Cast Bullets

[Ram Ringer]

I was wondering if anybody has ever tried reloading cast bullets for the 9mm? I realize there will be more fouling, but do they feed OK?

[ghknives]

I have loaded and shot thousands of rounds of cast bullets with little or no problems. Most so called experts say you have to use a special blend of lead-solder-tin or linetype. Years ago I read an article where J.Curtis Earl a well known class 3 dealer did all his shooting demonstrations  with rifle and handgun rounds using cast bullets.  He used wheel weights only and  had great luck with little leading problems by heat treating the cast bullet. It's easy to heat treat them by droping them directly from the mold into cold water. Just be very carful not to get any water into the mold

[Chris Z]

We reload 125 grain roundnose 9mm for my son to use in USPSA action pistol competition in his CZ75. They work great. They feed just as good as FMJ. Now Semi wad cutter shaped cast bullets could give you some feeding issues, but with round nose it usually works fine

[unfy]

Ancient thread, I know.

I have a similar question in relation to cast bullets, but this time in relation to 40 s&w.

While I realize leading can be very dependent on individual firearms, does anyone have any guidelines on a recipe for cast bullets of a hardness between 17 & 18 at 155gr ? Would I be better off just making several different magazine loads of different powder charge sizes to see which works out better ?

I... haven't fully decided if I wanna get into casting my own... finding a cheap local source of lead is prolly gonna be a head ache.  Deals on cast bullets can be fairly cheap, 1500 cast bullets going for $100-$110 is not too uncommon.

[JimP]

.40 S&W is a pretty high pressure cartridge, leading can compound pressures..... keep velocities low, and it can be done safely.....

...... that said, I would add that just because something CAN be done does not mean it SHOULD be.  It's your handgun (and hand!) ..... dance it around the edge of Splodeyville at your own risk.

[unfy]

I'm well aware of the higher pressures of the .40 . 

As a side note, today I noted the difference between 6.0gr vs 6.5gr of Unique behind a 180gr jacketed bullet.  My Sig P229 definitely did not like 6.5gr (still within safety limits)... accuracy went all to hell  :angry9:.  Owell, recoil was unusable as well heh.

Don't have the reloading manual's on me at the moment, but I believe the Hornady book mentions some lead recipes for the .40.  (dunno about speers) I was gonna use those as a baseline, but if others had a suggestion that had reduced leading and seemed reasonable in relation to the book loads... so I could possibly reduce my trips back and forth from the range to clean out lead / adjust recipe / retry.

I've got a guy that is willing to talk to me about in detail on the subject... will probably call him tomorrow or Monday.

[unfy]

Recently ordered two thousand 180gr truncated cone .40 bullets for $140ish shipped. Dunno what hardness off top of my head, but they're not real soft  Went to the range today with three batches of 20 rounds each with 0.5gr powder differences. Oh and a barrel snake for fouling

This is just my experience with my particular gun, these particular bullets, and COL. I wouldn't suggest others use these loads. As with any load over the net, take them with a grain of salt and refer to a published loading manual.

At 4.5 grains of unique with a Winchester SP primer - fouling was not too bad.

At 5.0 grains things were absolutely attrocious after just 3 rounds.

At 5.5 grains it was clean as whistle after 20. No leading at all.  :tool: