Bevel base bullets

[gcf]

What is it about those commercial BB bullets? Seems like they lead revolvers, no matter what.

I have a big box of commercial 240SWC-BB / .432" / Hard alloy, that I would love to burn up for off hand practice in my SW 624 / 44 SPL, w/ .433" throats.

Bought these from a well known manufacturer a few years back, for use in my old SW 629-4 / 44 mag, w/ .432" throats. Light, medium, or heavy loads - they always left substantial amounts of lead.

Basically the same story in my 624. I have tried multiple load combinations, tried shooting them as sized, & even tried bumping them up to .434", & sizing them down to .433".

For the record, I typically shoot a Speed Green lubed LBT bullet from Dan in AK (260WFN-PB / .433" / 10-12 BHN) in this revolver, w/ VERY GOOD results. Nice groups, w/ only trace amounts of lead in the throats, & none in the bore.

Although I've heard some folks report good results, I'm thinking it's an inherent issue w/ the BB design bullet - in revolvers.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

[cbrick]

First red flag I saw in your post wasn't "bevel base" but "Hard alloy".

Too hard will cause leading quicker than most anything. Commercial casters cast hard because they withstand the riggors of shipping better than proper boolits for the firearm/load/pressure, NOT because harder is better for their customers.

If you are getting leading in the cylinder try using a bullet that has the front driving band inside the throats when the cartridge is chambered, not short of the the throat. If the cartridge lays at an angle in the cylinder (and most do) and the forward edge of the front driving band strikes the edge of the throat (it will) it will shave lead. If the front driving band is already in the throat its aligned well with the forcing cone and bore. The only thing you'll have to clean out of the cylinder at the end of the day is lube and powder fowling.

Rather than thinking "Hard" slug your throats and match bullet diameter to the throat size.

Rick

[Calamity Jake]

You can also anneal these hard boolets but you will have to relube after.
Use a paper lined cookit sheet in a 200° oven to melt the hard lube off, then replace the paper and raise temp to 400° heat for one hour then turn off the oven letting it and boolets come to room temp.

[mtgrs737]

To get rid of hard lube I have boiled bullets in water and skimmed the lube off the top. works like a champ, just don't use one of momma's pots to do it, get a used pot at a second hand store.

[Char-Gar]

Your exerience with these bullets pretty much parallel that of many others. The bevel base, worthless lube and too hard alloy gang up on you.

I broke the code on these years and and just melted the one I had down for the alloy.

Some folks report decent results with these bullets at low to medium velocity by giving them a coat of Lee Liquid Alox.

[Larry Gibson]

I've had this same leading problem with every commercial handgun bullet used over a number of years. I've found, with one exception, it is the hard wax lube. I have simply tumbled the bullets in LLA and used then them up through 1000 fps with very minimal leading. However I mostly get rid of the lube by soaking in Coleman Fuel, drying and relubing with Javelina. I then get no leading up through 1250 fps out of magnums. I think I'll try the boiling water trick though!

What I've found with the BB bullets is they are not as accurate as the same bullet with a FB.

Larry Gibson

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

First red flag I saw in your post wasn't "bevel base" but "Hard alloy".

Too hard will cause leading quicker than most anything. Commercial casters cast hard because they withstand the riggors of shipping better than proper boolits for the firearm/load/pressure, NOT because harder is better for their customers.

If you are getting leading in the cylinder try using a bullet that has the front driving band inside the throats when the cartridge is chambered, not short of the the throat. If the cartridge lays at an angle in the cylinder (and most do) and the forward edge of the front driving band strikes the edge of the throat (it will) it will shave lead. If the front driving band is already in the throat its aligned well with the forcing cone and bore. The only thing you'll have to clean out of the cylinder at the end of the day is lube and powder fowling.

Rather than thinking "Hard" slug your throats and match bullet diameter to the throat size.

Rick


Yer rite on!

I've shot pure lead bullets at over 1200 fps without problems. Overly HARD alloys will give much more problems.

Get a bullet diameter slightly larger than bore, use good lube, and you're good to go with a decently smooth bore.

However - comma - if you have a revolver cylinder throat smaller than bore, things can go downhill in a hurry. Softer alloys will actually bump back up. Hard alloys will just lead up.

[Junior1942]

Before you do anything else, leave those bullets as-is and add a coat of Lee liquid Alox.

[S.R.Custom]

What Junior said. And you don't even need that much; rolling them around a bit in a 50/50 mix of Lee liquid Alox and mineral spirits (for an easily applied, light coating) always took care of any commercial cast bullet headaches I've ever had. ;)

[gcf]

Well Gents, I'd like to thank one & all for their replies.

As mentioned, it would be nice to get some use out off these things - as long as it could be done w/ a minimum amount of effort, & mess. Guess I should clarify that in this case, "a big box" is actually only about 300 bullets.

They are a bit too small as is, so must be bumped up & sized down for proper cylinder throat fit. This process I can live with, & have been doing.

I suppose that cleaning off the red crayola, & applying some Speed Green or LBT during the size down phase would be worth while - if it worked.

The annealing idea is interesting, as softer would surely shoot better. Bullets in the oven however, would go over about as well as a Baby Ruth in the swimming pool... What can I say?

I know that a lot of folks use LLA as a primary lube, or a commercial bullet cure all. I've never tried it personally, as I've been a bit put off by the mess. I wonder if alox over the current lube, would have any advantage over a using a quality lube in the sizer. Comments on this?

Again, thanks!

[runfiverun]

would be quicker and easiest way unless you have a lubrisizer.
i would just drop one in my casting pot every once in a while and stir.
hard lube will do a little flux for ya..