Lead In A P226

[Frank79]

I'm looking to start reloading and I've heard lead can be cheap. Can I shoot lead out of a sig p226, and will it meet the IDPA SSP rating of 125,000 and still be accurate??

[DougCarden]

Yes, yes, and yes!

I would suggest using powder no faster than Titegroup or Win 231. Those along with VV320 should give you the accuracy you need with whatever bullet you use.

Good luck,

DougC

[bufit323]

Absolutely you can.

I would warn however that depending on the quality (i.e. hardness) of your projectiles, you may find that the faster burning powders, such as N320, will burn the base of your bullet and realy cause some accuracy problems.

I have done this first hand in my 226. If you want to avoid that, and still get a very nice soft load, try using Universal Clays, with a 147gr Lead Bullet at an OAL of about 1.155". That will work like a champ. As always start very low and work your charge up, I would start around 3.0 grains with the above characteristics and work up from there in increments of 0.1 grains.

FWIW, I have done exactly this and eventually decided to spend a few extra dollars and reload jacketed.

[sargenv]

I would suggest you load one of the moly coated lead bullets rather than the plain lead bullets in your Sig. I shoot the Bear creek 140 RN and 180 TC Moly coated lead bullets in my 229 and they are quite accurate but don't smoke as much as the plain uncoated lead bullets do. I also had really good luck with plated bullets loaded to minor. I was using West coast 180 RNFP's with 4.0 gr of 231 to make about 725 fps. A nice easy 130 pf. These were seated to 1.135" and were fun to shoot. You didn't mention if you had the 9mm or the 40, for 9mm I would use a 125 RN and find a suitable powder to get it to minor.Bear creek makes a 125 RN. Somehow 231 seemed to fit in nicely but I may have used Universal.

Vince

[Frank79]

sorry it is a 9mm. i've heard some things like make sure you keep the bullet under 1000fps and stuff like that. Is there any truth to that statement?

[George]

Always use hard cast lead. You will know it's not if it sheds half the bullet in your bbl at anything resembling some real velocity for that projectile weight.

Moly coated lead is a lot less nasty than wax lube lead, but wax lube works, just remember rule #1, Only Use "Hard Cast" Lead

[Frank79]

what brand of bullets do you reccomend??

[George]

If you are in Arizona, try Billy Bullets, they are hard enough to push at 1200fps+ in my super (147gr LSWC)

[sargenv]

It appears that any of the moly coated bullets are about as good as any other. I choose the Bear Creeks because they are local to me. Master Blaster in Washington, Billy Bullets in AZ, and Precision back east all seem to be great bullets. I was able to push my 40 cal 140's to 1350 fps in my Revolver to make Major without any leading at all. I'd reccomend whatever moly coated lead (hard cast) bullets are available to you locally and go with that. Jacketed bullets are nice, but I can shoot more of the moly coated bullets than I can of the Jacketed and still retain accuracy in the guns that I shoot (Para P16, Para LDA, Sig 229, S&W 610 and 686). I can't say which yet in my 38 super since I haven't played with them in that caliber yet. Besides, George seemed to already tell you that one

Vince

[NoTenX]

Any of the moly suggested, I loaded over 10K bear creek and tried the others. Just one suggestion if new brass chamfer the case mouth on first loading so sharp square edge does not shave off coating. You will appreachat the coating if shoot indoors and don't get lead smoke and soon it may be reuired by most ranges