new guy with lots of ?'s

[muaythaitom]

I am searching the board for answers---but I figured I would throw out a few questions too. What would be the best setup for my needs?---I want to load cast bullets for 44mag 357/38 , and 45 acp as well as rfile bullets----not sure which will lead a bbl faster---real hard or real soft-----I would lean towards casting hard bullets ---especially for any semi-auto purposes.

are there good books to buy on the subject?---and are any better than others?
Aside from cheaper plinking and just the fun of casting I would like to be able to make affordable good quality hunting ammo---any help and advice is greatly appreciated-----I am off to search the board some more---thanks

[Char-Gar]

Welcome to the board. You and your questions are most welcome. I would like to give you a simple answer, but there is none. There is no standard definition as to what is "real hard" and what is "real soft". What do you consider hard vs. soft?

The alloy needed depends on it's use. You can get by with a fairly soft or farily hard alloy in rifles and pistols depending on how fast you want to push the bullets.

if you can give us some more details...such as.. which rifle?, which bullet and how fast? The same information for sixguns and autopistols, and we can help you out.

A proper fitting bullet for the firearm, cast from proper temper alloy for the pressure/velocity, lubed with a good lube over a proper powder charge won't lead most firearms.

[Dale53]

A lot of us, use WW with 2% tin for most of our use. Bullets are hard enough but not too hard for typical pistol and revolver use. This works with plain base lead up to 1500 fps or more. Using gas checks you can exceed this by a goodly amount.

Faster use requires harder metal. Either Linotype or heat treated WW's will get this job done.

Lyman's cast bullet hand book is the best currently available information available.

The NRA Reloading Handbook (now out of print) is VERY good. I wish the NRA would re-issue this.

Of course, for specific answers to a particular question, this is the place...

Dale53

[Buckshot]

............Welcome to the board!

What will be best for your needs?

For your pistol requirements I'd suggest Lee 6 cavity moulds as most pistol shooters seem to be pretty profigate (I always wanted to use that word :-)) shooters. With those you can cast a TON of good boolits.

For mild target loads in revolters you can use pure lead if you want, or soft scrap. Actually anything you have the most of is fine, as the loads aren't very demanding. For an auto pistol you'll want to use a bit harder alloy to start with anyway as the nose generally has to feed up a ramp. Soft lead tends to be sticky.

As your loads move up the intensity scale, you'll want to harden the lead some as you go. Or you can put that off by switching to a GC design which will carry you another hundred FPS or so more.

So far as I'm concerned, the very first numero uno most important thing is that the slug be at least .001" over the groove diameter. Doesn't matter if it's rifle, pistol or revolver. Ideally the throats in your wheelgun's cylinder will be a bit larger then the barrel's groove. If it's smaller you have a problem. Usually not a problem in autos, but it has to be able to chamber a groove+ diameter boolit.

"...............not sure which will lead a bbl faster---real hard or real soft-----"

I wouldn't be looking forward to any leading if the slug fits and the alloy is right for the load. Lube can also have something to do with it. It seems to me that a hard heat type lube isn't called for in mild loads. So far as alloy goes, a rule of thimb is to multiply 1422 x the alloy 's BHN = the loads pressure. You can fiddle that a bit.

................Buckshot