Low velocity pistol loads

[verney]

I'm about to cast my first bullets for my .32 S&W Long caliber revolver. Haven't so far casted a single bullet for traditional handgun calibers, only for rifle calibers and high speed silhouette pistols.

What alloy should I use? I have some sheet lead that I believe is pure. Should I just add some tin to that or should I use something harder? Can that same alloy be used for low velocity 38 Special?

What lube should I use? I currently have only rifle lube and I guess that wouldn't work at low velocity loads. I would prefer if that lube would also work up to high speed 357Mags.

[Bret4207]

Plain old wheel weights and most any lube have worked for me

[Ricochet]

Yeah, I've shot boolits of soft sheet lead tumbled in LLA successfully in .38 Special, .44 Special, mild .44 Magnum and .45 ACP.

[HeavyMetal]

I face the same problem with my 38 special target gun.

What I'm going to do is run lead/ wheel weights with about 1% of tin added. I'll cast a bunch and inspect them, if fill out is good I'll size and shoot them for accuracy.

If the alloy works out I'll use my notes to create an alloy just for the target loads which will most likely be much softer than I would use for the magnum stuff.

That's where I'd start for the 32 S&W long.

[38 Super Auto]

I'd suggest taking your sheet lead and making some 20:1 with tin. It's what I use for 38 W/Cs and general purpose 45 ACP bullets. Make sure you choose the appropriate sizing die.

[JohnH]

I'm about to cast my first bullets for my .32 S&W Long caliber revolver. Haven't so far casted a single bullet for traditional handgun calibers, only for rifle calibers and high speed silhouette pistols.

What alloy should I use? I have some sheet lead that I believe is pure. Should I just add some tin to that or should I use something harder? Can that same alloy be used for low velocity 38 Special?

What lube should I use? I currently have only rifle lube and I guess that wouldn't work at low velocity loads. I would prefer if that lube would also work up to high speed 357Mags.

Lead and WW cut 1 to 1. Will yeilad about 8 BHN. Lube is quite simple.... beeswax and Criscoe cut at 1 to 1. Some prefer that at 60/40 beeswax to Criscoe/ Either work well at pistol velocities, I've not tried it past 900 fps so can't vouch for it in your 357. I have switched to using Felix Lube for everything. Works fine and is inexpensive to make a batch that will last several years.

[Johnch]

When I had a good source for sheet lead
I used to cast 90 lb sheet lead , 10 lb WW and 1 lb tin for my low velosity pistol , I would melt up 101 lb batchs and ingot it for later use

Can't remember exactly how hard it was ( pretty soft )

But it shot great up to about 1000 FPS with 50/50 lube with little or no leading

Lately I have been using range lead that contains a lot of 22 and jacketed bullets , it is about the same hardness

For me at least
I have found the bigest posible bullet dia and soft , shot at 1000 fps or less
Results in good accurcy and little or no leading


John

[DLCTEX]

38 Special low velocity , I prefer pure/WW @ 50/50. Shoots better than straight WW up to 148 gr. WW shoots better for heavier boolits. I don't know why, maybe obturation? Lube with 50/50 or tumble lube with LLA or JPW. DALE

[verney]

Reason why I mentioned the sheet lead is that I don't really have any WW. Lead WW are pretty much gone over here. I did however buy 160kg of sheet lead yesterday at fair price. If alloy needs to be harder than 1:20 mix then I must add something else to the alloy.

Suppose I could make a 1:20 mix and use it for testing. If it works then pour it into ingots, otherwise make it harder and try again.

[DLCTEX]

Shotgun shot has been used (Antimony)to harden alloys, but that has gotten expensive. Doesn't take much, though. DALE

[Wayne Smith]

Solder and pewter are also sources for tin. Like it has been said, it doesn't take much. Remember that swaged .38 bullets are typically pure lead.

[Ricochet]

If you're shooting those .32s at low velocity, you don't need to do anything to harden your pure lead.

[Finn45]

Terveeks Verney... Iffin you deside to try renkkupainoja I might have some for trade for your pure lead (but pure only ). And WW is not so gone yet, it just takes some serious sorting cuz one don't like zinc ones mixed in. WW here is pretty soft as is by the way, BHN8...9 is pretty normal right after slow air cooling but it responds clearly to water quenching. I think mixing with pure in some ratio would be very good for low velocity pistol, at least it is for hirviö animals .

[35remington]

My old wide land five screw Smiths in .38 Spl just love pure lead bullets. Cast hot, simple designs with rounded bands like Lee's 158 TLSWC fill out just fine and shoot accurately.