I felt like I was cluttering up KRal's FA97 post asking about his cast bullets so I'll start a new thread.

Looking for some input on hunting (wide meplat) cast bullet designs that have worked for you in 45 Colt Freedom Arms 97's. My dad and I found a nice 97 over the holidays. Right now I'm away working for the next month, so I am just trying to compile information.
The goal is a 250-280 gr cast WFN bullet at 1000-1200 fps
I've done searches and read on this, and I think every other forum, trying to find a few choices to start with. I keep waiting for my computer to say "you've reached the end of the internet."

Montana Bullet Works has some pretty good choices for the 97 (<1.6-1.61 OAL) but KRal had accuracy problems with the 250 WFN most likely associated with (he thinks) "cylinder throat fit". KRal what size did you order?

Anyone have any recipes that work well for them in their 97's?

Bullet? FPS? Sized to? Lube? Alloy?

I'd really love to get a WFN 280gr to accurately run at about 1100fps, but the Keith 255 will also get a try. I understand that my own experiments will ultimately be the only way to get what I'm looking for, and I have yet to measure dimensions of my revolver. But I've always found it helps to have info from past experiments in my notes when I jump into a new project.

Oh and since it was a new gun, I'll post a picture.

Have you looked at Cast Performance's offerings?

beartooth has a great 280 i'd suspect would work well.

Zac, my bullet dimension is .452. When I get a chance I'm gonna try some .451's. Out of the above mentioned bullet companies, MBW has the largest selection: weight, size, shape, etc. and are cheaper. There's nothing wrong with their bullets, just that paticular one I used in my FA does not shoot. I shoot that same bullet in my SBHH 44mag and its stupid accurate! That's why I started with it in the 97. I'm glad you started this post, hopefully some good info will hit the board.

I have looked at Beartooth and cast performance. I focused on the MBW because of a softer alloy (22bhn is closer to what I would cast at home) and they offer Veral's LBT WFN bullets. I figure I will get the LBT WFN mold if I find a bullet that works. Their prices are good too.

I have a few of the Miha molds but they will be too long for this gun. I know I can trim brass and crimp over but that stuff is beyond my beginner knowledge at this point. I want to at least have a couple of years loading by the books under my belt before I go experimenting outside published loads.

I've just recently loaded some 44mag 255gr keith style bullets that H2OBUG gave me. When I get a chance, I'm gonna try them in my FA 83. If they shoot in it, I'll probably try some keith's in my 97 and see how they shoot.

My '97 is a 44 special, but I cannot get the LBT bullets to chamber. The throats are too tight. I have sized some WFN's down to .429 and they still will not chamber. I have no trouble at all with Keith type bullets sized to .430.

Thanks, that's some good info.

While I have never tried shooting cast in my M97, I had some 300 gr cast loaded for a Ruger 45 Colt. They would not load into the cylinder of the 97 45 Colt-- too long. I will guess that the M97 cylinder is considerably shorter than some other 45 Colts. But that is to be expected with the tiny size of the 97. Even though it is made of good stuff, I do not punish mine. I do not shoot the 41 mags that I load for the M83 in my m97 41 mag. I keep them down to factory levels for the pretty little 97.

I have 2 ea. unopened 265 Gr Cast Performance 45 Cal Bullets
If you think you can use them I will make you a deal or we can swap for someting. They are WFNGC--had planed to use them on my 45 Colt but have stuck with the old 250 XTP

H20, I won't be back in the country for another couple of months. I might contact you for a trade when I get back but can't do anything at this point.

I know there has to be someone out there getting good groups with a "hunting" cast bullet in the 97. One thing I liked about going with a FA is that because of their production tolerances there's better chance of "it worked for his gun, pretty good chance it'll work for mine" scenario. Not a sure thing but better odds than my Ruger's.

My hope is that posting it here (I might post it over at Castboolits also to get the Pb guys input) we can nail down 4-5 hunting designs that seem to work with FA's dimensions. With the 1.61 OAL limitation a lot of my Ruger 45 notes don't apply here so I'm trying to expand on my notes.

I know Brian Pearce did an article on the 97 in 45 Colt (Nov 2004 Handloader 231) I think I'm going to order a backcopy and see what he was shooting. He usually has at least a couple of cast loads mixed in with his results.