12 brinell bullets with "cowboy" loads

[J. Yuma]

I recently loaded a bunch of 5 grains of titegroup with hi-tek 240 grain Missouri bullets for "magnum" loads. These are advertised as 18 brinell.
I see that MB offers 12 brinell bullets for "cowboy" loads.
I kinda liked the lower pressure loads.
Is it worth getting a box of the 12 brinell bullets for titegroup?
thanks

 

[contender]

Caliber??

In general,, most bullet casters match the hardness of the bullet to the gun & the velocities they use. Bullets that are too hard,, or too soft can cause leading depending upon the bore fitment, and velocities.

However,, if you are using a coated (powder coated,) bullet, there is a lot more "forgiveness" in alloy hardness.

As a home caster,, AND who powder coats my own bullets,, I have found I can use a softer alloy, because it's a waste of the tin etc,, when I PC the bullets. When PCing the bullets,, it anneals them to a softer hardness anyway.

But the short answer is that it's very likely you can easily use the 12 BNH bullets for lighter loads.

 

[J. Yuma]

.44
on another subject:
I took a few of these Missouri Bullets and dropped them through the chambers of both the SRH, and the SBH.
The bullets literally fell through.
Should there be some interference?
How much?
thanks

 

[s4s4u]

.44
on another subject:
I took a few of these Missouri Bullets and dropped them through the chambers of both the SRH, and the SBH.
The bullets literally fell through.
Should there be some interference?
How much?
thanks

What I would do, and have done with every revolver I have owned, is slug the bore. I then take that slug and see if it passes through the throats. You want the throats to be slightly larger than the groove of the barrel so bullets don't get swaged down and lead up your barrel. Leading shouldn't be an issue with coated bullets, but I still want a good seal. Egg sinkers make for good slugs as they come in a variety of sizes and are fairly soft.

You can also compare the diameter of the slug with the diameter of the bullets in the box. Hopefully the bullets are not smaller than the slug.

Most cast lead bullet companies offer different bullet diameters of the same weight so you can fit to your gun.

 

[DGW1949]

I've said for years that most commercially-cast bullets are much harder than they need to be for most uses. Then there's the fascination with "beveled" bases which started along about the time high-speed automatic loaders gained popularity. Beveled is fine for speed but again, inferior to flat bases for other applications.....Oh, and one more thing; Alox is your friend. I'm not saying that it's better than powder coating, but I am saying that it works better than the hard "crayola" lubes found on a lot of "hard cast" commercial bullets.
If your having leading problems and you are certain that it's not a sizing problem, bear in mind that what once worked, still works.....That's my point....Hope this helps.

DGW

 

[Rclark]

I had no problem with the 'crayola" lubes on the rimrock bullets I use. As long as the cylinder throats are sized correctly and lined up with the bore, and the bore has no constrictions (fire lapping can remove them), no problem. All I shoot is 12-15BHN bullets and no real leading from 700fps to 1300fps (what I've tested in the .44 Mag and Special). As for beveled bases, most shooters wouldn't see the difference I suspect. I nice clover leaf group at 25 yards is,well, a good group at 25 yards whether bevel or flat....

 

[DGW1949]

I had no problem with the 'crayola" lubes on the rimrock bullets I use. As long as the cylinder throats are sized correctly and lined up with the bore, and the bore has no constrictions (fire lapping can remove them), no problem. All I shoot is 12-15BHN bullets and no real leading from 700fps to 1300fps (what I've tested in the .44 Mag and Special). As for beveled bases, most shooters wouldn't see the difference I suspect. I nice clover leaf group at 25 yards is,well, a good group at 25 yards whether bevel or flat....

You are correct in that a flat base pistol bullet is no more accurate than a bevel base bullet. My point was that if both are made from the same alloy, flat bases seal better than beveled bases. As for "which lube" is best, I've dug hard-lubed bullets out of a back stop that could be loaded a second time as-is because not only were they not deformed, but every bit of the lube that it started out with was still intact. In words, the lube hadn't done much more than gone along for the ride....Once I snapped to that, I began over-coating all of the commercially produced "hard cast/hard lubed" bullets that I bought with liquid Alox. When I did that, any leading problems that I had previously been dealing with simply disappeared....Maybe your Rimrock bullets don't need any help, I dunno...they weren't around back then. Mostly I was buying cast from Zero and swaged from Speer or Hornady.

DGW

 

[Marcruger2]

MO Bullets offer both 12 and 18 hardness. I spoke with Josh at MO Bullets about this recently. The 12 hardness will take you up to around 1,050 fps with no leading IF you get them Hi-Tek coated. I see every reason to have MO Hi-Tek coat bullets. Great stuff. TiteGroup and the 12 hardness bullets is a great combo. TiteGroup is very similar to Bullseye, meaning you aren't going for high velocities in any event. The bane of lower velocity ammunition is a hard bullet. They won't bump up and seal, so you get blow-by that melts the bullets and leads the bore. I used to use OT Laser Cast bullets, but then RimRock bought them they made the bullets harder. Accuracy suffered badly and leading popped up. That is when I found MO Bullets. I hope this helps. God Bless Marc

 

[J. Yuma]

thank you very much!
The 200 grain 12 Brinell HI-TEK/titegroup seem to behave very nicely.
I'm using the 12's primarily for DA shooting in super Redhawk and the 431 but I threw six of them in the super Blackhawk and shot it at 10 yards.
Nice to shoot and more accurate than I am