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Showing results for tags 'lead'.
Found 7 results
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One of my local cast bullet suppliers called today to dicsuss some bullets I have on order, he has been supplying me with cast 9mm,40,44 and 45 bullets for quite a few years. Recently he has been producing limited quantities of coated bullets and I had order a few thousand for testing. His call was related to a local shooter who has been shooting a cast bullet with a black coating ( no brand given) who is seeing rapid rifling and throat wear in both revolvers and Semi/autos. due to this concern he is ceasing the production of coated bullets until he can investigate this more thoroughly. Has anyone seen or heard of similar reports regarding barrel wear and with coated lead bullets?
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When you make gauges, you discover there's a much wider variety of bullets and pistols out there than you can imagine. Over the past year or so we've seen ammunition made with coated and lead bullets that exceed the SAAMI .401" maximum diameter one way or another (coating thickness variance, out of roundness, slightly misaligned loading dies, mold parting lines, heavy crimps, and so on) and yet the shooters report the ammunition fits and fires fine and to please make them a gauge that it will fit into, so we went ahead and made a new gauge-- Announcing the ".40XL" 100-round case gauge. Same chamber-reamed chamber, but the bullet area is enlarged and designed for lead and coated bullets .401" and larger in diameter, loaded over SAAMI length or not. If you are loading ammunition with bullets that don't quite fit into the .40 or .40L gauge, or are tired of giving ammo a light push to seat it in the gauge, the 40XL is the gauge for you (make sure that slightly-oversize-bullet ammunition fits in your pistol properly before ordering however) Since .401" bullets are the SAAMI maximum spec and this gauge is larger than that, we still recommend the .40 gauge for regular-length SAAMI ammunition and the 40L gauge for shooters using jacketed or plated bullets .401" or smaller at over-SAAMI lengths. Think of them as the .40, 40-Long and .40 Long+Wide. Available at your favorite dealers probably by the time you read this if they are on the ball. If your favorite dealer doesn't carry Shockbottle products, slap them upside the head and tell them you are the customer and the customer is always right and you say they should.
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So I usually get .355 125gr rn from the blue bullets. My barrel slugs at .3555 and accuracy is acceptable. I'd like to try out some .356 since the general consensus is to shoot lead that a thousandth larger than what your barrel slugs at and see if they do any better. As the blue bullets don't offer a .356 (aside from bulk special order profiles) I'm curious as to where you guys & gals get your poly coated bullets at. Hi-tek coatings smoke too much for my liking so I'd like to stay away from them if at all possible. Much appreciated guys
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So I ordered some black bullets international, 9mm 125gr and 40sw 180gr. I just got them a few days ago as I wanted to try the Hitek coated bullets. I know a lot of people here use jacketed bullets but would really like to get some input from you guys using lead and in general from everyone who buys bullets and expects them to weigh out correctly....heres the deal. I started weighing the 9mm which are supposed to be 125gr. They are weighing out to 121, 122, 123 and barely 124gr...I've got maybe a handful or less of actual 125gr. So I email them, and here is their response....."Different lots of lead have slight variations in density and create this issue. Our 125s have been running around 123.6 +/- 1.2 grains for normal lead bullet variation. This is typical of a lead bullet." I don't really care for the response because I started weighing the 40sw 180gr bullets and they are all weighing 180gr......so if their lead batches are different why do these 40sw weigh what they are supposed to? What do you guys think of that response? I've only been loading for about 18months and only loading lead for the past 6 months with the same 9mm lead bullets from Rocky Mountain Reloading....their bullets did all mostly weight 125gr. I completely understand the deal with different lead batches and their contents and how they might weigh differently, but why would you advertise and sell a bullet that is supposed to be 125gr and have them actually weigh less. I mean are other companies that are selling lead bullets doing the same thing? Shouldn't the company making lead bullets figure out how to make their batches consistent weight? As I said I've only been loading lead for the past six months and that was with the 3k of 125gr I bought from Rocky Mountain Reloading. I ran out which is why I bought some BBI bullets to try out as I wanted less smoke and they had an excellent price. But I was looking at a handful of different lead vendors and settled on Black Bullets International because of their price and the fact that shipping was included compared to Bayou who charges more for shipping. So i guess what I'm asking is if I order from a place like Bayou or some other place making lead bullets am I going to get the same BS that I am currently experiencing from BBI? I want my bullets to be a solid consistent weight, so my loads will shoot the same. If I load 1 or 2 grs less with powder that completely changes the way my ammo shoots/feels, wouldn't the same thing happen with bullets that don't weigh what they're supposed to? Black Bullets International said "I" could ship back the bullets if I wasn't happy with the fact that they are not weighing 125gr....Really disappointed in this company right now. I was excited to try the coated bullets at the great price, but this is putting a bad taste in my mouth with BBI
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I shoot a Glock 34 in Production and am thinking about trying some moly coated lead bullets. How will that change my barrel cleaning procedures? I've been using the standard cleaning chemicals... Used to use Hoppes #9... changed to Mil-Comm MC25... and have been using KG1 carbon remover for several years now... I assume I'll need to use something different or in addition to the normal cleaners to remove the moly and/or lead... Any help/suggestions would be appreciated... -
Hey guys, This will be my first time reloading and I'm having bit of trouble finding starting data for the components I've been able to acquire. Powder is scarce in my area and I have ended up with 1lb of IMR PB. I've got some 180gr lead Bayou bullets that have just come in. The issue is that I can't find a starting load. From the IMR/Hodgdon website for PB powder: 180gr BERB FP starts at 4.7 max 5.1 180gr XTP starts at 4.1 max 4.5 From Modern Reloading 2nd Ed: 180 gr Lead: Power Pistol 6.5 to 6.9 Unique 5.2 to 5.5 Amer-Select 4.6 to 5.0 I contacted IMR directly and they said they have no load data for PB with 180gr lead. I was considering just starting at 3.5gr just to be safe and work up to something that cycles reliably. I'm shooting club matches that don't have a PF requirement, although I'd like to meet 40 minor. I'm sorry to be fishing for recipes, but I've really hit a wall and want to be cautious with my first batch. Thanks folks!
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I whipped up a casting machine over the weekend to make it easier and faster to cast bullets. I already had a Lee bottom-pour pot and an RCBS mould, so I built the machine around those two components. I watched several videos of the Magma Engineering Master Caster and felt that the design was simple enough to duplicate. I bought the shaft, shaft collars, mounted bearings and some steel and had the rest lying around. Short video of the machine in action: Finished bullets drop into a 50-cal ammo can and the sprues are dropped into a 30-cal can. Overall, I am happy with the results but I need to add a squirrel cage blower to speed up the cooling process and increase the output. The 20lb pot is probably going to end up being too small and I predict (with the blower), I will be able to outrun the smelting capability of the pot. The real Magma has a larger pot, pours both cavities at once, and is a one-handed operation, but my version cost me a lot less and I can use off-the-shelf RCBS moulds.
