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odemon1pep
03-13-2011, 04:36 PM
here it goes,
new para 1911 in 45 acp
barrel sluged at .4515
lead range pick up at the time BHN unknown
lee tumble lube 230 bullet droped boolits at .452-454 lubed with 2 coats liquid alox
loads tested
3-4.8 grs tite group
3-4 grs red dot
3-4 gr green dot
brass mixed
primers winchester WLP
everything i tried caused excessive leading
found boolits were not round comming out of mold bought a RCBS 230 gr round nose mold loaded as droped .454 with the same powder charges. some wouldnt chamber do to size. still leading
bought lead hardness tester tested boolits, BHN was 22. went back to the range picked up some more lead this time from indoor made imgots tested was BHN of 10 cast and sized to .452 tumble lubed 2 times loaded with 4.8 gr tite group a lot less leading but im getting tired of removing lead any suggestions ? should i go softer on the lead?
teste

Catshooter
03-13-2011, 04:44 PM
ode,

Welcome to the site.

Seems like you've worked on everything, changed everything except the Lee liquid lube. If you don't have a lubrisizer, try pan lubing a few of the RCBS boolits and see if the leading goes away.


Cat

Char-Gar
03-13-2011, 04:52 PM
Ah yes! Lee snot strikes again.

odemon1pep
03-13-2011, 04:55 PM
any suggestions on what i should make the pan lube with or should i go to though posts?

Echo
03-13-2011, 04:59 PM
Too many recipes to list - check the stickies. I use 50/50 NRA lube for most of my stuff, pistol & rifle.

HangFireW8
03-13-2011, 09:38 PM
BHN 10 should be just right for your light 45ACP loads, but you might try just a little harder, I find 12-13 to be just about right. However I doubt hardness is really the problem here.

The issue with LLA is that it is a great lubricant, but provides nothing in the way of sealing. If your hardness, sizing, and seating depth are perfect, LLA works great. If something is a bit off, it compensates for nothing.

Besides pan lubing in large batches, you can always order a stick of commercial lube and finger-lube a dozen or two. After that it gets tedious, but if all you want to do it run a quick test on a few magazines, finger lubing is trivial.

-HF

mpmarty
03-13-2011, 10:07 PM
Strange. I use LLA on 45acp, 45/70 and 308 and have never had any leading whatsoever.
I do mix the LLA with JPW half and half.

noylj
03-13-2011, 10:42 PM
My as-cast bullets drop 0.453-0.454" and they chamber easily.
Also used LLA and have very little leading, even in .40S&W and 9x19.
You can try seating the bullets to just touch the rifling.
I plan to use Recluse's 45/45/10 next time I cast a bunch.
You could order a sample pack of cast bullets. MasterCastBullets will sell you a few.
This would give you a look at sized and normal lubricated bullets to comparison. When I do it, my cast bullets are equal or better.
You can get a Foul-Out III and electrolytically remove the lead in less than 30 minutes. It also lets you know if leading is the problem. Some people assume leading when it isn't.

Tom W.
03-13-2011, 10:51 PM
Also LLA should be put on very thin, almost like a shellac or varnish. Less is better in this case.

blaster
03-13-2011, 11:56 PM
Are you using a factory crimp die? Regardless, you might try pulling a couple of loaded bullets and measuring. The fact that your hottest loading worked best seems to indicate that the bullets are undersized but your measurements seem right.

mtgrs737
03-14-2011, 12:07 AM
I did some experimenting with boolit diameters in the 45 acp. I found that more is not always better when it comes to size in the acp. My factory Colt barrel shoots a 200 gr, SWC sized at .452" cast of WW alloy just fine with little or no leading. However when I sized the same boolit to .453" I got heavy leading. I quickly went back to .452" sized boolits and all was well.

WW alloy, BAC lube, GB H&G copy mould by lee drops at .454", seated so that a fingenail thickness of the front driving band is forward of the case mouth and lightly taper crimped to remove the case mouth bell, 5.7 grs. of HP38 (WW231), WWLP primer.

MtGun44
03-14-2011, 02:38 AM
BHN 10 is fine for .45 ACP. Probably the mule snot (AKA Alox). Try a normal lube like
NRA 50-50 or similar. Verify that the diameter of a loaded, then pulled, boolit is at least
.452.

Bill

*Paladin*
03-14-2011, 07:49 AM
I use 50/50 alloy w/ LLA. Bullets sized to .452. My Les Baer has a Kart barrel in it, and no leading whatsoever. My Colt has no problems with the above bullet either.

oscarflytyer
03-14-2011, 07:55 PM
I am shooting nearly the same thing and virtually no leading. Couple thoughts...

Any chance it is a brand new bbl and is a bit rough and needs some breaking in...

OR, that it has been shot a lot with jacketed bullets and you did not clean out the jacket fouling before shooting the cast bullets?

Only things I can come up with...

HangFireW8
03-15-2011, 09:13 PM
Strange. I use LLA on 45acp, 45/70 and 308 and have never had any leading whatsoever.
I do mix the LLA with JPW half and half.

I don't doubt it.

I, however, have a "special" 45ACP barrel that measures across the grooves .452"... and .453"... and .454". It's oval.

I found I can shoot .4525" with SPG or 50/50, .453 with most any waxy lube, and nothing at all with LLA. If I could reliably feed, chamber and fire a .454 or .4545" boolit, I bet LLA would work fine. But I can't.

-HF