Question about reloading Lead

[mspaeth53]

I have started reloading lead bullets in 45acp and have a little problem. I'm loading 230gr LRN with 4.0 gr Bullseye powder. They smoke like an old frieght train and are leading the gun barrel. What am I doing wrong????

 

[Mitch H.]

I have started reloading lead bullets in 45acp and have a little problem. I'm loading 230gr LRN with 4.0 gr Bullseye powder. They smoke like an old frieght train and are leading the gun barrel. What am I doing wrong????

Bullseye is without a doubt one of the SMOKIEST powders on the market. If the bullet is a hard cast bullet, then make sure you start with a clean bore. Copper attracts lead as well as lead attracting copper fouling. If the bullet isn't hard cast, try a harder bullet!

 

[Roadking Larry]

In addition to what J&K said.
Size is also very important. An undersized bullet will lead your bore pretty quick. Are you seeing lead at the throat at the muzzle or the full length of the bore? What are the lead bullets sized to? I size mine to .452.
It has been my experience that the big name commercial cast/swaged bullets are undersized and poorly lubricated. If you are buying commercial and you aren't using J&K's stuff give them a try.
If you are casting your own what alloy, mold and lube are you using and what are you sizing them to?

And what are they lubed with? Likely as not a good percentage of your smoke is from the lube.

 

[dennishoddy]

I use J&K's with 5Gr of Unique, and do not see any smoke at all, and no leading that I'm aware of.

 

[kansas45]

I've found that Butch's Bore Shine is good for removing lead from a barrel. Seems that I always get some leading in my GP100 & Taurus Tracker 45 ACP.

 

[mspaeth53]

I am using J&K's lead bullets and I am shooting them in a Taurus 24/7 with a 4" barrel. Any more ideas???

 

[Mitch H.]

The ONLY time we had a leading problem with our .45acp has been due to a dirty bore. Clean the bore really well and try again. Our alloy is good up to 1300fps so the lower velocity .45 shouldn't be a problem at all. Give me a holler at the shop if you continue to have problems.

 

[Roadking Larry]

J&K, what do you size your .45ACP bullets to?
I don't know how good Taurus is at keeping there bores in spec but he needs to make sure he has a good fit to his bore.
Another possibility is over crimping and swaging the the bullet down so that is undersized.

 

[RetCapt]

The ONLY time we had a leading problem with our .45acp has been due to a dirty bore. Clean the bore really well and try again.

I had a bit of leading when I first got some bullets from J&K. Mitch was right, I needed to start with a really clean bore. I found a good product to "get the lead out": Remington 40-X. (I'm a customer, not affiliated with the company.) Be sure to RTFD (read the flaming directions) and it works really well. I even found it at WalMart fer cryin' out loud!

A side note however. When I clean my snubbie, I have noticed that the cylinder feels a little gritty after I use the 40-X. It's obviously some of the 40-X getting into the shaft, so some oil is necessary to get the shaft to rotate freely.

 

[Mitch H.]

J&K, what do you size your .45ACP bullets to?
I don't know how good Taurus is at keeping there bores in spec but he needs to make sure he has a good fit to his bore.
Another possibility is over crimping and swaging the the bullet down so that is undersized.

Both are very valid points Larry. We size to .452. The amount of crimp should just be slightly more than what is required to take the "belling" out of the case.