Pistol reloaders, cast bullet?

[justinp61]

What is considered "hard cast"? I've read several different numbers. For instance, if one bullet has a Brinell hardness of 15, how much harder is one with a Brinell hardness of 20?

I have some Berrys 165gr .40 caliber hollow base heavy copper wash, the lead has a Brinell hardness of 16, does the heavy copper wash add to the hardness?

Thanks.

 

[jwink]

I shoot the very same bullet in my M&P, only thing I can say is that they shoot well, and I don't get any leading to speak of just very minor copper deposits.

 

[Uncle Bruce]

What is considered "hard cast"? I've read several different numbers. For instance, if one bullet has a Brinell hardness of 15, how much harder is one with a Brinell hardness of 20?

I have some Berrys 165gr .40 caliber hollow base heavy copper wash, the lead has a Brinell hardness of 16, does the heavy copper wash add to the hardness?

Thanks.

How did you test the lead? What did the bullet test on the copper wash?

 

[JSH]

Worst leading I ever had was with some hard alloy. My thoughts were it would skid a ways before grabbing the rifling, handgun and rifle. Once leading starts, it will only get worse. Anyone that says you can shoot it out with a jacketed round……. I will just say good luck with that.

 

[JohnW...ski]

I shoot light loads in .38 Spec., .45 ACP, and .45 Colt using 11 to 12 BHN alloy. My .22 Jet uses a gas check with 15.4 BHN alloy made up of lead and lynotype, this is similar to Lyman #2 metal. I shoot the .22 Jet at around 1900 FPS, (at least that is what the reloading manual claims), very good accuracy and no leading.

 

[std7mag]

I shoot Missouri 185gr LSWC with 12 hardness in my 1911.
Velocity about 950fps.

Missouri #18 LRN 115gr in the 30 Carbine. Speed around 1,700fps.

I also use Missouri #18 LSWC 185gr out of my 45 Colt.

 

[Tangent]

Worst leading I ever had was with some hard alloy. My thoughts were it would skid a ways before grabbing the rifling, handgun and rifle. Once leading starts, it will only get worse. Anyone that says you can shoot it out with a jacketed round……. I will just say good luck with that.

Obturation is the issue. If you use a hard alloy and a light load the base of the bullet doesn't obturate and seal the bore fully allowing gas around the base creating leading. I have a Marlin 1894 in .44 mag, with hard cast .429 19 Brinell it was like a shotgun. When I used 15 BHN .432 bullets it shoots out the X -ring, it slugs to .431, so hardness appropriate to the load and being one thousandth over bore make a difference. With light loads it now gets no leading at all. It all likes 240gr+ and won't shoot 200gr at all.

 

[justinp61]

How did you test the lead? What did the bullet test on the copper wash?

I didn't. I called Berrys and asked what the BHN of the lead alloy in this particular bullet is.

I shoot a 200gr Montana with a gas check that have a BHN of 22 in my Glock M40 10mm and experience no leading issues.

 

[JohnW...ski]

I am not a big fan of Lee products but they do make a very nice inexpensive hardness tester that works.

 

[rockhound78]

Your .429" bullets were probably more the culprit that the 19 bhn hardness. If they were .432" you probably would have been fine. Bullet fit is everything with cast. I run cast in my 375 H&H to about 2100fps with about a 16bhn and good lube and .378" dia. slug

 

[JSH]

Marlin and their goofy twist left over from 44-40 era didn’t help anything either. My 357 and 32-20 are great with cast, as is my old waffle top 30-30.

As mentioned size is king. I know some, to a lot of folks are happy with commercial cast bullets. I never found much happiness with commercial cast bullets, or their lube, which is not much better than crayon. I was told 30 some years ago cast bullets are just good for target and plinking work. There has been a large number of game from mouse to elephant killed with cast bullets. CB’s take a back seat to my speedy loads, and that is it. Shot a lot of CB’s in 22-458, only one i can think of skipping was 6mm.
In the last year I have been highly impressed with .177-30 caliber dead soft slugs and pellets driven to a speed they prefer. They leave little on the table as far as accuracy. Just dropped my buddy off at the airport to go back home to South Africa for a few weeks. The critters he has taken with a 22 PCP air gun is impressive.

To the OP, it would be good to slug your barrel. That would answer a lot of questions quickly.

 

[justinp61]

The bullets shoot fine in both my Shield .40 and G40 10mm. I think the hollow base attributes to that. My G40 did show a preference for a .402” over a .401” Montana 200gr hard cast.