Due to the shortage of supplies I have just began shooting hard cast lead. I used soft swaged bullets before and loaded them according the the Speer manual. It list loads for lead and for jacketed bullets. Where would the hard cast bullets fit into this? Can you push them faster than the soft lead without excessive leading? I have never used gas checks. My usual source of jacketed bullets have been out of supply.
Hardcast lead ?
- Thread starter deanodog
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There are various degrees of actual hardness with "hardcst" bullets. Anything from about 10 Brinell on up is usually referred to as hardcast. Plus, hardcast are exactly that-cast. The swaged bullets from Speer, Hornady, etc., are made by forcing a cold slug of lead through a swaging, or forming die, while cast bullets are made from pouring molten lead into a mould.
You can generally push cast bullets a lot faster than any swaged bullet. It all depends on actuall alloy used, lube, bore condition of the gun in which they're fired etc.
For general shooting in magnum rounds, Brinnell hardness of arouns 14-16 works pretty well, even without a gascheck, as long as a quality lube is used.
You need a bullet that is fairly hard, but not too hard, since the base of the bullet needs to obturate, or swell up and fill the throats of the cylinder as they are fired, which helps prevent leading.
You can generally push cast bullets a lot faster than any swaged bullet. It all depends on actuall alloy used, lube, bore condition of the gun in which they're fired etc.
For general shooting in magnum rounds, Brinnell hardness of arouns 14-16 works pretty well, even without a gascheck, as long as a quality lube is used.
You need a bullet that is fairly hard, but not too hard, since the base of the bullet needs to obturate, or swell up and fill the throats of the cylinder as they are fired, which helps prevent leading.
Last edited:
Skip Sackett
US Veteran
More to do with pressure than velocity.
Dean,
I have shot 15BHN bullets that I cast to 1800fps in the 44Mag. There was no to minimal leading in my firearms. It is because I use a powder that would develop enough pressure to make the bullet obturate or seal the bore. Those rounds were shot in carbine rifles and would develop 1300fps from my M629 Classic with a 5" barrel.
Keeping leading to a minimum is more a function of size and hardness rather than just hardness. If you want a lead mess just take an 18BHN bullet that is .001" too small and drive it about 800 - 900fps. Take that same bullet/firearm combination and stoke it up to 1100fps and some of the leading will go away. Take the .001" difference out of it and drive that baby up to 1200fps and you will have no leading at all.
Dean,
I have shot 15BHN bullets that I cast to 1800fps in the 44Mag. There was no to minimal leading in my firearms. It is because I use a powder that would develop enough pressure to make the bullet obturate or seal the bore. Those rounds were shot in carbine rifles and would develop 1300fps from my M629 Classic with a 5" barrel.
Keeping leading to a minimum is more a function of size and hardness rather than just hardness. If you want a lead mess just take an 18BHN bullet that is .001" too small and drive it about 800 - 900fps. Take that same bullet/firearm combination and stoke it up to 1100fps and some of the leading will go away. Take the .001" difference out of it and drive that baby up to 1200fps and you will have no leading at all.
With a bullet that hard I would use the same loading data for 240 gr. J-Word bullets...........Creeker
