what are you guys using in a full power 200gr cast boolit loads in 1911 style guns?

I don't shoot 200 grs out of my 10mm but from looking at the manuals and my personal experience with 180 gr cast bullets I would start with 9 grains of Blue Dot and work up to 10 grains for a full power load. I like power pistol as well but Blue Dot has always been my top performer.

Jesse

Remember once you get up over 1000fps with cast bullets you are going to start having a lot of lead fouling, which if not cleaned out properly can lead to over pressure. Why go so heavy with practice loads? (I assume you want to use lead because it's cheaper so you can practice more) Otherwise why not use 200 gr JHP?

Macshooter, it is a general rule of thumb that faster the cast slug is pushed the greater tendency it has to leading but in my experience and from what I've read it's quite a bit more complicated. Cast bullets can be driven much faster than the 1000 fps rule if you know what you are doing. Depending on the cartridge and velocity, the bullet's hardness needs to hit a sweet spot between too soft and smearing down the barrel to too hard and not being able to properly seal the barrel and hot gasses slipping by the bullet, causing leading.

I have a ruger 44 lever-action carbine that I shoot 240 grain casts out of at 1900 fps and a get very little to no leading. The cast bullet is made from a fairly hard alloy as well.

On a second note, I totally agree with you that roaring hot 200 grain loads are probably not the best thing to go plink with all the time but I'm not sure what the original poster has in mind.


Jesse

im getting a 200gr wfp mould made for deer/pig shooting.

200 grain hard cast should perform great for that class of animal. Good penetration with little expansion or deformation. Since 40 cal is enough diameter for dear/boar, you'll be fine.

If you plan on pushing those bullets at around 1200 fps I would use wheel weights and drop them out of the mold into some cold water to quench the alloy. That should harden it up enough for those pressures and velocity. If that doesn't keep the leading to a minimum try adding 2% tin to your alloy. Will raise the hardness a bit and they pour beautifully.


Jesse

I gotta re-iterate what has been said about leading. If you have leading issues at 1,000 FPS, your suspects should be:

Bullets too small. Slug your bore and ensure the bullets are at least .001" larger than the bore diameter.

Bullets too hard. Seem counter intuitive, but in these days of water dropped linotype bullets with a Brinell Hardness Number of 28+, it is more likely you load is not generating enough pressure to properly seal the bore, than too much at pressure...Especially with a light 1000 fps load. I had minor leading issues when I first started casting bullets. The solution was softer bullets and hotter loads.

Keep in mind the 44 Magnum was developed with 16:1 lead to tin bullets that weighed 250 grains at 1400 fps. This lead/tin mixture will give a BHN of about 11 or 12. This is about the same as WW today.

If you have leading issues, get over to cast boolits and they will help you solve the problem!

also, the 250 grain bullet that was designed for the 44 has a gas check on it. Or at least my 250 grain keith wadcutter lyman mold is gas checked. Not sure if this changes what hardness your bullet has to be but I would think it would allow you to shoot a harder alloy as the gas check would help keep the gas searing to a minimum. I'm no expert but just my thoughts.

Jesse

The mold Elmer Keith had Lyman create for him was the #429421. It has been modified slightly today. The original design had a plain base with square bottoms to the lube groove. These features make a better bullet, but a bullet that is much harder to cast. For this reason most molds today labeled 429421 feature a bevel base and rounded lube groove bottoms.

However, the original Keith 250 SWC was not a gas check design. The gas check designs were produced in response to the market which had become convinced that it was not possible to exceed 1000 fps without leading.

I currently have a 240 gr SWC GC mold from Lee. I am looking to replace it with something in the same weight range but with a plain base. Probably going to look for something from Mountain Molds.

I recently acquired a 205 gr RFN for my 10mm from Mountain Molds. It is a great mold. Casts beautiful bullets which I hope will shoot well. I will give a range report once I get out to try them.

This post has been edited by sqlbullet: December 24th 2009 4:52 PM