1st cast range report!!

[lead4me]

Well I finally got to the range to try out my cast boolits & reloads:D Got to shoot 200rds of my cast reloads and I'm still smiling. Either I was having a good day or my cast boolits are more accurate than the factory loads I have shot.
My loads were 4.5grns of Titegroup over a 230 Lee Truncated pan lubed, no smoke to speak of & a real tack driver
Also a load of 4.0grns of Clays over the same boolit still real accurate and clean not the soft load I was told kinda sharp.
Last was 3.4grns Clays same boolit VERY accurate but smoked like crazy and sooted up my 1911 something terrible don't think I'll shoot that load again.
I did get some leading though not bad just in the last 1/2in of the barrel and mainly in the bottom of the rifling in the corners. Have to figure out why only at the end of the gun. Maybe a lube issue any thoughts?

[Greenhorn44]

Congrats. My casted cherry was popped today too.
firing 10.6 unique 240 grain wadcutter. smoked like a chimney. only my "leading" was toward the chamber.
I wonder why you sooted up more on the 3.4. Im sure we will get our answer in like 3.5 seconds. these guys are quick.
Git'r'dun

[sagacious]

Good job! It's not unusual to get better accuracy from handloads. Sometimes you even get lucky and find an accurate load right away, and without having to do much work.

About the leading... If it doesn't build up, it may not be worth worrying about too much. Could be the result of many different factors-- not enough info to tell. You may wish to slug the clean barrel from the chamber end and see if the slug loosens slightly as it approaches the area where the leading was. That could indicate a dimensional increase at the muzzle end. Or, you may get better results with a different lube.

Keep up the good work. :drinks:

[waco]

good job guys!
welcome to the addiction.
it only gets better from here!
waco

[Greenhorn44]

told ya there quick ;)

[AviatorTroy]

Sooting with lighter loads can sometimes indicate that you are not developing adequate pressure for complete combustion. Try a different load with a smaller charge of faster burning powder......or..... just learn to live with it. Enjoy experimenting....

[sagacious]

Yup, lighter loads can be very sooty/dirty. It's one of those 'no free lunch' things. Upping the powder charge a teeny bit can often help a lot.

[HeavyMetal]

Leading at the muzzle end of the barrel usually means your lube has run out of steam before it got there!

Your post says you pan lubed but not with what.

[lead4me]

Well....My pan lube is a mix of Beeswax, Vaseline, Lucas oil treatment, Isoflex NBU 15 high speed grease, paraffin wax, mineral oil, Lanolin cream, carnauba car wax & a red crayon. I know, I know but once I got started I just kept adding stuff, in a group buy to get the stuff to make the flex lube. Will stick to a known good recipe when I get the right stuff in. But really I don't think I leaded bad for 200rds no cleaning I was able to brush the lead out with a nylon brush & some Hoppes in 5min or so.
Lube is not hard or soft really and its sticky as orange pop on my key board (My 6 year old has no idea how it got their) Only real problem I see is it turned out pink!

[MtGun44]

Try some NRA formula 50-50 alox-beeswax as a baseline 'known good' lube to see how your
homebrewed formula is doing. Sounds like it isn't quite up to your application, running out
of capability before you run out of barrel.

The Clays load is a max load, and as you note has sharp recoil while not reaching factory
velocity. I strongly prefer TG, Bullseye or Win231 in .45 ACP.

+1 on the soot being due to low pressure. This is the way Clays behaves in the .45, very
(IMHO extreme) rapid pressure rise. I find Clays kinda spooky in this caliber. It works
fantastically in my .38 Spl loads, but seems too peaky for the .45 ACP.

Bill

[Buckshot]

.............If you fired 200 rounds and they were as accurate at the end as at the first, then you have zero leading issues. You also mentioned it cleaned easily so you REALLY don't have a problem.

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

[lead4me]

I will try the 50/50 mix to establish a baseline. +1 MTgun44 on what you have been saying on the Clays, thanks for the help to this newbi re loader. Because of the info here I also now have U. Clays & Unique along with the Titegroup to work with in the 45ACP. Thinking about the Clays for my wife's .38 she likes to shoot & it may work well for some soft loads in her BH.