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Topic ClosedBullet Hardness

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Triggerguard View Drop Down
.416 Rigby
.416 Rigby

aka The San Antonio Terminator

Joined: 13 June 2003
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Bullet Hardness
    Posted: 30 June 2003 at 17:13
Just a follow up comment on waksupi's post regarding bullet size and his comments on hardness.
It seems that you can always spot a new caster on the shooting
boards when he is complaining about cast bullet handgun proformance.
Either his loads lead like crazy, or accuracy is in the toilet, or some other
problem. He invaribly states, "I'm using Blah Blah company's hard cast bullets", or "I used the
200 grain Blah blah company mold, CAST HARD. Why do I pull out four pounds of lead when I clean my gun?"
In my experience, hardness for the sake of hardness almost always causes problems. Bullets should be cast
as hard as the application calls for.
Waksupi's advice matches what I have learned over the years.
Any comments?
Anybody else find this to be true?
"...A moral compass needs a butt end.Whatever direction France is pointing-towards collaboration with Nazis, accomodation with communists,...we can go the other way with a quiet conscience"-O'Rourke
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TasunkaWitko View Drop Down
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aka The Gipper

Joined: 10 June 2003
Location: Chinook Montana
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 July 2003 at 01:34

trigger -

i'm "still learnin'," but waksupi's and your advise makes sense to me! will keep it in mimd as i try my first casting experience!

TasunkaWitko - Chinook, Montana

Helfen, Wehren, Heilen
Die Wahrheit wird euch frei machen
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Muleskinner View Drop Down
.416 Rigby
.416 Rigby
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AKA The Crotchety ol’ Geezer

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 July 2003 at 14:08
Try shootin' swaged bullets.  They're real soft an' they goo up yer barrel like nuthin' else.  I git less leadin' with hard cast in my 45-70.  I used to shoot a lot of 45, an' I think the bullets were 10:1 I got best results with, but only pushed about 800 fps.  I reckin' velocity, size, an' hardness are all related, an' you gotta find the optimum level of each.  Or so it seems to me with my years of pokin' lead thru barrels. 
Mule
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waksupi View Drop Down
.416 Rigby
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aka Keeper of the Old Traditions

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 July 2003 at 17:05

"I reckin' velocity, size, an' hardness are all related, an' you gotta find the optimum level of each." 

You're right. Bullet hardness, lubrication, and bore condition are the determining factors, and some faults can be overcome by adjusting one or the other for each particular firearm. Pressure and velocity are the by-products of the above. Bullet size is the foremost,  before dealing with any of these other factors.

For a swaged bullet, you run out of usefullness once you pass the .38 Special pressures. They will definitely gum up the works if you push them at all fast.

I shoot air cooled WW's in my Sharps, and get no leading. Come to think of it, that's all I shoot in all calibers up to 1600fps. After that, I will water drop up to about 2000 fps. Then, I add a couple tablespoons of shot to the pot,  oven temper, and have been able to run up to the 2600 fps. neighborhood with no leading at all. All the smokeless loads are with Felix lube, and BP is Emmerts' Lube.

 

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