hvacmedic
Single-Sixer
What hardness level is best to use for cast bullets in cowboy loads? Looking for something that won't cause a leading problem in my .45 NV.
what hardness for cast bullets
- Thread starter hvacmedic
- Start date
Chuckbuster
Single-Sixer
Fit as important or more so as hardness. Throats need to be same or a tick larger than the groove diameter (.0005-.001"). Then boolit the same as the throat. With that combination at "cowboy load" velocities you probably won't need very hard at all, 11-15 BHN range probably. But each gun is of course an individual.
The Cast Boolits website is an excellent one.
Kevin
The Cast Boolits website is an excellent one.
Kevin
Sagebrush Burns
Single-Sixer
For cowboy action shooting - or any other loads under 1000 fps - softer bullets are better. They obturate more easily reducing leading in the forcing cone area. Most commercial cast bullets are harder than you want for these kind of loads.
Rick Courtright
Hawkeye
hvacmedic said:
Hi,
As has been said, fit in the throats and barrel may be more important than hardness, but there is an old rule of thumb that relates hardness to pressure.
It's supposed to tell you how much pressure you need to get your bullet to obturate properly.
The formula is 1422 x BHN = Pressure in psi (where BHN is the Brinnell Hardness Number) to find our minimum pressure. Or you can use Pressure/1422 = BHN to find the maximum hardness at a given pressure.
So, for example, using a .45 Colt load at about 14000 psi: 14000/1422 = 9.85. So a BHN of about 10 is as hard as you'd want to use at that pressure.
Conversely, if we know the hardness--say 15 BHN--we'd learn that 1422 x 15 = 21330 psi, which is a bit high for the .45 Colt in "non-Ruger only" loadings, so such a bullet might be a poor choice, all else being equal.
Remember, it's JUST a rule of thumb!
Rick C
Cherokee
Single-Sixer
I use wheel weight for all of my SASS handgun and rifle bullets, sized to fit my handgun cylinder throats (.452) with the barrel being .451. No leading in handguns or rifle. Only clean them at the end of the season.
