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December 12, 2009
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I use them all, I just love the saying (You get what you pay for). for example. I have seen that weighing Nosler a box of 100 count, will give you about 3 piles separating by 3 tenths. But a box of Hornady will give you 4 piles. Speer 5 or 6 piles. The thing with lead bullets from small manufactures the problems get worse but the price is CHEAP!!! A 30 or 40 dollar digital scale is the best money you will ever spend. And a good dial caliper and a eye for detail is a must, with any bullets regardless of who manufactured them. LEADING, LEADING LEADING. Ok, If you are leading and smoking hot slow it down. If you slow down and still lead try sizing up or down, ( most likely down). If you are still leading and running a magnum primer go standard to reduce temp and pressure. And If you are still leading try a softer or harder bullet. And at last change powder. Good example H110 and hot loaded Lasercast 180 grain in 357 Magnum is a good way to get tennis elbow. But no real leading with hot loaded lil gun, 4227. It had some leading with 2400 I heard. The Lasercast 180 grain and lil gun, will start leading around 1430 in the 357 Magnum. But 1680 in 357 Supermagnum with a Lasercast 180 and I have driven them to 1585 fps. with no leading. I spent years working up good loads and S#*T loads!!! If there is a problem tweak it out, and sometimes you just have to start over.
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November 17, 2008
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I did some checking last night and here is what I found. I do not know if it will answer your questions or not. My cast bullets mike 358 and are made from a mix of wheel weights and tin to get a BHN of 13. A 357 jacketed bullet will drop through the cylinder on both my model 15 and 715. A 358 jacketed will drop through my 715 but hang tight in my 15, with moderate pressure that is. They all fire fine. I shoot mostly lead < 1000fps if I go over that I use a gas check or jacketed for hunting or such. Never had a leading problem yet. Yes pouring your own take time but you can save some bucks that way, like reloading, it adds to the home brewed satisfaction. I set up and do a large batch of lead once a year or so as to keep the batch consistent and try to pour enough bullets to last a long time. Everyone has to find what works for them, some would rather spend the time burning powder and that is cool ,but I enjoy the casting and loading "almost" as much as shooting. Not sure if my info helped but just my observations. Good luck.
LB
Wisdom is merely the realization of how little one knows, therefore I am wise.
June 5, 2008
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What I shoot is jacked (Nosler & some Hornady), sweged (Hornady), hard cast. When the Hornady JHP is gone I will not order any more of their bullets due to poor quality.
I would like to try some solid copper bullets in my 744 and my S&W 610 10 mm, like the idea of the heavy knetic energy and penetration. Why? Because I carry G-29 for CCW and car gun and like the idea of the solid for penetration in winter and of auto metal/glass and with 744 for a hog round.
Recently I found some very inexpensive (about $0.12 & $0.14 ea) JHP for the 357 and 10mm (40 cal) that I will be checking it out today for size & weight. For some reason they did not offer 44 cal, best I remember they only had 9mm, 357 & 40 cal which is 10mm for pistol.
Since were talking reloading I also ordered some 34 gr JHP in .224 caliber to try in my Triple Deuce after a friend tried them last year in his 220 swift with excellent results on everything from Coyote to ground squirrel. He said de loaded them to 4200 fps w/o them coming apart and thats always been a problem in that caliber and at 10 cents a bullet they are lot cheaper then Hornady or other brands.
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New Model M-715 Pistol Pack
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Bob Tail RZ 10mm - Bob Tail RZ 38 Super by Keith @ DW - DW 38 Super Guardian
December 12, 2009
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The best ay to find out your diameter is to slug the barrel, These kits are available on line. I would try this only if you are desperate, or have a qualified gunsmith do this nasty job for you. I know that all most all 357's I have owned I could run a 358 dia. with load development had little or no leading. But there are exceptions to the rules ( COLT)!!! Most of the Colt's that I have and friends of mine have seen is COLT HAS A TAPERED BORE!!! Yes, the 358 at the forcing cone and 356 or less at the muzzle. They also have the fastest twist rate in there rifling too. This make for a real pain for hot loads and leading issues. I use a King Cobra for a lot of load development. If there is little leading at the muzzle, chances are there will no leading in another gun. As for jacketed versus lead there is not even a contest here. Lead will not ware out a barrel, and is a lot easier to clean out then copper fouling. As for hunting I use a jacketed rounds for expansion, But, for large game I use lead SWC. It is a penetrator and still expands a little for internal damage. As for gas checks, I have found that in some hot loads a gas check will almost act like a jacketed and increase pressure, If you look at my other post ( 357 load that is the Bomb). We had a issue with gas checked bullets over 15 grains with lil gun. I had a few 180 jacketed Remingtons and hit the same pressure problem at 15 grains. But a lead no gas check and a hard bullet like Lasercast will drive beyond 15 grains with ease. Remember wheel lead with no gas check can be driven to 1800 FPS with a gas check over 2300 FPS. The old german who owned Meister. I talk to him personally, and he told me, his non gas checked rifle bullets were driven to 2400 FPS before leading started in testing. If you read the Lyman 47 reloading manual there is a lot of testing on lead bullets that will shock you. As the 1000 FPS for lead is a Myth!!!
February 15, 2009
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It was a good day at the range. It was also enlightening. About a month ago I bought 800 rounds of "range brass". I did that because someone on another forum asked if it was ok to mix brass. All these people told the guy he'd not be able to tell the difference. I will need to load the exact same load with the miscellaneous brass and see but I'm going to bet it won't be great. I may sell the crap brass.
The first target is from a clean gun and I just got there. The load for targets 1,3 and 5 is CCI 500, 5.3gr. Unique, 158gr. SWC and Winchester brass of my own brass. The first target I just got there and the group is bad and I'm a bit discouraged. Group 2 was about the same. However group 3 got smaller and group 5 was saying we're getting somewhere now as it was smaller than 3. On the 6th group I figured I better give this group 100% so we know pretty well what it is capable of. At 1 5/16″ at 25 yards I am pleased. I'll definitely be switching to these cast bullets. Thank you guys for your help!
Using the next load which used a CCI 550 and mixed brass the first target was pretty bad but part of that was me not letting my eyes a few seconds rest lest everything be a blur. On group 8 I gave it a chance and it's pretty bad at 2 3/4″. The primer could be worth an 1″ of shrinkage as it's happened to me before.
http://s691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/warnerwh/?action=view¤t=TARGET1.jpg
http://s691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/warnerwh/?action=view¤t=TARGET3.jpg
http://s691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/warnerwh/?action=view¤t=TARGET6.jpg
http://s691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/warnerwh/?action=view¤t=TARGET8.jpg
December 12, 2009
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What yardage are you at, and are you using a rest? You got a good start going there. Do not worry about mixing brass, U will never tell the difference for general shooting. Have you tried gap setting on your gun yet? You just mite cut them groups in half. You can tighten the weight gap of your bullets too. I have found around 2 or 3 tenths of a grain is fast to separate and gives less piles in the end. I have run within a tenth an did not really see much of a gain. Most DW's I owen and friends of mine owen, Will do about the size of half dollar or less at 15 yards off of a rest. My 15-2 with a magnum load as shot smaller then a quarter. The key to a Dan is the right load with the right gap. If you need help with anything just ask, or almost anybody on the forum.
February 15, 2009
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I'm testing at 25 yards from a rest which is as close as I ever shoot at the range. I've never been good enough to shoot off hand groups under 3" unless I get lucky, this also at 25 yards. These days lucky is at 4" with 5"-6" being the norm.
I adjusted the b/c gap as you suggested which may have something to do with the improved accuracy. At this point I'm satisfied with the accuracy. For my needs it is fine. The weight variation of these bullets with a sample of 10 was 157.2 to 158.7 grains.
Thank you guys for the help. The part I really like is this saves 2.50 a box just in bullets and I will also be using 30% less powder. My main intention when starting this experiment was the cost savings. With both of us laid off saving any money is good.
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