Flat,
Thanks for all of your suggestions. One thing I do know, cast bullets are capable of much greater velocities than once imagined.

The pure lead & tin bullets are regulated by alloy to under 1300fps without a doubt but, I have personally driven wheel weight + Linotype to 1800fps and beyond without gas checks. The biggest issue to this is size. The bullet MUST fit the bore correctly, no "fudging" on that. The lube while important is of less an issue with leading but more with accuracy and I plan on switching to Lyman Orange for a test in the near future.

The bullets I shot today, while not accurate worth a hoot had only a trace of leading, I'm beginning to wonder if a faster powder wouldn't be better to raise pressure for better obturation, but that is something that will have to wait.

The crimp I have on these bullets is indeed from a Lee seating/crimping die but if that were the problem, my 200gr bullets wouldn't shoot good either as I employed the same sequence of steps to them too. 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards with one of these lever guns is pretty acceptable accuracy.

Thanks for the help though.