Leading with the Speer .38 158gr LSWC

[mtgianni]

I can probably recover a shot bullet and have a look at the base to see if the Bullseye is burning it up or not...


Someone else advised that hard cast bullets were really not best for regular 38 loads because they probably wouldn't seal.

I doubt the bullet is in the bbl long enough to be burned, it easily could be running out of lube. When I shot the swedged speers the standard load was the bullseye and ppc load of 2.8 to 3.0 gr Bullseye. This gave around 700 fps from a 6" K frame.

Hardcast are not really the best choices for a 38 @ 19-22 BHN. Swedged are closer to a BHN of 8-9, the ideal would be something in the 11-12 BHN class. I think hardcast are a far better choice than a swedged at anythin gother than a book minimum load, though the short bbl may have other effects on powder flame.

 

[BigBill]

I had a little leading problem in the past but i switched to my bullets coated with moly and my leading stopped. I purchsed the moly coated bullets in the past but now I want to try coating my own with the moly spray from midwayusa.

 

[Granddad]

I shoot swaged out of my 36 and haven't had any leading issues. I'm curious, though. You never had a problem, but now you do; and your velocity with 4.5 of Unique seems very low. Maybe you have a huge cylinder gap or the chron reading is off? Have you run check weights on your scales--maybe you are throwing light charges without knowing it?

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I also shot swagged bullet without leading and some of the loads are ~800 fps. I know it's the pressure we need to worry about but since we have no way to measure pressure using velocity as a guideline will have to do.

 

[ray45]

Last week I loaded up some 38 Specials using Unique with SWC (4.7 gr.) and RN (4.4).... each 158 grain cast bullets. I shot both loads through a 357 Marlin 1894CSS and a Ruger LCR 357. The Ruger LCR 357 had lots of leading in the barrel. The Marlin 357 had no leading at all.

This week I loaded up some of the same SWC bullets in 38 Specials, reducing the 4.7gr. load to 4.4gr. of same Unique. I took the Ruger LCR 357 to the range and got the same leading using 4.4 gr Unique as I did with the 4.7 gr Unique. I've used this same load in other revolvers with little or no leading. I suspect the bullet diameter is a little small for this particular revolver as these bullets measured .357 in diameter. So did the RN, so go figure! I am going to try some different SWC bullets in .358 diameter.

Both loads cleaned up real easy so not a big deal. I have used 4.0 gr - 4.7 gr unique in 38 Special 158 gr. SWC loads for years and I've noticed that some guns lead more than others with a particular bullet and load combination. There are other factors beside velocity and bullet hardness that causes leading in the bore.