poly coated cast bullets in 357

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Re: poly coated cast bullets in 357

Post by bladeracer » 18 Apr 2019, 3:42 pm

cracker wrote:used softcast in my 44-40 makes a bloody mess of the barrel, never again such a pain in the ass


How did the alloy mess up the barrel?
Leading is usually a result of undersized bullets, not the alloy, especially at .44-40 velocities.
I've shot pure lead bullets in most of my rifles with just Alox lube without any leading problems. Make sure the bullets are fat, and keep velocities reasonable.
Or simply powdercoat them.
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Re: poly coated cast bullets in 357

Post by bigrich » 18 Apr 2019, 3:58 pm

Blr243 wrote:I tried hard cast lead once on a pig with a 44 mag lever but never again. Not fair to the animal. I went straight back to my soft lead hp sierras in my 357 lever


How do the sierras perform on game mate ? I haven’t field tested yet , but 158 gn Hornady XTP with little gun are giving me good accuracy and yet to be confirmed good FPS as well. Bin using the FP version of those projectiles , which are supposed to suit rifle projectile speed better. There’s a few things for you to try mickb. The listed max load of 18 gn of little gun is supposed to give FPS between 1750-1850. So some forums say . Take this with a grain of salt , but it gives the 357 some thump with no pressure signs . Cheers
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Re: poly coated cast bullets in 357

Post by mickb » 18 Apr 2019, 6:16 pm

bladeracer wrote:
mickb wrote:
bladeracer wrote:
Not for hunting though.


Not sure if you read the whole sentence , 'so do many pistols for hunting' ? :D Hardcasts are used all the time for big game around the world hunting mate, with BP or smokless arms.


I didn't say you can't use hardcast for hunting, many people do, particularly on large game where the alternative is to use FMJ jacketed or brass monolithic bullets. As long as you understand the limitations of your bullet there's no problem hunting with FMJ's. As for handguns, they often operate at velocities that offer little bullet deformation anyway. But as I said, generally black powder hunters would use soft lead bullets.


Fair call mate, we arent in disagreement if you have an expanding option and the horsepower to push it, its a good idea.
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Re: poly coated cast bullets in 357

Post by mickb » 18 Apr 2019, 6:18 pm

bigrich wrote:
Blr243 wrote:I tried hard cast lead once on a pig with a 44 mag lever but never again. Not fair to the animal. I went straight back to my soft lead hp sierras in my 357 lever


How do the sierras perform on game mate ? I haven’t field tested yet , but 158 gn Hornady XTP with little gun are giving me good accuracy and yet to be confirmed good FPS as well. Bin using the FP version of those projectiles , which are supposed to suit rifle projectile speed better. There’s a few things for you to try mickb. The listed max load of 18 gn of little gun is supposed to give FPS between 1750-1850. So some forums say . Take this with a grain of salt , but it gives the 357 some thump with no pressure signs . Cheers


bigrich I will check it out cheers. Was also looking to pick some Alliant 2400 up as it seems to be back in Australian stores again. Pretty popular in the USA for 357.
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Re: poly coated cast bullets in 357

Post by Blr243 » 18 Apr 2019, 6:45 pm

The sierras were working real good. They have a big hollow and a lot of soft lead exposed at the front and then a scored copper jacket. I only moved onto Hornady xtp because when I carried my lever gun in a scabbard on a motorcycle over rough ground all my lead tips were getting all smashed up in the tiube mag due to vibration
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Re: poly coated cast bullets in 357

Post by Blr243 » 18 Apr 2019, 6:48 pm

And I think from memory I got better results with faster 125s than the slower 158s 95 per cent of pigs I see are 30 kg and under. In reality I just don’t see enough monster boars to justify loading the 158s
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Re: poly coated cast bullets in 357

Post by in2anity » 18 Apr 2019, 9:26 pm

bladeracer wrote:Shouldn't need checks if they're coated.

So tell me how fast have you successfully driven coated, unchecked lead blade? (without stabilization issues)
At what point does lack of maintenance become patina?
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Re: poly coated cast bullets in 357

Post by bladeracer » 18 Apr 2019, 11:21 pm

in2anity wrote:
bladeracer wrote:Shouldn't need checks if they're coated.

So tell me how fast have you successfully driven coated, unchecked lead blade? (without stabilization issues)


Off the top of my head probably not much more than about 1300fps I'd guess. Why would stabilization become an issue at high velocities?
I only started powdercoating early last year so mainly lower-velocity stuff, .38, .44Mag and Trailboss loads in other rifles. I don't personally have any interest in pushing lead fast, I cast for lower-velocities. Recently I've been playing with the 6.5mm milsurps and the 170gn Cruise Missile mould, but I'm only working around the 1300fps region so far, unchecked.

I did send some 161gn uncoated checked hardcast (32% tin) at 2500fps in 8x57mm just to see what it would do, it went through 8mm steel plate at 50m :-)
It leaded the bore horrendously though.

I have plenty of cast stuff though so if you want I could try punching some hard if you like and see how they get on? I've been meaning to do some more cast work with the .223 and .243. Could be fun shooting a bunch of .243 cast down range at increasing velocities. I don't think I have any already coated but I can do a batch pretty quickly. I have a pile of 8mm powder-coated already but they're also checked.

Actually, it just occurred to me that my .223 and .243 are tight-twist rates which will be a limiting factor. And my milsurps are all pretty tight too, I think the slowest is the '03-A3 at 10"-twist. I believe the Win94 .30-30 should be a 12"-twist but haven't checked it. I'm thinking my best bet to find max velocity will be the .44 Magnum.
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