RPS has offered some email correspondence between himself and John Kort.  RPS wanted to share his experience with how helpful John was to anyone wanting to learn.

A missed honor of my life was to have taken John Kort’s hand into my own for a hearty shake while looking the gentleman straight into his eyes. Life was in my way with another great project; sometimes one opportunity closes doors to others. We had numerous discussions by e-encounters over a decade or two, a small sample herewith. John took notice of a bullet design I had Lee produce for me and for anyone else who so desired. That “boolit” met my goal for practically endless shooting with loads of less than perfect black powder(Elephant and Goex) without losing close large target fast shooting accuracy in lever action rifles in 45 Colt. Other cowboys liked it too and soon they adapted .357 and .44 versions, later on quite a few variations. John had the PRS boolit shooting long range impressively, but he saw room for improvement and proceeded to have his wonderful specimens in 45 Colt and 44WCF. I have a supply of John’s 45 Colt bullets cast by him from his mold. I will put them to use, following his loading recipe on special occasions to honor the Master Rifleman.

PigeonRoost Slim, aka: prs 

w30wcf - 02-07-2015 06:59 AM

Vern,

I was using 40 grs Goex FFG. It required close to .3" of compression but shot well, shot after shot. 

By comparison, 40 grs of Swiss requires about .2" of compression and 36 grs. about .1".

Regarding primers....back in the late 1800's, early 1900's b.p. primers were much milder than primers used for smokeless. So much so that they would not ignite smokeless powder reliably.

Of course the b.p.'s available back then were of better quality than those of today with the exception of Swiss and now Olde Enysford.

As I recall, Mike [Michael Venturino] preferred the magnum primers because he felt that the hotter flame would help reduce the fouling of Goex. I have tried them with Goex and did not see much if any difference in comparison to standard primers.

I do most of my b.p. shooting with standard primers and they have performed well.

I found that Schutzen fouls maybe just a tiny bit less than Goex and will not run well with the standard 2 lube groove for many more than a dozen rounds before accuracy starts to deteriorate.

With your bullet or the Accurate "Ideal" lube capacity bullet it performs very well.

I have not used Swiss with the Accurate 45-260F ("Ideal" lube capacity) and prefer to use it with the standard 2 lube groove original 454190 where it works very well with it's less fouling and moist burning characteristics.

For me anyway, your bullet or the 45-260F is right at home with Goex, Schuetzen, Kik & Diamondback.

My MArlin's barrel is .4525" in the groove. The .457" bullet decreases the windage in the chamber, resulting in less powder fouling on the outside of the case and sizes down nicely for the 24" trip.

Annealing the case neck pretty much eliminates the fouling on the outside of the case.

In addition, the larger bullet can be used in a fired case and just crimped in if one wants to go that way. That's ok for leverguns but may be an issue in revolvers.

Have fun!

John

prs - Sat, 07 Feb 2015 21:47:51

Thank you for the great tips and information. I looked at your improved boolits last night and they are as cast and nice'n chubby as you stated. We can count among our blessing that we do not have to contend with the primers of the early center fire/pin fire era. Goex and Elephant were the necessity behind the "invention" of the PRS boolit. In rifles, even the 454190 fouled out quickly. Marlin Cowboy Limited rifles should not be much different of groove diameter, I will slug again as I get into the project. Other "experts" have told me it is unnecessary to anneal 45Colt brass, but a few of us go the extra mile. I have done so not for accuracy so much, but rather to keep the blow back reduced when shooting filler loads at SASS activities. I will practice with PRS boolits and measure twice before seating, etc. It will be some time before your pills go down range, but I will report then.

Vern

w30wcf - Sun, 08 Feb 2015 05:13:40 

Vern,

one thing I neglected to mention.....if Mike V had tried your bullet he would have found out that standard primers would work just fine.

I guess it is a good thing that you did not shoot the 454190 with Swiss, for if you had, you would not have found a need for a bullet with a larger lube capacity and as a result, there might have not been any development for large lube capacity bullets. Perish the thought!

1 more day closer to spring!

How far are you from Ridgway, Pa.?

John

prs - Sun, 08 Feb 2015 15:43:05

I did develop a lube that would allow use of 454190 in my rifles for a typical match without losing all resemblance of CAS "accuracy" (big target @ close range). Mike advised me to NOT use the 454190 in the tube mag because the larger diameter rounds could stack bullet metplat to primer and the 454190 has a metplat too small to be safe. I am not so sure, but I was already toying with the idea to have mold made. Mike is a fellow Marshall University grad, he was a senior when I was a sophomore and I recall seeing him at the nearby gun store (Mack and Daves) and also in Smith Hall were we each had some classes; but did not know him then and we have only e-communicated since and have not done that for quite some long time. Mike grew-up in nearby Williamson, WV, a railroad and coal mining community.

I am abut 400 miles one way from that town in PA, Google Maps says almost 7 hours one way.

Vern

w30wcf - Mon, 09 Feb 2015 17:47:05

Vern,

Interesting that you and Mike attended the same university, although a few years apart.

I would agree with Mike's advice regarding the nose diameter and a couple of years ago I thought that a bullet that would follow the profile of the 454190 closely with a larger meplat would be the "cat's meow" so to speak.

With that thought in mind I contacted Tom at Accurate Molds and gave him some dimensions. I also decided that, in keeping with the traditional .44-40 style rifle bullet, to have the forward edge of the front band slightly exposed. The result was the 45-260B

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_deta...=45-260B-D.png

Thankfully, it works great with Swiss and now Olde Enysford.

John Boy & I typically get together in Ridgway a couple times a year. Usually for a few days the week after mother's day and for the Lever Action Jubilee usually the weekend in mid October. If you would like to join us sometime that would be great!

John

prs - 02-28-2015 04:33 PM

Today, I assembled 50 practice rounds to get sighted-in and to practice my shooting mechanics, plus to get fresh fire formed cases. These are put together with my PRS boolits, Schuetzen ffg, CCI-LP mag primers, and PRS lube in new Starline cases.

The mag primers are unnecessary, I hope they do no harm, I have them and no other use for them. The boolits are sized .454 and I used my RCBS .454 Cowboy internal sizer (I kept the bell minimal and in hind sight I could have used a tiny bit more). I used a .030" fiber card over the powder because I am using the same RCBS internal sizer to compress the powder and that "spud" has tapered shoulders. I used .27" compression of 39gr of the powder and card, which is more compression than I have ever used before, but the base of the boolits were mated just firmly to the top of the card. I used a very light crimp, not even fully setting the case mouth to the lead in the crimp groove.

When I load the Accurate Ideal versions I will do as you mentioned about the .45/70 lube/size dies and the internal sizer. The cases then shall be fire formed and maybe 40g ffg will fit  I have some SPG lube that I may change over to, but it takes a long time to purge one lube with another in a Lyman 450.

Do you load your bench rounds to be longer so as to be at or near the rifling or do you keep it pretty much standard length?

I found out that I am spoiled rotten by the progressive press I have been using. Loading single stage on my turret press is SLOOOOW.

By the time the snow melts, March winds will be a plague, so it may still be some time before I get much practice in.

Vern

 w30wcf - 03-02-2015 04:56 AM

Vern,

Thank you for the report. Nice to hear that you are making progress.

I load my bench rounds to the standard length. At one time I tried loading them longer and did not see any difference in accuracy.

To expand the case mouths to accept the .457" bullets, I use the Lyman .45-70 "M" expander button. I personally like the "M" type die for all the calibers I load since it allows the cast bullet to be lined up well with the case i.d. http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/dies/pistolmdie.php

I do know that the early Balloon head cases hold 3-4 grs more powder than modern cases based on some tests I have done between the two types. Your amount of compression sounds similar to mine using 40 grs by weight with Schuetzen powder in fired cases (R-P brand).

In addition to the standard 40 gr cartridge, U.M.C. did offer 28 gr and 35 gr cartridge options. Winchester loaded the 45 Colt with 38 grs. of b.p.

I will certainly be glad when this winter is over.

If you would like to correspond by regular email, mine is w30wcf@roadrunner.com

John