Lead .41-cal semi-wads

[Dave Workman]

Gang, I have come into most of a box of cast lead .41-caliber bullets, semi-wads with lube. They measure .411-.412 in my digital caliper.
They were packed carefully in an old Speer jacketed swaged bullet box for 220-grain soft points.
would anyone have any loading data that might work in a .41 Magnum load?

 

[44wheelman]

I like 7.5 gr. Unique. It's a light plinking load, but so fun in my 58.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Have you weighed them? What weight?

How hard are they?

What powder do you have?

Do they have a flat base? Why is the whole bottom part of the bullet covered in grease? They aren't gas check bullets, without GCs, and lubed, are they?

.

 

[Wapakfred]

Someone here mentioned 7.5 grains unique in an earlier post, I tried it in my 57-1 and really like it. This was behind a 215 grain SWC cast. I agree that pic of the bullets look a little strange if that is lube on the base.

 

[SuperMan]

8.0 grains of Unique will run 950 from a 4" barrel duplicating the original 210 lead Police load exactly...it is also exceeding accurate...

Bob

 

[SuperMan]

ps...the lube in the bottom groove above the base... It looks like that bullet was designed to take a gas check as normally that lube isn't around the base like that. I would suggest wiping it off as it could contaminate the powder it the rounds got hot sitting in the sun. For the velocity you will be running the lube in the center groove should be enough to get the job done.

Bob

 

[lrrifleman]

SuperMan is correct about the bottom grove. The bullet looks like the Lyman 215gr SWCGC that I use. Definitely remove the lube from the bottom groove!

When I load my RCBS 210gr SWC for 41 Special performance, I load about 5.6gr of WW231 in Magnum cases. It is a nice, soft and accurate round. I have never loaded the 215gr bullet light without a gas check.

 

[max]

I use 7.0 of Unique with cast weights from 210-225.

 

[Alk8944]

Your bullets are Lyman # 410610, a semi-wadcutter gas check bullet that nominally weighs 210-215 grains.These appear to be lubricated with the original "Lyman lube" which is a moderately hard wax based lube with a lot of graphite in it resulting in the black color. They can be loaded without the gas check, but you should clean the lube off of the gas check heel before loading.

If you stay away away from maximum listed loads you can simply use any load you find in any manual for a 215 ge cast bullet or 210 jacketed. To worry about a specific load for this specific bullet you are way over-thinking the process! If you want to be that specific go to the Lyman Cast Bullet handbook and look up a load for 410610.

Or to keep it simple just use the 7-8.0 gr Unique others have recommended. With only the few bullets you have you are hardly going to "Work up the best load" for them before they are gone!

 

[Qc Pistolero]

I shoot a Saeco cast SWC that is 220gr nominal and comes out at 223gr as I cast them(I cast softer than most people).These are bevel base.I put them on top of 19.8gr H110.Carefull;I worked up to this load,starting at 18.5.No pressure sign and no leading.They come out chronoed at over 1300fps from my 5 1/2''bbl Redhawk(I know,it ain't a model 57 but I'm working on it!).
BTW,one of my friends has a 657 in 8 3/8'' and shoots 220gr jacketed and uses the same load.The load is plenty accurate in both forms.
Qc

 

[Dave Workman]

Have you weighed them? What weight?

How hard are they?

What powder do you have?

Do they have a flat base? Why is the whole bottom part of the bullet covered in grease? They aren't gas check bullets, without GCs, and lubed, are they?

.

One at a time:
1) Yeah, I weighed them and they're mainly hovering around 200 grains, though I came across one that weighed only 150 grains.

2) They all seem fairly hard.

3) I have 2400 and a LOT of H110.

4) Yep, they are flat base bullets and as you could see from the image, they're lubed.

The problem I found that bothers me is they are .411 and some .412 pretty consistently.

I'm not sure if they were put together by some guy who stuck them in the old Speer box, or if he bought them from a commercial bullet maker.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Okay. The first thing I'd do is cull all the odd weight bullets. They're worthless.

Their diameters wouldn't bother me unless I had unusually tight throats.

Without question, those cast bullets were put in the old Speer jacketed box just for storage.

As mentioned I'd clean the grease off the gas-check formed base. I've never shot GC'd bullets that didn't have the GCs but I guess it makes it no worse than the bevel base bullets you often get. It might be more prone to leading like that though?

I had some 215gr LSWC-HT coated bullets that weren't coated properly & would lead even with moderate speed powders so I used them up using slow powders (2400, W296 & I4227) with light loads.

You might start with a few using 2400 @ 13.9gr (~1050 fps) to see if they shoot okay without leading and step it up from there if you want. (2400 @ 14.5gr is ~1100 fps). No download issues with 2400.

H110 isn't good for downloading (if that's what these need). I did load some for my "problem bullets" that were below start that shot fine but it's a gray area not worth exploring.

.