I am confused...PB over 1,000 FPS and no leading??? HOW????

[mroliver77]

Nope, can't be done. We all have read that you cannot shoot cast over 1500 without using a gas check.
thanks for your post
Jay

I shoot plain base cast bullets in single shot rifles.

Use a lead tin alloy in 25/1 and 30/1, in a 25-20 Single Shot, breechseating the bullet, I ran the velocity to 1745fps and it started to get a slight trace of leading.
If I recall the hardness of such alloys is in the 7.5 to 8.0 range on the brinell scale.
A .095" cork wad is placed .200" above the powder. IMR 4227, around 10.5 gr

[44man]

Yes, Elmer and the top shooters of the day had leading problems, I think I read everything Elmer and the top writers ever wrote.
I had too much experience with the problem in the .38's at very low velocities to boot.
The problem was the soft lead and is why the check was designed, also the little zinc disks on boolit bases. I forget the name, maybe Kaychuck. Seems there were more people working on solving the problem then I can count.
Elmer knew about fit and yet his boolit had to be just so or he would have fits with mold makers. Yet he still had leading problems.
I don't like checks, extra step and they cost too much so I make all of my molds PB. We shoot the .45, .44, .475, .500 JRH, .500 Linebaugh and the 45-70 revolvers with nothing but PB made from water dropped WW metal. Velocities range from 1160 to 1650 fps depending on caliber. The .475's and .50's run about 1350 fps.
Zero leading and yes, I do shoot a lot of 1" groups at 100 yards.
This is a 50 yard group shot with the JRH using my PB, 440 gr boolit at 1350 fps. The bore has never been cleaned since it was bought, all we do is clean and lube the cylinder pin when it gets dirty. You don't need anything fancy, just toughen the boolit.

[cajun shooter]

I remember when I first started around 1970 casting bullets. My mentor taught me how to use the Star both sizer and loading machine. He taught me how to cast using Saeco pots and H&G molds. What he didn't teach me and as I remember I never heard much talk about it in the Gun store was alloy. Maybe because he was a man of wealth he purchased all of his ingots from a unknown source. Any way it made the Lew's Lead Remover one of my best friends after any shooting session as I always had lead in the early days.

[MtGun44]

Doc Highwall,

You can do the same with ac wwt alloy - I do it all the time.

Bill

[geargnasher]

1. The gun must be clean, dimensionally correct, and have no rough spots or restrictions in the bore.
2. The ammunition must be loaded correctly with the right tools for cast boolits, this often precludes the use of off-the-shelf expander dies unless using "M" type expanders of the correct dimension.
3. As has been said a dozen times, the boolit must FIT THE GUN. This fit includes a careful selection of the boolit design to fit the throat/leade as well as the groove dimension if accuracy is to be maintained.
4. Use an alloy of the proper hardness/toughness for the velocity in question, you can go a lot softer than you might think.
5. Use a good lube.

I can get 1350 FPS out of air cooled wheel weights (12 bhn) out of a .44 Magnum with zero leading and shoot 2" groups at 100 yards all day long.

My .30-30 Marlin will go well past 1600 with the same alloy and gas-check boolits without the checks.

Gear

[mpmarty]

Heck I even get 1000fps or better out of cast in a 45acp. Never seen any leading. Whoever wrote that 1000 fps limit just isn't aware of how to properly load cast ammo.

[Bret4207]

Duplicate

[Bret4207]

Nope, can't be done. We all have read that you cannot shoot cast over 1500 without using a gas check.
thanks for your post
Jay

And it's gotta be HARD CAST!!!! Gotta have a HIGH Bhn reading!!! I don't shoot nuthin' but HARD CAST at 67.3 Bhn!!!! Anything less will lead!!!


Utter hogwash. Drives me nuts.

[x101airborne]

for two days I have been shooting my 44 cal 260 gr pb rounds pushed by 21 gr of 296 and a standard primer with wonderful results from a ruger redhawk. Yesterday I finally shot them from my marlin carbine. excellent accuracy, no leading, and no messing with gas checks!! Those rounds had to be pushing 1800 fps, although I havent chrony'd em yet.

[oldhickory]

I've been shooting my standard alloy, (12-13 BHN, non heat treated) .30 carbine Lyman 311410 boolits with 12.5gr. of 4227 for years without any leading, around 1600fps, sized to .309" and lubed with Lyman's "Orange Magic". Never had to clean a speck of lead out.

S&W 629-3, 20gr of 2400 with an RCBS 44-250-K boolit, (same alloy) no leading.

[357shooter]

Let me join in: Lead with 1-2% tin (not WW, that's pure lead) works great in a 6inch 357 magnum at 1100-1200 FPS. Super accurate and a clean shiny barrel.

[MakeMineA10mm]

I start using gas check designs exclusively at some point after 1200 FPS to 1400 FPS, depending on firearm/caliber/bore condition. Fit is critical, as said above. 1200-1250 in 9mm isn't tough with plain base designs, and 45-70 runs to 1300 FPS all day long. The alloy used isn't super-hard or exotic, just 92/6/2--or the equivalent of half Lino/half lead. I really DISLIKE having to mine the lead in a barrel, so I opt for a gas-checked boolit sooner than a lot of folks might.

I do exactly as Al, with a slightly softer alloy of WW + 2%.