Reasons for shooting lead?

[Flyboy_451]

Surprised that I have not seen this mentioned...

One of the often overlooked (also unknown) advantages of shooting cast bullets is increased performance. A cast bullet of proper design and alloy can offer large gains in performance for many applications.

Contrary to what many people think, a cast bullet does not just punch a caliber size whole. Bullets with a large meplat (the front face of the bullet) can create LARGE PERMANENT wound channels, often larger than a hollowpoint design, when driven to velocities that are well within the capability of many cartridges. On top of this, they will penetrate farther than an expanding bullet of the same diameter and weight. Granted, this performance is most easily, and inexpensively, taken advantage of by those who cast and load their own ammo, but proper bullets can be had from commercial sources. They are not cheap though.

I cast bullets for most of my handguns, and hunt exclusively with cast bullets. I have taken game as small as rabbit and squirrel and as large as Bison, with a multitude of calibers, both revolvers and semi-autos. On medium to large game, with proper bullet design and impact velocity, wound channels near one inch in diameter with complete penetration is not uncommon. Poke a one inch hole through the vitals of any living creature and incapacitation is near instantaneous!

Even for self/home defense, cast bullets can be just as effective as premium commercial jacketed hollowpoints, provided that the correct bullet and alloy are used. Just as jacketed bullet performance has improved from modern design and research, so has cast bullet performance. There are those who will argue against the use of handloads for defense, and I won't get into that debate here. Such debates do not have any bearing on the real world performance of cast bullets. Cast bullets go far beyond simply range use and plinking.

JW

 

[Hammerhead]

Good, hand loaded cast bullets with the proper alloy and lube can work wonders, but if you're not a handloader, you might find factory lead ammo disappointing or very expensive.

 

[SwampYankee]

44 AMP,

Something else has been going on in my case. I'm shooting hardcast .45 LC with 7 grains of Unique, hardly too fast. Last I checked, they were flying downrange at about 700 fps. In both my Ruger Redhawk and my Smith 25-5, the forcing cones are caked in hard, built up lead. Grooves are also full of chunk. Maybe Dardas screwed up but I doubt it.

Based on the plume of smoke (and general stickiness) they are lubed.

I'll stick with jacketed bullets for my .45 LC's.

 

[TXAZ]

Because it's cheap and manufacturable?

In addition to cost and manufacturability, there are other significant issues as to why lead is used, which gets back to the physics and chemistry of lead: Density and performance. Relatively speaking, lead isn't bad, but there are better if you can afford and obtain them:

Kg/m3
Ice 917
silver 10490
lead 11340
mercury 13593
gold 19320
tungsten 19600
plutonium 19800
uranium 18900
platinum 21400


If you could afford gold or platinum bullets, you could have ~ 70% more performance (inertia = penetration), all other factors being the same. This is a similar for depleted uranium and tungsten penetrators popular against tanks.

The silver bullet referenced above, is about 10% less dense, so may not be the best choice. Mercury (frozen?) might make an interesting projectile from a forensic perspective.

Ironically, if you tried to use an ice bullet, you'd have to be very close as the low density would likely not possess the penetration of other materials beyond very close range.

 

[rclark]

It's so bad with the .45 Colt I've stopped using lead and gone to jacketed bullets exclusively.

All I shoot is lead in my .45 Colt revolvers... from 700-1200fps. Minor leading if any. Make sure cylinder throats are .452 (biggest factor in leading in Rugers as usually to small.. note if throats bigger than .452 you need bigger dia. bullets like .454...), bullets aren't to hard or soft depending (the faster you go, the harder the bullet should be), bullets are the right size (another major cause of leading), and you don't have a constriction in the barrel. Just this Sunday, I tested some .44Mag 2400 loads from 1000-1300fps with same 15 BHN SWC lead bullet and had very little leading after 100 rounds in my 50th Anniversary .44Mag Flattop. I had actually expected more leading as I thought I might be using to soft a bullet.... Anyway, same with .44Spec and .357, the other center fire calibers I shoot.... very little leading, if any.

If it is leading .... there is usually a very good reason.

 

[stevelyn]

Make sure cylinder throats are .452 (biggest factor in leading in Rugers as usually to small.. note if throats bigger than .452 you need bigger dia. bullets like .454...),

Yup, tight throats and loose or max chambers. I and one of my buds have new 4" .45 Colt Redhawks and we both had issues with lead and accuracy which was a problem because we bought these guns to shoot heavy, +P .45 Colt loads out of.

We ended up reaming the throats out with a .4520 Manson throat reamer from Brownell's. When fitting the pilots, my bud's cylinder needed the .4480 pilot. Mine was a little better. The .4510 pilot fit it which was also what the bore slugged out to. After reaming the cylinder throats we could push a 335 gr Cast Performance WFNGC .452 boolit through the throats with finger pressure. Still should run a Flex-hone in them to smoothen things up a bit.

Google Glen E. Fryxell and Robert L. Applegate. They wrote a book on cast bullets and bullet casting that's available as a pdf and has very detailed chapter on leading and it's causes.