You have major bullet manufacturers like Speer, Sierra, Hornady, Nosler and others...and a host of fine small manufacturers also....and with mold makers it’s even a larger list....NEI, RCBS, LYMAN, and more...plus a large number of commercial casters.... The whole idea here is not to list all the companies...because I would surely miss many. Look in the back of the latest GUN DIGEST and see what I mean. There are also a number of excellent regional companies in the bullet business, and I’m sure I’m not acquainted with most of them...thou I would love to try their products...nothing like going out and testing new bullets.

When you add in the major calibers....like 30, 357, 41, 44, 45, 475, 500....then throw in a few rifle calibers like 358, 44, 45...it begins to get out of control with numbers....when I started getting into this and all the possible selections I felt like an octopus on roller skates. So this is a limited look see, and if there is interest we will go deeper later.....

Probably the two most favorite calibers of mine are the 357 and 45. That’s in rifles and handguns. I am still miffed that Ruger dropped the 357 Maxi chambering. Especially because it would have made a fine small leveraction rifle round...when you look at my articles on the 357 magnum from rifles you will see that the little round gives near the turn of the century(19th into 20th) ballistics from the vaulted 30-30 of that era. Can we only dream of what the 357 maxi would do in a rifle. I’m still thinking of opening my Winchester 94/357 mag levergun to the cartridge, just to see......

Also I am miffed that outside of Winchester/Browning modern 1886s the 454 round is too hot for leveractions....I have seen some very fine Winchester Big Bore conversions that just couldn’t sustain full loads over several hundred rounds. Sometimes you just can’t get all your racoons up into one tree.....no matter how many dogs try.

I like all calibers, and will cover them...but like all shooter/reloaders my eye falls on what pleases me most. And the 45 does that for me. I like it in handguns, revolvers and autoloaders...in rifles of handgun calibers and rifle calibers....from 45 ACP to .458.....and there are jacketed bullets and mold designs to serve the most picky shooters....

SPEER...hornady...SIERRA

Just like with cast bullets knowing the hardness for the game animal hunted is essential..with jacketed bullets we must be careful in our selections for hunting. Speer, Sierra and Hornady are three of the largest sellers of jacketed bullets and in 45 caliber they offer the shooter some very different selections...for example the 350 grain bullets for .458 bores. Speer’s 350 grain jacketed flat soft nose with a ballistic coefficient of .232 is one fine bullet out of a 45-70. Speer states it is a tough jacket for large game up in the elk and moose class....and it is. Where Hornady’s 350 grain #4502 is a round nose soft tip.....but it is a very heavy jacketed bullet designed for African hunting along with the very fine Hornady #4504/500 grainer of the same profile and toughness...an elephant bullet.

I was taken to task by a reader about writing that I would use the 350 gr Hornady on elephant. Well over 55.5 grains of Acc.2015 I have fired this bullet to almost 2200 fps and near 3800 lbs of muzzle energy....that is more power than John Taylor’s 450 B.P. British he used in Africa on everything in the 1930s. And the Hornady bullet is designed for this kind of large and tough game....I would definitely use it on cape buffalo as well as elephant....but that is outside of most of our hunting today because of the horrendous costs involved in hunting Africa’s big five. But the point is not what you can do with the Hornady it’s what you can’t do with it.

I was told by a friend that the Hornady is not good for the big bears of the north....his point and it is a good one...is that you need not only penetration on these giants but expansion for deep shock...and Speer’s 350 grainer and their 400 grainer will do just that. His feeling was the Hornady’s wouldn’t expand enough to do that on the brown and polar bears. Since he has harvested these big bears...I offer his interesting view and advise. As always you need to test for yourself, I use wet phone books and for strong bullets, layers of 3/4 inch plywood every 12 inches of books.

But for most of us where large deer and an occasional elk is the bill of fare....the 300 grain jacketed bullets are grand. Some of the 400 grainers are also. Sierra and Hornady...both make fine 300 grain flat nose bullets. Hornady’s is a hollow point number 4500. Being a hollow point it will be very good on deer. Speer makes the 350 grain flat point we spoke of and that is the .458 bullet for elk and moose. Again my Marlin 45-70 (24 inch barrel) using Acc 2015 powder pushes this bullet well over 2100 fps. ReL#7 around 49 grains also is in the same ballistics class. And Speer does recommend their 350 grainer for the big bears.

The 400 grain bullet for the 45-70 for me is Speers Flat-SP. Reloader #7 at 50 grains will push it to 1900 fps, again moose and elk will fall well to a properly placed shot. And I can break 2000 fps with 54 grs of Acc. 2015.....But as I have said in the past, when you start to get up over 1800 fps with these heavy weights let recoil be your guide. Not some mythical need for every ounce of power you can squeeze out. The 400 grainer at 1800 fps is giving near 2900 ft.lbs. And at 2000 it is over 3500 lbs, sounds like a substantial difference but the question is, do we need all that....and at 2000 fps with a three inch high at 100 yards it is down 4 ½ inches at 200 and only 14 inches at 250 yards. These are actual fired down range figures...At 1800 fps with the same 100 yard three plus inches it’s down 7 inches at 200 and 19 inches at 250....starting at 2000 fps it is traveling at 1300 fps at 250 yards...starting at 1800 fps at 250 yards it is still going almost 1200 fps. Are the differences enough for everyday hunting?

Personally there is nothing on this northern American land mass that I can’t take with the Speer 350 gr Flat-SP and the ballistics are better and the recoil is less.

There are a goodly number of mold makers that produce all kinds of fine .458 cast bullets. I haven’t tried them all (wish I could) but the ones I personally like I will list. I was surprised the other day when a package came from MidwayUSA. Not because I got a Midway order...that happens around the Kelly household all the time. I was surprised because of the three new molds in 45 caliber of LEE manufacture I ordered. For inexpensive molds they are exceptionally well made and the three bullets turned out to be excellent performers. One I was well acquainted with, the other two very new....

The first is their 459-405-HB. Yes a hollow base .458 bullet. The hollow is shallow and I find what it does best is transfer the weight balance of the bullet to the nose. Firing up the 20 lb pot I melted 18 pounds of Magnum Shot (6% antimony) and dropped in 1 and half pounds of tin. Giving about a 1 in 15 ratio. The bullets cast very hot (I like frosty bullets..they heat treat better from the mold), and dropped into a pail of water and left to sit for 24 hours tested at a hardness of 18 and a weight of just over 390 grains. Over 2000 fps is easy with this bullet. But I was just testing accuracy from my Marlin so I used 2400 powder and lower velocities. 32 grains pushed this new cast bullet at an easy 1600 fps and into 1 and a quarter inches at 100 yards...I knew I had a winner. And this bullet is shaped for longer range...with a tapered blunt nose and a small flat, it will drive deep into large game...

457-340-F is Lee’s 340 grain rounded flatnose...this blunt bullet would be the one for the higher velocity type express loads from the 45-70. It’s a small compact bullet for it’s weight, made from 1 in 20 mix it dropped at 344 grains...at 1800 fps it tore thru 36 inches of very wet phone books with a radial channel of three inches tapering down to 1 ½ and blowing a two inch exit. I’m sure it expanded.

The third was a bullet originally designed for muzzle loaders....it has a very deep hollow base and a good wide flat nose. At 1 in 20 it weighed in at 300 grs though it is marketed at 298 grains. And with harder lead it has run around 290 for me. It is the deer bullet for both the rifle and the handgun. Because it drops at around 456 from my mold and the lube grooves are facing towards the muzzle and are deep, it easily sizes down to .452 without distortion. It is a great killer from my Ruger/45 Colts and my 454s. Just lubed but not sized, and loaded to heavy velocities at harder alloys around 1 in 16..it also gives good accuracy from rifles in 45-70. I can push this number to 2300 to 2400 fps and with it’s flat nose and hollow base it transmits a lot of shock to the animal. I have been using this bullet since the early 1980s. I even load it backwards over 8 grains of Bullseye in 45 Colt cases for a deadly 45 caliber type reversed hollow based wadcutter from my single action handguns.

Speaking of Lee molds and handgun bullets in 45...they have a new 45 bullet at 300 grains...wait till you read this....have you always wanted an LBT/WFN 45? Well Lee’s new 300 grain is gas checked and has two crimping grooves...and it has a rounded taper to a very large flat nose that is wider than the 45 caliber LBT/WFN flatnose! At 1700 fps from my F/A single action 454, I couldn’t keep it in wet phone books. It blew out 2 and ½ inch exit holes! And it has a very deep lube groove for the longer rifle barrels. I haven’t had a chance to fire it from my Rossi 24 inch 45 Colt chambered levergun yet...but I’m sure it is going to be one of the top bullets from that gun. And LEE’s double cavity mold with handles was about $18 from MidwayUSA.

At a sedate 1200 fps from my Ruger 4 and 5/8ths inch barrel...(over 18.5 grains 2400 this bullet was giving a strong 1100 fps...and at 20 grains 1200 fps) they were hovering around 1 inch at 25 yards. That’s over 900 ft.lbs. of muzzle punch with a very wide flat nose to transmit shock and dump energy. Lee also makes this same bullet shape and weight for the 44 magnums and 444 rifle round, we will get to that in the 44 section.

From 292 grains to 535 grains LYMAN has them all in 458. Their 292 grain is a remake of their old Gould Bullet at 300 grains. Jim Taylor used to size this bullet down and shoot it out of his 45 Colt/Rugers...with exception accuracy I might add. For an express load out the 45-70s it is an excellent bullet...and that is what it was originally designed for. This is the 45 bullet Keith used to size down and shoot in his Colt S/As in the 1920s before he went to the 44 special. It’s number is 457191. 457122 is a 330 grain hollow nose design with a flat tip....for those that want something a little heavier than the 191...this is it. You can drop a BB in the hollownose channel of the mold and get a near 340 grain solid nose bullet with it also. 457124 is a 385 grain round nose and 457643 is a 400 grain flat nose with two crimping grooves...I would go with this bullet over their 457193 which is the 405 grain flat nose but it has a smaller nose and one crimping groove.

When you start to get above 400 grains the 45-70 case becomes a bit limited as to powder room. You can still get up to 1600 fps with the heavy weights and careful reloading, but for me I see no need for them...outside of having a lot of fun shooting them...457406 is a 475 gr roundnose and 457658 is a 480 grain sharp spire point. The 658 would be great for long range target shooting. 457125 is a round nose 500 grain and 457132 is a tapered 535 grain round nose...both I think are too much of a good thing for the 45-70. But are very good in the 458 Win Mag. If I were going to ever hunt elephant again and to use a cast bullet, I would use Garrett’s 530 grain flat nose cast ammo at 1660+ fps from my Marlin 45-70. It would do the business and do it well.

RCBS makes 3 cast 458s all with the same nose design. A crimp groove and slight shoulder in front of it, with a rounded nose to a good flat tip. They come in 300, 405, and 500 grains....the nice features about these bullets are the good flat nose and they are designed for gas checks. When sooting soft lead at moderate velocities I like gas checks.

Besides the great LEE 45 Colt mold we spoke of above....Cast Performance Bullets makes some nice handgun bullets in all calibers...but they have some special ones in 45. Using the LBT styles .452 caliber bullets in 260, 335, 360, 370, and a monster at 395 grains. With a wide nose of the WFN design these bullets are killers...and of course they use Apache Blu lube and they are all gas checked.

I just had to do it....as much as I see little use for the 395 grainer outside of moose and the large bears of the north...I had to play with it. In my F/A 454 loaded in 45 Colt cases...this bullet has two crimping grooves so with long cylinders or short it can be used. It is .888 of an inch long...as apposed to the 335 grainer that is .853 inches long. So I had to use the Colt size cases in my 454. I started with a moderate load of 18.5 grains/2400 powder and got a respectable 882 fps. At 23 grs and near 1250 fps...I stopped...I backed off to 22 grains and near 1200 fps because the accuracy at 25 yards was a ½ inch less than the 23 gr load. At an inch and 3/4ths I know I now have my load with this bullet. It is a freight train! Keith’s words about momentum rang in my head as I shot all kinds of things with this heavy weight....phone books, fine sand dry washes (went over 18 inches deep), trees and telephone poles. I doubt very seriously if you could keep this bullet inside any animal in the lower 48...even up to small moose with side shots. I’m really thinking about trying it on elk this season.

Usually with a handgun on elk...I keep my shots at quartering to side shots out to 100 yards or so. A direct shot into the front chest where I’m sure I can hit the animal so I have a good chance at the spine is also a taker for me with a handgun in 45 caliber. I don’t think that is going to be much of a concern with this bullet at 1200 to 1300 fps...it would probably travel long ways thru an elk and the wound channel and the disruption of flesh and muscle will be vast.

Lyman and RCBS both make molds in the Keith bullet design to close to the old Man’s original shape. Lyman’s 452424 is the 255 grain Keith flat base and the 452490 is the same but gas checked. Keith started with this design in the late 1920s. Over the 70 plus years of it’s existence I don’t think there was a more popular shape in 357/44/45 for handguns. One can only imagine the numbers of game animals and varmints this design has taken over the years. 452651 is a tapered flat nose design at 325 grains and gas checked...with two crimping grooves and Lyman’s usual single deep lube groove. I haven’t tried this bullet but it looks very good.

RCBS’s 45-255 is truly Keith’s design. Compared to my very old Keith mold design in 45 it’s almost an exact copy...except for the rounded lube groove..which allows the bullets to fall from the mold better...better than the old square lube groove cut. 20.5/2400 under this bullet or the Lyman gives near 1340 fps at 29,000 PSI out of my 7 ½ inch Ruger...not much lives in the woods that could sustain a good hit with this load all the way up to elk. Yes there are heavier cast bullets for the bigger game today, but that doesn’t make the 255 grain Keiths any less effective than they were yesterday or 70 years ago.....

LEE’s 300 grainer at 1200 fps from the Rugers takes the place of the old 300 grain Gould bullet that had to be sized down from 458. As stated before it has a WFN nose, two crimp grooves and a gas check. At a 1 in 20 alloy gas checked and A/Blu lube the fouling at 1200 fps is really nothing, and this bullet will expand in substantial weight animals. With a 1 in 15 alloy from my 454 at 1700 plus fps it’s in the commercial loaded 45-70 class of ammo from the various short leveractions so popular today. Winchester’s jacketed 300 grain hollow point 45-70 load gives 1818 fps from my 16 inch custom Marlin leveraction. This LEE bullet in the 454 is like having a rifle on your hip.

If we have to match the bullet to the game animal with 458 jacketed bullets because of the different jacket thickness and light to heavy bullet construction for rifles....we have to be doubly careful with handgun bullets in 452 caliber.

For example many of the really light weight 452 bullets are made for the 45 ACP and it’s velocities. If you take a 200 grain Speer hollow point and load it to 2000 fps in a 454 it is going to disintegrate when it hits anything substantial. It may be fun blowing up filled water bottles but hit a good sized hog in the ribs and the bullet won’t get thru the gristle plate they have. And you have a wounded and probably a lost pig. Speer also makes what seems to be a heavy weight jacketed hollow point at 260 grains. But I have had this bullet expand in deer from a 45 ACP at near 800 fps. I don’t think it will hold together well enough at 1500 fps or higher on large animals. The XTP class of bullets are also in this light construction...and must be tested first before you use them on large game...no matter the weight of the bullet.

If a bullet won’t pass thru 12 inches or more of wet phone books after first going thru 3/4 ths inches on plywood, I wouldn’t use it on deer and above. Plywood is tough stuff and not even hogs shoulders are as resistant and strong as it is....my hunting bullets usually go well over 20 inches of phone books after the plywood.

Except for the XTP 300 grainer (Speer) which failed the plywood test at velocities over 1200 to 1300 fps...most of the 300 grain 452 bullets are beginning to make the transition to heavier jackets and harder cores....but the word is...test before you hunt.....

I have only touched on what’s out there for the 45s....I hope it helps somewhat.....

1.st photo 1.Lee’s 405 hollow base

2. " 292 wide hollow base

3. " 340 gr. Solid.

2.nd photo 1. 370 gr WFN Cast Performance

2. 360gr WFN " "

3. 335gr WFN " "

4. 300gr WFN Lee mold....452

3^rd. Photo 1. LEE’s 405 narrow hollow base

2. LEE’s 292 BP bullet’s wide hollow base...