I've been reloading a long time now, nearly 40yrs but haven't done much reloading with cast bullets. I've got 2, 40's, a Beretta 96 and a Springfield XD sub-comcat. I've been going through a lot of ammo lately, mostly just plinking and paper, trying to get groups smaller and improving my "draw".

I bought a coupole of thousand rounds of used brass, i've sized, trimmed and polished it...

I also bought 500 pieces of 180SWC in 180gr.
I loaded it to 950fps using vv340. After going to the range and just shooting 100rnds, there was a fair amount of lead in both barrels, is this normal? Can I raise or lower the velocity and see if the problem solves itself? The lead is fairly "hard", I can just scratch it with my finger nail.... I read a couple of articles on "hardness" but I'm still a bit confused....

Can someone help me figure out whats going on, or is this normal for lead bullets?

What you are probably experiencing is a commercial bullet that is too hard. If you have a micrometer, measure the bullet and see what the diameter is. I am willing to bet the lead is the result of a too hard bullet that is probably a hair undersized.