wwillson Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 I cast 230g RN bullets from wheel weight lead for 45ACP. I let the bullets age harden for at least 45 days before shooting. I use xlox from lsstuff in Idaho with great results. I still get a slight bit of leading in the first inch of the breech end of the barrel. Does anyone know if leading with wheel weight lead is just unavoidable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsoup Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Do you mean from the breech end or the muzzle end. From the breech usually means the bullet is too hard and not obiturating fast enough. Or the bullet is undersized for your bore. The lead is from the powder melting the bullet, and the melted lead depositing on the barrel. The powder load is USUALLY burned up about that far down the barrel. If you mean the muzzle end, that usually means you've run out of lube before the bullet gets out of the barrel. Try double dipping your bullets. If you tumble lube, thin the first coat 50/50 with mineral spirits. When that is good and dry, tumble lube with 100% alox, or you could do the hand dip method (what a pain that is) Let them set up real good. A little mica powder, after the final lube, will help keep the aloxed bullets from sticking to every thing and everybody. just tumble the bullets, about 20 at a time, in a margarine tub with a small amount of mica. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted November 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Woodsoup,It's the breech end, about 1" of slight leading. I'm betting that the cast bullets are slightly undersized. The bullets measure .452, but don't have those great sharply filled out edges like alloy with more tin. Thanks for the tip on mica powder, I'll have to try that!Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLH70 Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 What is your recipe for this load exactly? The reason I ask is that you may be able to adjust the pressure a little one way or the other to compensate for the hardness level of the lead.I have had good success doing this, but it came to be such a hassle that I don't cast very many bullets anymore, I find the cast bullets I buy to be more uniform in hardness and therefor I don't need to adjust my loads to prevent leading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted November 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 I use 4.0g Clays (Hodgdon published load), which is the max load. You only get ~793fps since Clays is such a fast burning powder, but it's really clean.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsoup Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Woodsoup,It's the breech end, about 1" of slight leading. I'm betting that the cast bullets are slightly undersized. The bullets measure .452, but don't have those great sharply filled out edges like alloy with more tin. Thanks for the tip on mica powder, I'll have to try that!Wayne Try a bit more heat in the pot and the mold, Mostly the mold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted November 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 With a hotter mold, the bullets start to get a 'frosted' look. I've read that frosty bullets are just as good as non-frosted, especially since I use tumble lube as the frost may make the tumble lube stick better. Thoughts?Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsoup Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 The frost is the lead not giving up it's heat as fast. You don't have to increase the temp in both at the same time, or by much, try one then the other then both. If they still don't fill out like you want, I'd check the vent lines for any obstructions. Especially if one intersects the area where the fill out is a problem.Trust me (??), that target won't even have time to tell if the bullet is frosted or shiney, nor will it care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted November 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Thanks Woodsoup!I will let you know if this works for me.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLH70 Posted November 25, 2009 Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 Just another thought, have you tried to size the bullets to .451? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLH70 Posted November 25, 2009 Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 Also you may want to slug your barrel if you have not done so already. That would give you some real good data to work from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted November 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 I think this is a hardness vs velocity problem. The WW lead with no tempering has a BH of 9-10. The faster I load them the worst the leading gets. When I cut the Clays back to 3.7, the loading almost goes away. I've heat treated some to a BH of 15 and will load them with the same load that was leading pretty bad. I'll let you know what I find.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLH70 Posted November 25, 2009 Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 As mentioned above adjusting the pressure also worked for me to a good extent. I agree it is most likely a hardness question.Do you not size your bullets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted November 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 RLH70,The Lee six cavity molds through bullets right at .452, so I don't size them.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLH70 Posted November 25, 2009 Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 Wayne, your gonna have me back melting lead again before it's all said and done! I'm starting to get the itch back because of you. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted November 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 RLH70,Thank me very much! Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugerman1 Posted November 26, 2009 Report Share Posted November 26, 2009 Wayne,I would try sizing bigger and using a slower powders before I tried heat treating boolits for a 45ACP.I size mine @.4525 and,if I'm pushing them,I'd use Unique or slower powder.Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted November 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2009 I shot 100 bullets this weekend that I hardened a week ago and found much success! These are the same Lee 452-228-1R that I was having so many problems with earlier in this thread. The only variable that I changed is I heated at 400F for 1hr and water quenched, everything else remained the same. It was 8 days between casting and shooting, so they had plenty of time to harden. The leading isn't completely gone, but it is MUCH less than it was with the unhardened wheel weight lead. As a matter of fact, I shot the whole 100 through my 1911 and checked for leading about every 10 shots. Normally I would stop at about 50 fired because the leading was causing flyers, certainly not the case this time.I think I'll try hardening just a bit more and see what that yields.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLH70 Posted November 30, 2009 Report Share Posted November 30, 2009 Glad to hear it's working Wayne! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steves Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 Missouri bullets has a writeup on bullet hardness and velocity . I thought it was interesting. I doubt I will get in to bullet casting "I hope" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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