I have recently acquired a Lyman # 410663 Snover mold. I cast a few bullets, but the lube grooves look pretty shallow. Is this mold made for BP shooting? Do you think enough lube will be contained in those grooves to make it suitable for my new Shiloh? Thanks for the input.
P.S. I am going to order the PJ Creedmore mold for my .40-65 and live happily ever after, but I have the rifle and am itching to shoot it.
Lyman Snover mold okay with BP?
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hat creek
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- Location: California
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Clarence
- Posts: 2172
- Joined: Tue Dec 24, 2002 7:38 pm
- Location: Hill Country, TX
Hat Creek,
I've used the Snover bullet in both .40-65 and .40-70, and not had problems with running out of lube, although the small size of the grooves bothers me, too. The Snover has by far the best ballistic of any .40 bullet I've shot, including the RCBS CSA 400, SAECO 745, Lyman Schmitzer, and a custom Hoch mould that casts the same bullet as the Lyman 400 gr. flatnose with the exception that my nose is only 1/8" across the flat.
All the semi-spitzer and spitzer bullets shot well out to 400, but took 3-5 MOA more elevation than the ballistic programs would predict by 550-600 yds. Only the Snover and Hoch were predictable. A BC at standard conditions for the Snover in .41 or so; for the Hoch, it is .37 or so. The other bullets need higher BC's to describe their flight to 400 yds, but lower ones to model out to 600 yds., indicating that their BC's are decreasing when they drop below sonic velocity, while the advanced round-nose designs BC's actually increase slightly-read Dr. Gunn's articles of several years ago in Garbe's magazine.
Incidentally, the .45 Gunn modified bullet has all the good characteristics of the Snover. There are Gunn designs for the .40, and I intend to test both them and the Creedmore designs.
Clarence
I've used the Snover bullet in both .40-65 and .40-70, and not had problems with running out of lube, although the small size of the grooves bothers me, too. The Snover has by far the best ballistic of any .40 bullet I've shot, including the RCBS CSA 400, SAECO 745, Lyman Schmitzer, and a custom Hoch mould that casts the same bullet as the Lyman 400 gr. flatnose with the exception that my nose is only 1/8" across the flat.
All the semi-spitzer and spitzer bullets shot well out to 400, but took 3-5 MOA more elevation than the ballistic programs would predict by 550-600 yds. Only the Snover and Hoch were predictable. A BC at standard conditions for the Snover in .41 or so; for the Hoch, it is .37 or so. The other bullets need higher BC's to describe their flight to 400 yds, but lower ones to model out to 600 yds., indicating that their BC's are decreasing when they drop below sonic velocity, while the advanced round-nose designs BC's actually increase slightly-read Dr. Gunn's articles of several years ago in Garbe's magazine.
Incidentally, the .45 Gunn modified bullet has all the good characteristics of the Snover. There are Gunn designs for the .40, and I intend to test both them and the Creedmore designs.
Clarence
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hat creek
- Posts: 26
- Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2003 12:19 pm
- Location: California
Clarence...thanks for the info. I, too, have found that the Gunn Modified in my .45-90 is a great bullet style. Out to 560 yards the groups I have gotten are tight and predictable. I have not had a chance to try it out farther than that. I was hoping the PJ creedmore in 420 grains will approximate the same results in my .40-65. Good things have been said on this forum about that PJ bullet.