Originally Posted by
Chill Wills
Good question and thank you for asking the way you did.
I guess the first answer is hard bullets don’t= leading, …automatically.
Plenty of load combinations work well with hard cast bullets and would not work at a softer BHN. But, I think the hard nature of these bullets and maybe the lack of good fit may be a problem. These commercial cast bullets have a reputation of being very hard, having basic crayon wax for lube and the end user can’t control diameter or quality. In other words, they may not be very good bullets due to fit, hardness and lube for any and all rifles. Or, they may work just great in other rifle and loads.
Because in this case, it is reported the accuracy is non-existent and the barrel is leading, I am guessing that in part, the bullet fit is not the best and gas is getting around the bullet base at some point. Very hard bullets don’t give at all to help seal up the bore. These same bullets may (or not) produce acceptable results in this rifle driven at velocities between 1100 and 1300 fps only because the pressures are not driving the gases past the base. Or, something as simple as a fiber wad under the bullet could improve this heavy 38 grain load. Think fiber gas check. However, I would not do it using smokeless powder as there is a chance of the fiber wad getting pushed down on the top of the powder instead of remaining next to the bullet base.
Experienced cast bullet handloaders tend to go back to what works, a base-line, when starting with a new rifle. A softer, well designed bullet, completely filled out such is the classic Lyman 457 193 or the old time 45-90 bullet 457 191 at about 300 grains would be handy to start with. Softer bullets do tent to expand a little in some cases, helping to seal the bore. I’ve offered to send some bullets to the OP. I would like to see him have some success.