that won't leave a ton of lead in my bore. I shoot .357 Mag and .45ACP; I use Accurate No. 5 powder loaded to mid-levels for each cartridge. Thanks.

Rootbeer, Leading isn't so much the fault of the bullet (the exception being the swaged half-jacketed bullets) as bullet fit (both forcing cone & cyl. throats), smoothness of your bbl., the lube you use (both type & amount), velocity, powder charge and alloy hardness (BHN). E.g., if the pressure behind (powder charge & velocity) the CB exceeds the alloy strength, it will foul your bore, irrespective of the bullet lube. As for specific recommendations, I only own a .357mag., but you won't go wrong with either the RCBS/Ohaus 150gr. SWC Keith design or the Lyman #358429 170gr. SWC Keith design. I size mine to .359" and get very little leading with 6.5gr. Unique or 11gr. WC 820 (similar to AA #9 & H 110). Accuracy is excellent (5 or more into 1" @ 25 yds. with open sights from a rest). Btw, the WC 820 load uses mag. primers.

Rootbeer, I still remember the old 38 revolvers shooting wad cutters that filled so full of lead one almost had to melt it out. The outside of the guns would be full of lead also.
I shoot nothing but lead and I get zero lead from my .44's. .45 or 45-70. I get a small amount from my .475 but it does not build up and wipes right out with a tight patch on a jag. I use boolits that just fit through the throats and shoot all kinds of alloys. Some extremely hard for hunting and a lot of straight wheel weight metal because it is free. I add tin and antimony to wheel weights for hard boolits.
Fit the boolit to your throats and don't worry about the bump up stuff. No sense deforming a good boolit. Use Felix lube or one of the LBT lubes. Keep the lube soft and sticky and not hard. A friend sent me some boolits to try that had some red stuff on them. It all fell out of the grooves in shipment.
I think you will find lead shoots great, is not a problem and you will soon spend money on casting stuff. Join the rest of us and have fun.

I find to small of a bullet more of a problem
than anything. Lube a nother thing to work with. I cast my own so not much help for finding a good bullet to buy.

I must be doing it all wrong. I bought two boxes a number of years ago; one was hard-cast (shiny and hard with a wax-filled groove), the other was very soft (dull finish, no lube groove and scratchable with the fingernail). I just loaded 'em and shot 'em. Am I wandering in the wilderness here?

Yes, those dull boolits are probably swaged from pure lead and will lead your gun badly. Someone sent me some like it to try. They had some moly coating or something on them, no lube grooves. They made a mess out of my Ruger. Shot real bad too. Stick with a good boolit and lube. Do not buy any boolits with a bevel base either. They can shoot fair but will never give you top accuracy. They will give you some lead too because the gas gets around the base.

quote:

Do not buy any boolits with a bevel base either. They can shoot fair but will never give you top accuracy. They will give you some lead too because the gas gets around the base.

Good to know. Thanks!

Rootbeer, You can find your way out of the wilderness by reading either Lyman's "Cast Bullet Handbook, 3rd Ed." (available on e-Bay under "bullet mold"), RCBS' "Cast Bullets, Vol. I" (often available used) or Veral Smith's slim volume, "Jacketed Performance from Cast Bullets." As I wrote in my first post, commercial bullets can be too hard and won't obturate (expand because of the pressure behind them) and may not be sized to fit your gun's cyl. throats and forcing cone. Hope this helps, ...Maven

Paul said a mouthful. I don't recall ever seeing a commercial cast bullet that wasn't too hard, or too small. Add that together, and it spells leading.

quote:

Originally posted by waksupi:
Paul said a mouthful. I don't recall ever seeing a commercial cast bullet that wasn't too hard, or too small. Add that together, and it spells leading.

Indeed. It's hard to make a gourmet meal from dumpster pickins.

RB, I cast my own 405's for the 45/70 from Wheel Weights and am pushing them out of an NEF at about 1850. The recoil is downright rude but there is no leading. derf

If you are really worried about leading, I have two solutions.

First:
Try Bear Creek Cast Bullets, as they are very well made and they have a dry moly coating on them which wont rub off or transfer to your hands. They are excellent.

Second:
I have a product which virtually eliminates lead fouling w/o cleaning your gun. They are called Soft Gas Checks and they are great. They are like the dental impression wax that your dentist uses to cast your bite, so all you do is warm it in your hands and cookie cutter it over the case mouth before you seat your bullet.
I had some Unlubed 300 H&H bullets which I fired out of a cold and 20 years dirty rifle with Soft Gas Checks and at the end of about 20 or so rounds I looked down the barrel and it was like it had been steam cleaned, only the slightest amout of powder residue.
Absolutely amazing.

-Spencer