Why bother with lead bullets?

[Sarge]

Not being antagonistic here at all. I have been going nuts trying to figure out whether or not to try lead. I currently shoot 124MG CMJ with TG. The bullets cost about 7.6 cents each. Missouri bullets work out to about 5.2 cents each plus shipping. That is $1.20 a box or somewhere around 2 or 3 bucks a match difference. Black bullets are almost 7 cents a piece. With all the potential leading issues, powder limitations, gunking up the press, etc. Why bother?

If money where no issue would those of you who shoot lead still do so?

Please feel free to enlighten me as I may be missing something.

[Chris Keen]

Don't do it Kevin. It's not worth the potential health risks. Not to mention the extra cleaning you'll have to do. Plus like you said it's not really that much more cost effective.

[Cy Soto]

If money where no issue would those of you who shoot lead still do so?

I am not trying to psychoanalyze you here but, after reading between the lines of some of your recent threads, I gather that you really don’t want to shoot bare lead bullets. For some strange reason, you keep second guessing yourself when you already made up your subconscious mind that you should be shooting FMJ bullets.

Montana Gold bullets are a top quality product and one that you have already been using with good results. If this is the case and like you said, if money is no object, then I see no good reason for you to want switch to lead bullets.

[J-Ho]

Montana Gold $129/1000

Lead $65/1000

That's reason enough for me. For some it's not.

[jasmap]

Montana Gold $129/1000

Lead $65/1000

That's reason enough for me. For some it's not.

The 124's he is quoting are $96 per 1000 and not $129. You're dead on correct if you're talking about .40/10mm 180's though.

Kevin,

I say do it if it's a HUGE price difference but only for training or practice. Other than that I say keep shooting the MG's. The MG's are 99.9% of the time better quality anyway.

[Sarge]

All good answers. Thanks chris. Thanks for the couch time cy.

[mscott]

I can buy lead .40 cal bullets locally for $42 or $50 per 1,000 depending on which source I get them from. I'm kind of a cheapskate, so I'll stick to lead bullets for now. I'm even silly enough to run them in a stock Glock barrel. 9mm is not so much of a savings, but still substantial enough at the end of the year. If money were no object I wouldn't load at all and just shoot factory ammo.

Edited May 4, 2009 by mscott

[David Sinko]

I cast many of my own bullets because I do not want to have to depend on somebody else to make them for me. These are difficult times and I need to be able to shoot if the supply of pre-fab bullets completely dries up. I always save at least some money by casting but just knowing I can make my own bullets is most important to me.

That said, I will always prefer something shrouded with copper for any important match. There is a limit to what I am willing to pay though, especially considering the cost of primers. I can cast very high quality bullets worthy of the most important matches with the only negative side effect being the smoke, but even that can be reduced somewhat.

Dave Sinko

[scribble]

Montana Gold $129/1000

Lead $65/1000

That's reason enough for me. For some it's not.

I made the same discovery so that is all I shoot.

I only shoot .40 in 175-180, 200, and 220gr and the savings is about what you see. They don't even make a 220gr jacketed bullet.

[L-10_shooter]

I shoot lead for the same reasons above. even in 9mm jacketed bullets are around 10 cents each. A local guy makes butt loads of 124 gr lead for 4.5 cents each, half the price! Same for .40 only even bigger savings. Tough times call for budgets.

[Sarge]

Unless my math is way off MG 124 cmj's work out to 7.6 cents each if bought in case quantity. 147's are around 10 cents if I remember correctly. Alot of the more prominent lead products are not much cheaper after a quick check last night online. It seems funny that a few cents means so much to some when some will argue all day long that VV powder hardly costs any more at all per round but yet it sells for almost twice as much per 4 pounds.

As to one comment made. I am not saying money is no issue. I am saying I can afford to load what I want. And I would still reload even if I had more money than I knew what to do with.

Again Thanks

[lugnut]

Sandman- use cost/thousand rounds- it's so much easier! I never understood why people do it per round.

For me the difference is cost just isn't worth it. Iuse Berry or MG only. Don't need lead smoking up my range or dirtying my gun.

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: I know in my 45acp the Precision 200 grain bullets seem to shoot softer than the jacketed bullets. They also seem to give less torque. Lastly they take less powder I also use them for local matches and use JHP for big matches--sometimes I would try some Precision bullets then you can decide. Thanks, Eric

[steel1212]

Also make sure when you do your comparison your comparing GOOD lead bullets not some wheel weight back yard stuff to jacketed bullets. In 9mm it isn't worth the cost to shoot anything but jacketed in my mind. In .40 maybe if you shoot enough. .45 I still shoot lead as the cost difference is there and I don't shoot a lot of it to worry about the exposure factor. With the way prices are I don't see why people even use moly bullets either as they are close enough to jacketed sometimes. Just me, though maybe I've hung around bullet snobs for to long.

[JimmyZip]

I guess you have to look at the overall. I shoot outside which minimizes lead exposure. (Note I said MINIMIZES, and not ELIMINATES) At $288.00 for 2500 180gr MG CMJ and $203.00 for2500 180gr Black Bullets LTC, the difference is 85.00. That is enough money to buy powder to send all the moly coated bullets downrange. I can wash my range clothers and keep my lead out of the house well enough.

Or you could buy more bullets, or some primers should you come across any.

[J-Ho]

It seems funny that a few cents means so much to some when some will argue all day long that VV powder hardly costs any more at all per round but yet it sells for almost twice as much per 4 pounds.

I also factor in the cost of powder. I look at how many grains/load and cost/pound. If the load runs consistantly, meters well and doesn't smoke too bad, I stick with it. Loading for rifle is a different story. I think you just have to do a cost benefit analysis.

[dapribek]

I actually don't have a choice. The club I shoot at has all steel targets and doesn't allow FMJ or plated bullets, only lead. The Precision Bullets I have been using work so well, I'm thinking of only loading them from now on.

[ebg3]

I got into reloading to save money and to be able to create custom loads. Lead saves me money. With primers going through the roof, if you can find them, I need all the savings I can get. Yes, lead is dirty and I have to clean my gun and mags more thoroughly. But the savings makes it worth it. If money was not an issue, I would not shoot lead in my .40 or 9mm--ever.

EG

[slidelock1]

Not being antagonistic here at all. I have been going nuts trying to figure out whether or not to try lead. I currently shoot 124MG CMJ with TG. The bullets cost about 7.6 cents each. Missouri bullets work out to about 5.2 cents each plus shipping. That is $1.20 a box or somewhere around 2 or 3 bucks a match difference. Black bullets are almost 7 cents a piece. With all the potential leading issues, powder limitations, gunking up the press, etc. Why bother?

If money where no issue would those of you who shoot lead still do so?

Please feel free to enlighten me as I may be missing something.

[slidelock1]

Not being antagonistic here at all. I have been going nuts trying to figure out whether or not to try lead. I currently shoot 124MG CMJ with TG. The bullets cost about 7.6 cents each. Missouri bullets work out to about 5.2 cents each plus shipping. That is $1.20 a box or somewhere around 2 or 3 bucks a match difference. Black bullets are almost 7 cents a piece. With all the potential leading issues, powder limitations, gunking up the press, etc. Why bother?

If money where no issue would those of you who shoot lead still do so?

Please feel free to enlighten me as I may be missing something.

Oops, I pushed the "add reply" button before I "added the reply".....I think that has something to do with my age related cognitive decline. Let me begin by saying that I don't know anyone, either rich or not-so-rich, that money is not an issue. Anyway, the decision to select lead vs. jacketed in my opinion has to do with basically two issues (assuming you can obtain acceptable accuracy with both kinds of bullets): First, there is a cost difference that may or may not be an issue with you. It seems to me that if you can obtain similar results with both bullets, saving money is always a good option; you can only spend your bucks once. And, I find that if I clean my barrels after each shoot leading is a non-issue. Shooting is expensive enough without spending more than you need to spend. The second issue is availability. During the past several months I have always been able to find a resource for lead bullets while jacketed bullets became very hard to obtain (and this has been an intermittent problem over the past few years). I have used a lot of MG's in the past but they have recently been impossible to obtain and the owner for some reason or another has suddenly become quite an arrogant jerk in his communications (I'd like to remind him that those customers you insult when business is good, you would probably like to have back when your business is slow). I have also used a ton of Zero Bullets in the past, and though there is a lengthy wait, they are shipping. Personally, I have switched from jacketed back to lead and am saving approximately 40% on my purchases. And by any standard, for the rich or the not-so-rich, 40% is a significant savings!!!

[steel1212]

I guess you have to look at the overall. I shoot outside which minimizes lead exposure. (Note I said MINIMIZES, and not ELIMINATES) At $288.00 for 2500 180gr MG CMJ and $203.00 for2500 180gr Black Bullets LTC, the difference is 85.00. That is enough money to buy powder to send all the moly coated bullets downrange. I can wash my range clothers and keep my lead out of the house well enough.

Or you could buy more bullets, or some primers should you come across any.

What powder do you use? What kind of build up do you get? How much smoke is produced?

I never had good luck with anything moly coated, but I know others do. When I shot them, and I tried everything suggested, I always got build up in the chambers, smoke, and sometimes even tumbling bullets. With lead at least all I got was smoke but it gets worse the faster I tried to push it so .45 was the only thing I use it for.

[Sarge]

Sandman- use cost/thousand rounds- it's so much easier! I never understood why people do it per round.

For me the difference is cost just isn't worth it. Iuse Berry or MG only. Don't need lead smoking up my range or dirtying my gun.

Lugnut I only broke it down to respond to the shooter who said they were around 10 cents each.

[hockeyfighter25]

Not being antagonistic here at all. I have been going nuts trying to figure out whether or not to try lead. I currently shoot 124MG CMJ with TG. The bullets cost about 7.6 cents each. Missouri bullets work out to about 5.2 cents each plus shipping. That is $1.20 a box or somewhere around 2 or 3 bucks a match difference. Black bullets are almost 7 cents a piece. With all the potential leading issues, powder limitations, gunking up the press, etc. Why bother?

If money where no issue would those of you who shoot lead still do so?

Please feel free to enlighten me as I may be missing something.

Instead of thinking about it as varying cost, I think about how many rounds can I load for the same amount of money. For example, 1k 124 CMJ ($76), 1k primers ($25), and powder ($9) would cost $110. For that same $110, I can load 1.48k rounds with lead bullets ($40.18/k).

[Boats]

Over and above the component price difference . Lead vs jacketed barrel wear makes little difference to auto pistols with cheap easy to replace barrels. Revolvers are very expensive to re-barrel. My cast bullet match rifle has over 25,000 rounds through the barrel with no measurable wear. High Power Silouette rifles in 308 or 7mm o8 Shooting match jacketed boat tails last about 3000 rounds It's big bucks to re-barrel either one not to mention months out of service waiting out the gunsmith.

Mess with lead ? none I know of, easier to clean than copper fowled barrels too.

You pays your money and takes your choice.

Boats

[RevolverJockey]

Casting - $5.00 and 10 hours/3,000 175gr TC .401 bullets. They shoot about 2 3/4" groups at 25yds in both my stock and KKM barrel with 150 PF - G35.