A lot of leading in .357

[Steved123]

Hi all! I'm new to shooting in general and the only way I can shoot enough is if I cast bullets and reload. I'm having problems with leading which I think makes it very immaculate. But it's basically a pure lead 158 gr lswc mold from lee. There are shards of lead when I fire just a few bullets and I don't know why. I size them to .358 and bullet lube is liquid allox and Johnson's paste wax. It's a light load, 38 brass with 3.2 grains win231. I hope I posted this appropriately and appreciate your time, steve.

[Larry Gibson]

"and bullet lube is liquid allox and Johnson's paste wax"

If you are tumble lubing use straight LLA.

Larry Gibson

[Steved123]

I tried that first bullets were brown all over and were a mess as in sticking because too much lube I think and they smelled when fired.

[Goatwhiskers]

Pure lead is way too soft, read up on alloys, or get some WW. Also, slug your bore, .358 may be a hair undersize for a PB bullet, needs to be one or two thousandths over bore size to stop gas leakage which is what causes most leading. Goatwhiskers

Another thing, after you lube with LLA, let the bullets sit overnite for the lube to dry some, then sprinkle some cornstarch on a rag and gently roll the bullets across it, takes away all the sticky.

[357shooter]

The LLA / JPW mix usually works just fine. Have you tried not sizing them? Do you have any 357 brass, I've had better results (leading / accuracy) loaded a little long in the longer brass.

The Lee 358-158-SWC tumble lube bullet is super accurate, but I've had problems with leading in some revolvers, in others it leaves a shiny barrel.

The next step is try them unsized.

Do they drop right through the throats, or you have to push them through?

[Steved123]

Didn't think of the cornstarch thanks! I'll try that, and I'm trying to get a hold of wheelweights I just thought my powder puff load didn't need it, or at least it seems people get away with that. It's a Smith and Wesson If that matters. And if I slug the bore and go to fmj again do I have to wath my pressures than?

[cbrick]

Welcome top CastBoolits Steved123,

Is the bullet a LEE tumble lube style or a conventional lube groove?

I also would try the LLA straight.

You said they are sized .358" but what do the throats measure? What is the groove diameter? What size do they cast at? Have you tried not sizing & shooting them as cast?

If it's a conventional lube groove bullet try some regular bullet lube & apply by pan lubing & cookie cutter.

From the following link read chapter 7 on leading, very revealing. Read the entire book but chapter 7 is in leading. It's a good idea to download this book (it's free) and print it out, refer to it often.

From Ingot To Trget (http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf)

Stick around this site and ask questions, you'll learn more here than you knew there was to learn.

Rick

[williamwaco]

That is all good advice.

Loose that pure lead. It is possible to make good bullets from pure lead but you don't have the equipment to do it. Factory hollow base wad cutters are generally made from pure lead but they are swaged, not cast.

Try some straight clip on wheel weights. (Add a little tin if you have some, no more than 1 or 2%.) Another thing. In my shooting experience the single most common cause of leading is undersized bullets. I can't imagined that .358 is undersized but since they are Lee bullets and you are using LLA try some unsized.

Another word about LLA. I really like it. I use it either straight, or diluted 30% with mineral spirits. I used to like the diluted because it was easier and quicker to tumble. I am gradually changing to using it straight. It takes much more tumbling to get them covered uniformly but they seem to be less sticky after drying. I dry them on waxed paper under a fan for about 24 hours.

.

[Steved123]

Thanks Rick and everyone for being so willing and quick to help! And it's a tumble lube style, i use an empty tea jug, like the milk jug but stronger. And i only do about 100 at a time and let them dry overnight. I never measured them cast before sizing, dont ask why. But i measured them to be .358 from the top after sizing, which is the overall radius.

[Steved123]

The reason i use pure lead because i get some for free. Im about to get two 5 gallon buckets full so should i maybe mix with WW so i can save because WW cost money and is hard to find. A few tire shops said no to selling me some.

[stubshaft]

See if you can trade some pure for WW or better yet Linotype.

[Steved123]

Its not that big of a deal i can buy the WW just was being a little cheap :)

[runfiverun]

use the ww's and cut them with the lead 3-1 or even a little more,you might need to add a little tin to help in getting better fillout.
cook the jpw till it gives off the solvents or it won't dry for a couple of weeks,then add it to the alox and add some mineral spirits.
heat the boolits before lubing and place them in a breezy sunny place [open window] or use a fan to blow over them.
i add a bit of melted beeswax [about 1/4 to 1/3 by volume] to the melted jpw alox mix.
this fills the grooves some and makes me feel better about using tumble lube.

[357shooter]

Pure lead with 3% solder works just fine in all my 357's. No problem with it at all. It's not causing the leading problem. IMHO

Cutting pure with WW, 2/1 or 3/1 works just as well.

[fredj338]

Pure lead bullets @ those vel & pressures shpuld be fine. The lube may be an issue, pwoder too. IF they are sized right, I see no diff between swaged & cast. COuld just be your gun. A rough bore will always lead, regardless of what you do. Make sure it is clean of all copper fouling if you have been shootin jacketed, then try again. If you still get leading, the bore is likely the culprit.

[MtGun44]

Lino is completely unnecessary for .357 at full power, let alone at moderate loads.

FIT, FIT, FIT.

The first thing to get right is fit to the cyl throats. After that, the LLA and JPW stuff is often
successful, but many find it to not work for them. I would suggest if you can't succeed
with tumble lube, try the Lee 358-158 RF mold and pan lube them, then push through
a Lee sizing die if you want to avoid the cost of a lubrisizer. Also, NRA 50-50 on this
boolit PROPERLY FITTED (which mostly means big enough!) will not lead in the great
majority of guns at full .357 mag velocities with ordinary wwt alloy, not water dropped.
Once you get to wwt alloy hardness, hardness is mostly irrelevant for pistols.

Bill

[olafhardt]

My method of getting ww free is to take a bucket with me whon I buy tires or get maintainance and ask the guy who writes up the order to give me some. Almost all maintenance shops do tires. This has not failed; however I only get a bucket at a time, but that's plenty for me.

[uscra112]

All of the above, but in the end I once had to firelap the heck out of a 681 to get the roughness out of the first inch or so of the throat. No, it was not thread constriction, the barrel and throat were just rough as a cob.

[MtGun44]

Yep, and that is one of the many reasons that "each gun is a thing unto itself" and all
of our recommendations and assistance is no guarantee that a particular gun doesn't
have an unusual issue like a rough bore.

Bill