Casting 9mm, 38/357, 45ACP, 30 cal bullets

[Rocket Man]

Lets assume a person is going to reload 9mm, 38/357, 45 acp and 30 caliber carbine. This is a wide range of velocities. Does a person use the same lead for all these bullets? Does a person use the same lube on all these bullets?

[canyon-ghost]

The 357 magnum is the only one fast enough to break ranks with the others. They can all be poured from wheelweight and use the same lube. I'd venture that you MAY need more hardness in the magnum, but maybe not. I use the same wheelweight in the 41 magnum that I use in 32 caliber, works okay.

Don't let the science fool you, it's lead bullets loaded in a brass case. The gunpowder charge is the only part to worry about much- and then not much.

Ron

[camaro1st]

i use a 50/50 ww/lead mixture in the 9mm, 38/357, and the 45 acp. i dont have any problems and i use the same lube with all three. as for the 30 cal i can not help you there yet but i do shoot 22 cal with the same lube and havent had problems.

[onondaga]

You can design an alloy around your needs for all of those. You will keep getting recommendations but you could read a good book and make up your own mind also. I like the Lee#2 manual and the New Lyman #4 Cast Bullet Handbook.

Many alloys are very flexible between air cooling and heat treating of your cast boolits and gas checks really stretch the the usability into higher pressures/velocities. I actually use Lyman #2 for everything except for high pressure and velocity for small bore varmint ammo, I use straight Linotype for that. Getting a good inventory of lead scrap and a hardness tester will help you get results repeatedly.

Gas checked boolits in 30 carbine and .357 Mag cast in #2 can approach factory levels with the right powders and boolit fit/lube.

Gary

[dieguy59]

Thanks for posting the question, Rocketman. It's something I've been wondering as well.

[Gswain]

just water drop the 357 bullets, cast the rest to air cool. EZ water drop method = 2 towels, 4 pinchy clamps, and 1 bucket with water.

[Rocket Man]

After my bullet mold gets hot I drop the bullets directly into a 5 gallon bucket of room temperature water. Wheel weight lead is 4% antimony lead it takes about a week to heat treat. I dry the bullets and lube size them the same day. If I wait a week the lead is so hard the bullets will not go through the sizing die. I split my 45ACP Star Die in half trying to force a heat treated bullet through it.

They all shoot great no leading problems except for the 30 caliber carbine. The 30 cal bullets go down the gun barrel and as it pass the tiny little hole in the side of the gun barrel that operates the gas piston a tiny piece of lead is scraped off into that piston hole. After shooting about 800 bullets the piston is totally full of lead and will not eject the bullets anymore. I have a piston wrench it takes about 30 minutes to take the gun apart and clean out the lead then put the gun back together. It will shoots another 800 bullets then it needs to be cleaned again.

I have a Dillon 450 hand loader and 10 cavity bullets. I can cast 1000 bullets in about 20 minutes. It takes an hour to dry the water off the bullets. It takes about 25 minutes to lube size the bullets in my electric 3/4 HP sizing machine and about 2 hours to reload the bullets. It would take 10 minutes to shoot 1000 bullets in my full auto M2 30 cal carbine if I didn't have to take the gun apart and clean the lead out of the piston.

[Gswain]

If you try fire lapping the carbine, it may help remove any burrs that are shaving a tiny portion of lead, might be worth a shot.

[Cherokee]

I use a WW+2% tin alloy for everything - 32 thru 45 Colt; light, medium and near max loads and do not have a leading problem. With gas checks, my 30 Carbine should be fine using the same alloy. I use Lar's CR lube for everything.

[MtGun44]

Air cooled wheelwt alloy will performe admirably for all the calibers mentioned.

There is absolutely no requirement for harder alloy for .357 Mag.

Here is a test of range lead, about 8 BHN, and AC wwt is about 12 or so.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=929

Or this one, with air cooled wwts alloy. Load is also 16.3 gr H110 a hot load.

NO GC, NO hard alloy, just a good design, good lube, good fit and AC WWTs or even
softer (8 BHN).

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=928

The first two are Keith type designs, but here is also AC WWT at about 12 BHN with a
Lee LBT style with a BB.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=926

Bill

[canyon-ghost]

Thanks, Bill. That's what I thought but haven't cast for magnums all that much. I also haven't hardened wheelweight for them. I guess that just isn't necessary.

Ron

[Recluse]

Why in the world would you want a 45ACP boolit so hard that it "splits your Star dies in half trying to force a heat-treated boolit through it" ? ? ?

:coffee:

[btroj]

I was wondering the same thing. Maybe it was cast iron and ran .457 from the mould?
I can't even imagine what it takes to split a size die.

[turbo1889]

. . . They all shoot great no leading problems except for the 30 caliber carbine. The 30 cal bullets go down the gun barrel and as it pass the tiny little hole in the side of the gun barrel that operates the gas piston a tiny piece of lead is scraped off into that piston hole. After shooting about 800 bullets the piston is totally full of lead and will not eject the bullets anymore. I have a piston wrench it takes about 30 minutes to take the gun apart and clean out the lead then put the gun back together. It will shoots another 800 bullets then it needs to be cleaned again.

I have a Dillon 450 hand loader and 10 cavity bullets. I can cast 1000 bullets in about 20 minutes. It takes an hour to dry the water off the bullets. It takes about 25 minutes to lube size the bullets in my electric 3/4 HP sizing machine and about 2 hours to reload the bullets. It would take 10 minutes to shoot 1000 bullets in my full auto M2 30 cal carbine if I didn't have to take the gun apart and clean the lead out of the piston.

I had the same problem with one of my SKS guns. I have yet to figure out why it has the problem and two other SKS guns and an AK don't, but to get to the point, if I use a gas-checked boolit design instead of a plain base I can shoot about three to four times the number of rounds before I have to clean the gas system out. I realize that using a gas check design would add both additional time and expense to your casting/loading process (expense of mold for gas checked design, expense of gas checks, and additional time taken up by the extra step of putting the checks on) but I mention it as a possibility since although it does not completely cure the problem it does significantly reduce it in my experience with that one SKS of mine that insists on being contrary in this area. My theory is that most of the leading of the gas system (but apparently not all) is caused when the base of the boolit passes the gas port and with a plain base boolit there is gas cutting on the base from the gas jet entering the port that blows lead up the port. That is, however, just a theory I don't know for sure why the gas check lets me shoot three to four times as many rounds before I have to clean out the gas system. Thankfully the gas system on an SKS is easily accessible and easily cleaned and takes less then five minutes but that gun of mine plugs up a lot faster then yours. It only takes about a hundred shots with plain base boolits and even less if it is a bevel base design to plug it up.

[USSR]

I use a special alloy with a lot of monotype in it for my .30 Carbine bullets, since they are a flatbase bullet going at nearly 1900fps. .38/.357 and .45 are similar enough (a little antimony for the .357) - don't load for the 9mm.

Don