45 ACP in a 5" 1911
should be a starting load or just over a starting load in CFE pistol or IMR RED
200gn lee mold SWC
1.19" OAL
lubed with alox (v&m naptha with a few drops of alox, swirled around in a glass jar with a few dozen rounds, then baked in oven at 220F for 40 mins)
the lead is on the soft side...100% range pickup (from jacketed rounds), with maybe a small amount of tin from a single tin/lead 111 bar
this is the amount of lead after 7 rounds! I know because I saw this before those 7 rounds so I cleaned it and tried again..yep 7 rounds (maybe 90% since I couldnt get all of it out when I cleaned it before the last 7)
I was unable to do any serious accuracy tests. In general at 10 yards they seemed to generally hit what I was generally shooting at.
so questions:
a) this is indeed severe leading right? more than acceptable?
b) if so, whats causing this?
c) I do have everything I need to do powder coating instead...would that fix this?
d) maybe I didnt have enough alox? I heard the horror stories of too much so I thinned it with naptha and I dont see any yellow or brown..they do feel very very slightly tacky though
e) can I do a basic lead hardness test? I am imagining the lead is very soft