From: glaird@hpscit.sc.hp.com (Gordon Laird)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: reloading & lead
Date: 20 Aug 92 21:41:35 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA


swatt@net.yale.edu (Alan Watt) writes:

# After spending considerable effort to find a nice clean-burning powder for
# my reloads, someone at the range finally told me all that smoke was
# vaporized lead and bullet lube! 

    WRONG!  I have experimented alot with various powder and bullet
combinations.  I can testify from direct experience that powder is the 
biggest single factor in haze/smoke produced.

    My experience:
  For .45 ACP I find Winchester 231 the best overall powder for target practice.
It produces reasonable velocities (not the best), reasonable felt recoil/
burning rate (not the best, but close), and burns very clean.
  For .357 I sacrifice clean air for the velocity, accuracy, and felt recoil
of real slow H110. 


# After one shooting session with 148 gr. double-ended wad-cutters in .357,
# I must have spent 4 or 5 hours cleaning the lead out of the barrel and
# cylinder.  I was always careful to load mild with lead bullets, believing
# that muzzle velocities below 1000 fps were safe from leading.  I kept my
# reloads in the 850-950 fps range. 

    I shoot lead slugs of all sorts of compositions from my .357 at full
loads.  I eliminate chronic leading by always bringing along 6 to 12 jacketed
rounds with me to the range.  At the end of the shooting session I finish up
with a string of jacketed rounds.  In domestic manufactured firearms, I find
6 rounds sufficent to eliminate all leading.  On European firearms I have found
that up to 12 JHP's are required.
    With up to 200 leads rounds used in a single shooting session, I have
yet to see any significant degredation in accuracy from temporary leading.

# What I'm now told is the flash of
# the propellant actually vaporizes some of the lead regardless of muzzle
# velocity.  Some of the vapor deposits on the barrel, and some deposits
# on the cylinder, forcing cone, and topstrap.  (and some gets inhaled ...).

    Some yes.  I have noted traces of leading on the control rod of my
semi-autos.  As for breathing, I believe a well ventilated range with forced
air behind the shooter is sufficient to push lead vapors away.

# My next box of bullets were Carroll 158 gr cast, total copper jacketed
# (this is a clad, or electro-plated jacket; not the swaged kind).  These
# bullets are about double the price of straight cast, but still much
# cheaper than swaged jacketed.

    Careful.  Copper fouling is harder to remove than lead.  Now you will have
to go to a stronger bore cleaner.

# more interesting and loaded them over 16.0 gr of Win 296.  Depending on

# The gun is a reasonably new Ruger GP-100 which has never been abused.
# I've never had spitting with cast bullets, and I've put at least 100
# rounds of the Federal 125 gr. hot stuff through it with no problems.
# I'm as certain as I can be short of a trip to the gunsmith that this
# gun is properly timed.

   I have a GP-100, and I beat the snot out of it.  W296 is very similar to 
H110 in burn rate and performance.  I faithfully use H110 for all my magnums.


#  1)	Is there something about the clad-jacket process which makes
#	it unsuitable for magnum revolvers?

  I suspect copper clading is so thin that even the a microscopic misalignment
of the forcing cone is sufficent to peel it off.  Lead would tend to simply
deform.

#  3)	Is there a source of reliably "hard cast" bullets that don't
#	produce a lot of lead vapor, or is this problem inherent in
#	any cast bullet.  I've read about gas-checks, but I've never
#	used them.

   So far, no one has convinced me that lead vapor is a real problem in a
suitable shooting environment.   I imagine gas checks would perform the same
function has my follow up JHP's (see above).

# I'd like to find a source for bullets cheaper than the $0.10 @ that
# swaged-jacketed ones will go for, but saving a few bucks is not worth
# several hours of cleaning time.

    Penn Bullet company for lead bullets.  Great variety.  They advertise
in a variety of gun rags.