Pure lead bullets

[1bluehorse]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but whats the opinions/experiences of shooting pure (or close to) lead bullets with a GC from revolvers without turning the barrel into a sewer pipe?? I'm talking swaged lead bullets.

[geargnasher]

I've done it lots with 2F and plain-based Lee revolver conicals. The trick is to launch them so they don't skid the rifling to the point that the land engraves leak.

Gear

[Larry Gibson]

As long as they are well lubed with an appropriate lube they can be pushed accurately to 1000 +/- fps without any leading. I regularly do this with a HP'd 358156 cast of pure lead and lubed with Javelina for use in my +P .38 SPL loads. I do the same with the 452490 for use in my 45 ACP and 45 Colt revolvers. I also used to do the same in my .41s with the 410610 and the 429215 bullets in the 41 mag and the 44 SPL. Pushed them all to 950 - 1025 fps with no leading, very good accuracy and excellent expansion when HP'd with the 1/8" Forster HP tool.

Larry Gibson

[Reload3006]

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee403/reload3006/44CalRNFN.jpg
http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee403/reload3006/44keith2.jpg

knurl them and tumble lube in 45/45/10 or just plane ole LLA

I have never had a problem with them leading with pure lead if i keep the velocity down.
If I use a 92pb 6sa 2sn allow about 15 BNH I can push them at mag velocities.

[rexherring]

I tried plain base soft lead in my .45 Colt. As long as I didn't exceed 800fps, it was o.k. but if I pushed them faster, the accuracy went out the window.

[Shiloh]

Got away from GC boolits for revolvers. I do however use pure range scrap, high purity for
boolits less than 900 fps. I've run them faster. Boolit fit is king.

Shiloh

[Jkallen83]

i wanted to shoot pure lead in my 9mm, but i found out that pure lead shrunk smaller and leaded the barrel, so i would need a larger mold, asked on here and everyone said to add some tin so it would "fill out" the mold. did that and it worked, problem was they were no longer soft, still working on trying to get that "balance" to fill the mold to get the size but still be soft.

[finishman2000]

pure lead in a 9mm,,,boy that will be tough. i found that 9mm is the hardest round to cast and not get leading. i water drop 147 with ww's and size at .358. at the muzzle 1070fps in the handguns and 1270fps out of the uzi. no leading.
i used to use range lead air drop in the 124gr. didn't matter if it was less trunk or an old h&g rn, sized at 357 and always got leading. in my years i find that 9mm bores are all over the place in size bgut the bigger size and weight seem to work best for me anyway.

[44man]

Understand that soft lead boolits will "slump" and completely change shape, even wiping away all lube grooves before any lube can get in the bore. Lead can squirt from the gap too.
I reserve pure for BP.
I am sure the knurling, lube and even the HP can be gone from the boolit shown before it enters the bore. I would love to see recovered boolits from a medium that does not damage them although there is no way to do that with pure. It is like throwing silly putty at something.

[Reload3006]

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee403/reload3006/357bullets.jpg
Pure lead. it matters how the velocity is applied

[44man]

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee403/reload3006/357bullets.jpg
Pure lead. it matters how the velocity is applied
Looks pretty good although you are correct about how velocity is applied. BP is the most forgiving.
Slow, steady push!

[sabrecross03]

Without tin, my boolits don't cast/form well.

[Reload3006]

you are right pure lead gives you fits trying to cast it but it swages into a great boolit.

[Jailer]

Understand that soft lead boolits will "slump" and completely change shape, even wiping away all lube grooves before any lube can get in the bore. Lead can squirt from the gap too.
I reserve pure for BP.
I am sure the knurling, lube and even the HP can be gone from the boolit shown before it enters the bore. I would love to see recovered boolits from a medium that does not damage them although there is no way to do that with pure. It is like throwing silly putty at something.

Shoot em into snow. It will stop them without any damage at all to the boolit.

[williamwaco]

I don't do it because it is too hard to cast ( hard as in difficult ).

As to your specific question abuot shooting them in revolvers I offer only this:

.38 Special wadcutters and likely all other factory wadcutters are made from pure lead. As far as I know, every .22 LR bullet ever made was made from pure lead.

I wonder? How many of those have been fired in revolvers over the past 100 years?



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[44man]

I had to clean most of the .38's the Cleveland police used at the indoor range. They used cheap store bought rounds loaded with swaged boolits. Some took a week to clean and it took steel wool to remove lead from the outsides of each gun.
I never want to do that again! :veryconfu

[Reload3006]

I shoot a lot of pure PB out of my 44 and 357 Knurled and lubed with LLA or XLOX and sometimes 45/45/10 but I confess to being lazy and usually its just straight up LLA or XLOX what ever I happen to have. Fast snappy powders pushed to the top of the envelope will lead and lead badly. If is use medium burning powders like Unique, IMR sr4756 or the slow powders like 2400 I get no leading at all the pure lead will actually swell up to seal your gun if it has time. the fast snappy powders usually dont allow time and gas cut badly IMO. I have gas checked some and not others I can tell no difference in terms of leading. The biggest factor I have had in leading and Not leading is the powder charge. Alloy can play a small role. For example in my 44mag I swage using an alloyed wire 92pb 6sa 2sn knurled bullet like in the picture loaded with 10.0gr Unique WW lp primer set to nominal OAL. Zero leading clean bore looked like I just got done cleaning. Same load pure lead no leading in the cylinder throats but sever leading in the forcing cone. Bore clean. Backed off the charge to 8.5gr Zero leading with Pure PB. In 357/38spcl 5gr IMR sr4756 pure PB zero leading. I have also shot the Speer lead Wad cutters hollow base. use a very small charge (cant remember what it was) i think around 2 grains of Red Dot zero leading. A Member 357 shooter claims he shoots a lot of pure PB at mag velocities and has zero leading. Whats the key. I certainly dont claim to know but do know from experience it can be done you just have to find out what works for you.

[1bluehorse]

Thank you for the replys guys. Just thinkin about maybe trying some swaging. Looks interesting. Just what I need, another shooting related obsession..:killingpc

[williamwaco]

Thank you for the replys guys. Just thinkin about maybe trying some swaging. Looks interesting. Just what I need, another shooting related obsession..:killingpc


Swaging is a lot of fun. It also improves accuracy.

I take cast .357 SWCs cast from range scrap (BNH 9) gas check and lube them with my Lyman 4500 then swage them into hollow points.

At 50 yards with maximum loads in my Thompson Contender the swaged hollow points reduce the group size by about 25% compared to the same load unswaged.

Do try it. You will like it.


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