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  #1  
Old 01-10-2011, 10:18 PM
baxtersmith baxtersmith is offline
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Default No Leading with Laser Cast Bullets?

Oregon Trails says their Laser Cast Bullets don't cause leading...but before I load them in full-power .357 Magnum rounds I'd like to know if anyone else has had experience with them in high velocity loads. I use them for standard target loads but have never tried them with magnums.

Thanks.
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Old 01-10-2011, 11:25 PM
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The only magnum I have tried them in is my M66 4" and they really were quite clean. Couldn't say NO leading...but darn close in that gun. Maybe yours will do the same. Let us know.......
Randy
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Old 01-10-2011, 11:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by baxtersmith View Post
Oregon Trails says their Laser Cast Bullets don't cause leading...but before I load them in full-power .357 Magnum rounds I'd like to know if anyone else has had experience with them in high velocity loads. I use them for standard target loads but have never tried them with magnums.

Thanks.
Sir, they leaded up my .45 Colts (four different guns) something fierce. I'm told they do better at magnum velocities, though.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

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Old 01-10-2011, 11:38 PM
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I loaded them in 38 Special over 3.5 gr. of Bullseye and fired about 150 rounds thru a 66-5. It was a mess, all six chamber mouths were leaded so bad I could not push a .354 pin gage thru, the forcing cone was leaded up quite severely. I cleaned the gun up, it was a job of work to get all that out. Tried the same load in a 30 year old Ruger, almost as bad. I loaded some up over a max charge of H-110 in 357 cases and went back to the 66-5, that time it worked quite well, a few traces of lead but nothing like what the low pressure rounds had left behind. I tried other calibers and found that the Laser Cast bullets need to be pushed pretty hard to get good service from them.
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Old 01-11-2011, 08:33 PM
dwhite53 dwhite53 is offline
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Load them hot. I've used them in my Ruger Security-Six and got minimal leading. I'd hesitate to use them at lower pressures as they probably wouldn't obturate and seal.

I think they're 22 Hbn. They're really hard bullets.

I liked them. They were a little pricey but performed very well.

All the Best,
D. White
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Old 01-11-2011, 09:08 PM
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I load .38 special, .44 special and .45 colt to the near max load in the lazer cast book and have good luck with them. The first couple of times I loaded them I was about to toss them as they were awful. I called the company and talked to a rep and he said because of the hardness they need to be driven pretty fast. After I tried the loads he said and checked with the manual I started to have good luck with them.

They do have a specific velocity range that they like. If you don't have the manual you can PM me and will tell you about the loads they show.
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  #7  
Old 01-11-2011, 10:19 PM
baxtersmith baxtersmith is offline
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Thanks everyone for posting. This forum is such an excellent resource...it never ceases to amaze me.
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Old 01-11-2011, 11:35 PM
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I use them in my full house 357 loads years ago,never had any leading issues out of my Ruger 6.5" BH. The 158 gr. SWC's I had were pretty close to 20 BHN and measured .359 dia.
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Old 01-12-2011, 11:13 AM
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I've never had much leading from them in 45acp. They were more prone to leading in 44 mag. I still buy the 0.431" 240gr lswc, resize them to 0.430" using the $12 Lee die, and lube them with Alox. They make good plinkers as they cost me $100/1000 (I pick them up).

S&W329pd Information - lazercast experience
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  #10  
Old 01-14-2011, 04:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by baxtersmith View Post
Oregon Trails says their Laser Cast Bullets don't cause leading...but before I load them in full-power .357 Magnum rounds I'd like to know if anyone else has had experience with them in high velocity loads. I use them for standard target loads but have never tried them with magnums.

Thanks.
If Oregon Trails told you that then I believe it is probably the most profoundly ridiculous statement of all time ever made by a bullet caster! Go to this thread and read what the causes and cures for leading are. Thoughts on bore fouling and cleaning. You need to ask them what they base such a broad statement on. What is the BHN of their bullets, what is the alloy composition and what the load data was for the extensive testing that they performed that enabled them to qualify such a statement. I know quite a few first rate extremely knowledgeable casters and none of them would ever make such a statement.
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  #11  
Old 01-14-2011, 04:30 PM
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There's much more to the causes of leading than the hardness of a bullet, which, if too hard, can make things worse. There's been plenty of discussion on the net and in magazines like Handloader that explain this, much better than I could ever attempt to.
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Old 01-14-2011, 06:13 PM
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I've used the Oregan Trail 158's in both a 4 in Ruger Security Six and my 6 in 686-nada, They were great over 13.5 grains of 2400. My MBC and Dardas 158's were terrible with this load and only a little better with 5.5 -6.5 grains of Unique. You can get 158 fmj and jhp Zero's much cheaper than the Oregan Trail. The 41 mag 215 from Oregan also worked great with near max loads of 2400. At their price point, I never tried the OT's for general purpose/plinking loads.
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  #13  
Old 01-16-2011, 04:47 PM
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The LaserCast bullets are a special case. Much has been written about them, including a lengthy article in a shooting magazine awhile back...forget which one...probably American Rifleman. It seems the fellows who cast these have a source of lead ore out West, which comes from what used to be primarily a silver mining area. As I recall, they were getting their first lead from some of the tailings, waste, from such a mine or mines because it was cheap. The "no leading" quality was an accidental discovery.

Years ago, I bought at Cabela's 500 of their 115 grain .313" bullets to use in my re-lined Winchester Low Wall .32-20 target rifle. On the box, the company unconditionally guarantees no leading at jacketed bullet velocities and mentions the silver alloy.

My experience is that they do what they say. I have had no leading at about the same velocities as M-1 carbine rounds, 1700 to 1800 fps. Would they lead at 2400 FPS or so? I don't know.

I like them a lot and use them sparingly, since prices have gone way up since I bought the first ones.

Will all their bullets be the same? Again, I don't know, as I have only used the little .32s. But if they all use the same lead/silver alloy, they should perform the same way up to whatever the velocity limitation is. My bevel base .32s have a single wide groove containing a blue lubricant of LaserCast's unknown recipe.
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  #14  
Old 01-17-2011, 06:00 AM
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As already said, you will be fine at Magnum pressures/velocities but do not use those bullets at low pressures or target velocities!
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Old 01-17-2011, 07:50 AM
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I just shot laser cast bullets in my 625 for the first time this weekend at a USPSA match. They were .45 ACP, 230 grain RN over 4 grains of bullseye and they shot as clean as any bullets I've shot, I had virtually no leading.
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  #16  
Old 01-17-2011, 09:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ArchAngelCD View Post
As already said, you will be fine at Magnum pressures/velocities but do not use those bullets at low pressures or target velocities!
What do you consider target velocities? I have used about 2000 of their 180 grain bullets in 45 ACP over 5 grains of Win 231 with absolutely no leading. These loads yield a velocity of of 850fps.
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  #17  
Old 01-17-2011, 07:18 PM
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I made a general statement, you will always have slight differences in your results. A velocity of 850 fps is hardly a hot load but more than target velocity IMO. Most times I consider target velocities for a .38 Special to run from 600 fps to 700 fps. In a .45 Auto it will be different because you have to make sure you generate enough pressure to cycle the slide. I would think 700 fps or so would do that but "might" cause leading but it's not only velocity that will count, pressure is more a factor that's why I mentioned both. If you're using a fast burning powder like Bullseye you will achieve more pressure at lower velocities than with a shower powder so the powder you use also factors into the equation.
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  #18  
Old 01-18-2011, 07:47 AM
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i cast my own boolits, but i have used lazer cast. i have never had a problem with leading there boolits are very hard, but i had some i used in my 696 that would not shoot well at all out of a gun that was a tack driver. i found that they were to hard. i don't know what the bhn was but if a boolit is to hard it will not grip the lands of a barrel. a boolit can lead for more reasons than being to soft. in fact my mix for hunting with cast is 50% pure lead and 50% ww bhn about 12 i use this in 30-30 and 32 win. special with very little leading at all after about 20 shots. i do use gas checks on the rifles but none on handguns. in fact if the boolit is the correct dia. the barrel is easyer the clean than when a copper jacket boolit is used. one of the main causes of leading is the boolit not being the correct dia. for the barrel that it is shot through. all barrels are not all the same. if the boolit is to small in dia. maybe one thousands or so, you will get gas cutting. in other words blow by of hot gas around the boolit and it will lead very bad even with a hard boolit. for cast lead, the barrel in which the boolit is to be used needs to have the barrel slug bored for correct dia. without knowing that you are shooting in the dark...... in other words the boolit needs to fit the barrel or you can get very bad leading no matter how hard the boolit is. that is why i roll my own.

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Old 01-22-2011, 11:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by firearmsunlimited View Post
If Oregon Trails told you that then I believe it is probably the most profoundly ridiculous statement of all time ever made by a bullet caster! Go to this thread and read what the causes and cures for leading are. Thoughts on bore fouling and cleaning. You need to ask them what they base such a broad statement on. What is the BHN of their bullets, what is the alloy composition and what the load data was for the extensive testing that they performed that enabled them to qualify such a statement. I know quite a few first rate extremely knowledgeable casters and none of them would ever make such a statement.
I've got tired of typing out the whole story of bore/throat dimensions, bullet hardness, obturation, etc. Go to the LINK and get educated. As previously stated ;the hardness of a cast bullet is only a small part of the story.

FN in MT
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Old 01-23-2011, 01:55 PM
Peter M. Eick Peter M. Eick is offline
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At 357 Magnum velocities I get little to no leading.

At 38 special cowboy velocities I can get terrible leading.

At 357 SuperMagnum velocities I can get just a touch of leading.

To me if I can go 300 to 500 rounds and still have acceptable accuracy the leading is not an issue. My experience is if you run Laser-casts hard, they basically don't lead.
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Old 07-26-2014, 06:14 PM
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Load them full up. I use 158gn Lasercast over 14.6gns of Alliant 2400 in a 6" 686 and a 16" Rossi M92 with no appreciable leading. Probably about 800 rounds each and just clean both guns normally. They run at almost 1400 fps at this recipe. It's the only bullet i use in the .357s.

Last edited by Afterguard; 07-26-2014 at 06:17 PM.
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  #22  
Old 07-26-2014, 07:43 PM
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I think the OP is still cleaning lead from 2011.
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Old 07-26-2014, 07:47 PM
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Maybe he should just buy a new gun No Leading with Laser Cast Bullets?
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Old 07-26-2014, 10:21 PM
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To remove leading, wrap some material from a Chore Boy all copper scouring pad around a bore brush for a really tight fit. Comes out easily.
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Old 07-26-2014, 11:53 PM
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I had them in my 686 6" in mag cases at a slow 1320 fps target speed.

I did not look for leading.......... I shoot my guns and don't baby them.

Life is to short to look for copper or lead in the bore.........
Just send those bullets down range and reach for more.
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Old 07-27-2014, 12:01 PM
Nick B Nick B is offline
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For magnum loads why would you want to shoot those ? Jacketed bullets from Zero are cheaper .
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Old 07-27-2014, 12:08 PM
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Just a FYI this thread is 3 years old.
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Old 07-28-2014, 10:10 PM
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R3;

you are starting to sound like a guy from PA USA.

Sorry.......... I did not look at post #1
just the current post that had 2014 in it.

Me Bad.
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