My Little Leading Monster

[exnodak]

I am shooting a Ruger SR9c, which I like a lot. However, using cast bullets, I am getting severe leading. I am really getting tired of the time and effort it takes to clean the barrel of lead.
I am using Missouri Bullet 125 grain , either round nose or cone. The Brinell hardness is 18. I had settled on 3.8 grains of Bullseye. I suspected that the load was too light for the hardness of the bullet, so loaded up some test rounds with 4.0 grains of Bullseye. The leading got worse. The recommended charges of Bullseye in my manuals are all over the place. Alliant says 4.9 grains max, with a 10% reduction to start. The Lee manual shows 4.9 max, starting at 4.7 grains. A narrow window. My Lyman 48th edition shows 3.3 with a max of 3.9 for a 125 grain #2 alloy bullet. Because of that, I am leery of going above 4.0 gains. I am not sure what to do next, and am open to any and all constructive suggestions and comments. Thanks for any good stuff you can offer.

 

[mikld]

Have you slugged the barrel? Have you measured your bullets? Can't fix leading without having facts/measurements...

 

[DeletedMember275]

Here's a very good thread about this very subject: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=121607

 

[Clovishound]

I have an SR9c and shoot cast reloads. I currently use cast bullets from Dardas. 124 grain round nose. I use Titegroup powder at 3.8 grains. That is pretty much in the middle of the narrow range hodgdon recommends. I get light leading. I clean after every range session, usually 50 - 100 rounds fired. I clean with Hoppes #9. If I still have leading left, a quick run through using lead remover gets the rest.

My barrel slugs at .356, I am shooting .357 bullets. I get accuracy in line with factory rounds.

Got really bad leading when we were using home cast bullets, lubed with alox. Probably had several problems. Wrong alloy, wrong lube, wrong size (buddy had a sizer for .356). Dardas says to use at least .001 larger than groove dia with cast.

 

[Cheesewhiz]

There are several things to look at when leading occurs with a 9mm load. The bullet diameter is a factor, gas skipping causes leading of a barrel. Slugging your barrel will tell you what you should be shooting as far as diameter of the bullet. Most cast 9mm bullets are sized to .356" but many makers will size to order. Gas skipping can also be caused by the bullet being too hard and not opturating properly, this will also cause leading in a barrel.

Most of my 9mm barrels measure at .354" +-.0005 but it is possible to get one at .356" and that would be an issue.

Another thing to look at is the powder burn rate, I know that guys like to load up Titegroup and Bullseye and other fast powders for 9mm but they burn fast and hot and will possibly cause or at least add on to the leading.

You also want to make sure that you aren't loading too short in length or too long. Make sure your OAL puts the ogive of the bullet about .010" - .015" off the rifling when the finished round is chambered. A short load will allow gas to pass the bullet as it gets to the rifling and a long load is just dangerous.

 

[exnodak]

Thanks to all for your good constructive suggestions and comments.
Until I find the cause and cure for the leading, I have come up with a lead removal technique that works quite well. I have 2500 lead bullets and about 1000 loaded rounds, so I will have to live with cleaning unless I solve the problem.
My new method is to first run patches wetted with Hoppe's Elite thru the barrel on a brass jag. I do this two or three times. After waiting about 10 minutes, I wrap some strands of Big 45 Frontier Metal Cleaner (big45metalcleaner.com) around a brass brush, and stroke it thru the barrel two or three times. Follow up with a couple of patches wetted in CLP, and the barrel looks squeaky clean.

 

[Sam Summey]

Could be the bore is rough. Use a jag, a tight patch and some JB Bore Paste or a similar grit lapping compound for about 10 or twelve strokes. Afterwards clean out the lapping compound look at the lands and grooves, when you see the lands and grooves brightening up stop. If no brightening do it again until you see the results. Clean the bore again. Follow with some moly-D ball joint grease and a tight fitting patch and work the moly-D into the pores of the bore. If nothing else the lead won't stick to the bore as bad and will be easier to get out.

 

[Donaldjr1969]

One thing that helps with clean-up is to remove what leading you can while the gun is hot. At the range, I carry a cleaning rod, a jag, patches, and pieces of lead remover cloth cut into small squares. After 4-6 cylinders (or 3-4 magazines on my P90), I first run a dry patch through it. Plenty of warm lead flakes off right there. Then after shining a light down the bore, if I see more lead remaining, I follow with a piece of lead remover cloth. I finish with a bore snake. I also do that when I am finished at the range and have only shot lead. It does not take very long at all. When I get home, I do the full wet cleaning. By then, so much lead has been removed that wet cleaning is basically effortless. If any lead does remain (which for me has not really happened as of late with the cast rounds I have), a piece of lead remover cloth does the trick.

Performing a quick dry clean at the range with the barrel still hot removes a lot of lead.

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

I cast my own and shoot 140 gr SWC (SAECO #383) and 125 gr HP (Mihec) from my SR9c. My alloy is pretty hard (92-4-4, water dropped and aged at least a week, 22 BHN or so). Lube is Carnauba Red. I size mine to .358.

I have had good results with HP-38, HS-6, Power Pistol, AA #5, and AA #7. I had minor amounts of leading when I sized to .357, but it went away when I switched to .358.

 

[VAdoublegunner]

Using Alox is good, and checking bore diameter/bullet diameter is a given. But for the easier first shot at a solution, I would try a different powder. I would suggest something like WSF or HS-6. I have less leading issues with those than most "common" powders.

Some powders burn hot, some do not have a fast enough pressure curve to bump up the bullet base for good obturation if the bullet is too hard, and so on. Most of the time when I hear of leading issues, I find that Unique and Bullseye are the powders being used. That's one of the reasons I rarely use Unique anymore, especially for cast bullets. I still keep it around for a very zippy 110gr JHP 38 Special load but that's about all. Of course, if bullets are too soft, over driving them also results in leading.