lead hard cast question

O

osborne

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My brother picked up 1000 "DRG Premium Quality Hard Cast Bullets" for me today. Problem is I've never reloaded or even shot a lead bullet before!

Just wondering what, if any, issues I'll run into vs. the regular jacketed bullets I shoot. They are 180 gr .40 caliber round nose bullets and appear to be pre-lubed (they have a red ring around the middle anyway!). They will be used in a Springfield XD and S&W sigma 40F only.

There is a load in my re-loading manual for the powder i currently have ,unique, and performance isn't far off that for a jacketed bullet.

So any advice or info I need to know about???? Most importantly am I going to run into reliability problems and how significant will lead fouling be after a run of 200 or 300 rounds before cleaning?


osborne
 
I shoot lead in my 9 mm and .45. Barrel leading is minimal, especially in the .45. Cleans easy with shooters choice. Reliability is no problem either, if your handloads work with jackets, they'll work with cast. (with a load for cast of course.) They will be a bit smokier. Leading after 2-300 rounds will not affect accuracy at all unless your trying to push them faster then 1000 fps or so, which may speed up the process.
 
It's been my experience that cast bullets are generally seized a little bigger in diameters than fmj or jacket bullets so make sure you set your expander die to bell the case mouth a little wider before inserting/seating bullet. A little trial and error will determine the amount of extra belling is required if any.

Also, since the ammo is for semi-autos, you have to make sure the assembled rounds headspaces properly in the chamber. Just assemble a dummy round, remove the barrel and try dropping the round in see if it drops in freely. The base of the round should be kind of even with the rear end of the upper chamber. If your rounds drop in too far past the rear of the chamber you sized them too much and you'll have misfire problems.

Cast loads tend to be smoky. Just think of it as black powder shooting.
 
You may run into a bit of a snag with seating, if so just expand the case a bit more till it seats without shaving off too much lead. Also watch for proper closing of the action, if your action does not close proper just seat a tad deeper till it closes proper (can make up a test/dummy round for this, no primer or powder). And the only other caution is with powder, there is a differance in the amount of powder with the same bullet weight from cast and copper bullets.
Frank
 
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