambers unsized, i.e., if a dummy round loaded to the correct OAL will chamber, don't size it. 

When loaded with BP, my rifle loads are enough powder to give me ~1,300 fps with OAL ~2.80".   For shooting in a rifle, my carbine loads are ~2.42" with enough powder to get ~1150 fps; out to about 300 yards that matches up fairly well with the 1879-pattern sights on my rifle.  No wads.  Carbine loads are compressed by the bullet, rifle loads I'm using a compression die. 
 

[Drydock]

Pan lubed and unsized. 

[Niederlander]

Have you guys ever used it with smokeless powder?

[Sagebrush Burns]

I am just getting started working with it.  14.0 Unique gives about 1200fps in my Uberti trapdoor carbine.  Shoots OK, nothing special.

[LongWalker]

I'm just not a fan of smokeless powder in the trapdoors; I can generally get better accuracy and more-consistent velocity with BP.  What shooting I've done with smokeless in original trapdoors leads me to think that I get better results with a precisely-fitted bullet cast out of whatever alloy (wheelweights, lino, etc) than with soft hollow-based bullets.  Based on recovered bullets, I am not convinced the bullet is consistently bumping up to bore size. 

[Pitspitr]

+1 to everything Drydock said.

I have not tried it with smokeless, but tumble on a little allox and try it. You won't be out much

[Niederlander]

Loades some hollow based bullets with black powder lube over 13.0 grains of Trail boss.  Hope to try it out tomorrow.

[Niederlander]

Shot a few of them but the front sight fell off the first shot.  They all hit end on, though.  So I think they'll work.

[greyhawk]

Gentlemen,  Who here has used the Lee hollow base .45-70-405 bullet in a Trapdoor?  How did it work?  Was it worth the trouble?  I've had the mold for at least twenty five years, and finally figured out how to make it work today.

Thats my favourite mold for both my 45/70 and 45/75 - mostly because it hauls enough lube I can shoot string of shots without fouling out - however I modified it to give a flat base and a flat meplate - and I made a dummy base plug that gets me a 335 grain as well as the 405grain.

[Pitspitr]

Shot a few of them but the front sight fell off the first shot.

So you're back to utilizing your talent for breaking guns, huh? 

[Niederlander]

Sort of!  Just glued it on to test it, but that certainly didn't work.  I'm going to put it on with a hose clamp this time!

[LongWalker]

. . . I once saw a trapdoor that had the sights attached with a stick welder.  Just a thought. . . .

[Niederlander]

This one's been cut already, but will most likely be cut to carbine length.  Just want to make sure it will shoot before I go to the expense of having that done.

[LongWalker]

How long is the barrel now?