Dog Soldier
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Humm? The "Smoking Gun". That is always a nail bitter.
Berry's hard cast lead for 45 Colt
- Thread starter Bartojc
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RealGun
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But would you at least smell something or see extra smoke, if a bullet ran out of lube in a long barrel, like you mentioned earlier?
ReloaderFred
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Boy, this thread went south in a big hurry, didn't it? The OP asked if anyone had used Berry's .45 bullets, and that lasted for just a couple of posts......... Since I cast all my own, I haven't used Berry's cast bullets in .45 caliber, but have used their 128 gr. RNFP .38 caliber bullets for SASS, but I now cast all those, too. My commercial bullet casting machine makes it easy to crank out 20,000+ bullets in a casting session.
Since the thread did take a drastic turn, I'll just add that leading is caused by any of three things, or all three, or a combination of any of the three. The first is bullet fit, for both handgun and rifle. The second is hardness, or Bhn. The third is bullet lube.
If any one of those three aren't right, you'll get leading, and probably inaccuracy. For most of my bullets, including the .45-120 Sharps that I'm pushing at 2,200+ fps, I prefer a Bhn of 12 to 14. I do cast some harder bullets for such calibers as the 9x25 Dillon, hot .38 Super and 9x23 Winchester. All three of those are pushing handgun bullets approaching 1,600 fps, so bullet fit, hardness and lube all have to be correct, or I'll get leading. I don't get leading in any of the calibers mentioned.
As for the OP's question, I do cast my own .45 Colt bullets for both handguns and rifles. I shoot them a lot, and there is no leading in any of my Ruger Blackhawks, nor either of my Marlin 1894CB rifles, with 24" barrels. I can shoot them all day long and it takes just a couple of minutes to clean them, with no trace of leading.
The bottom line is it's not mystery, but rather science, in getting cast bullets to work for both accuracy and to prevent leading.
Hope this helps.
Fred
PS: The only way to properly measure cylinder throats is with pin gauges. Trying to use a caliper is going to only result in inaccurate readings, and frustration.
Since the thread did take a drastic turn, I'll just add that leading is caused by any of three things, or all three, or a combination of any of the three. The first is bullet fit, for both handgun and rifle. The second is hardness, or Bhn. The third is bullet lube.
If any one of those three aren't right, you'll get leading, and probably inaccuracy. For most of my bullets, including the .45-120 Sharps that I'm pushing at 2,200+ fps, I prefer a Bhn of 12 to 14. I do cast some harder bullets for such calibers as the 9x25 Dillon, hot .38 Super and 9x23 Winchester. All three of those are pushing handgun bullets approaching 1,600 fps, so bullet fit, hardness and lube all have to be correct, or I'll get leading. I don't get leading in any of the calibers mentioned.
As for the OP's question, I do cast my own .45 Colt bullets for both handguns and rifles. I shoot them a lot, and there is no leading in any of my Ruger Blackhawks, nor either of my Marlin 1894CB rifles, with 24" barrels. I can shoot them all day long and it takes just a couple of minutes to clean them, with no trace of leading.
The bottom line is it's not mystery, but rather science, in getting cast bullets to work for both accuracy and to prevent leading.
Hope this helps.
Fred
PS: The only way to properly measure cylinder throats is with pin gauges. Trying to use a caliper is going to only result in inaccurate readings, and frustration.
Yep, we got way off topic.
Which is why I finally broke down and bought a set. Of course you can always just buy three or four for what you want to check, but having the whole set is nice.
41 Mag
Member
While I personally have not used the particular one that was mentioned in the OP, I have used the Oregon Trail LaserCast in similar hardness. I have also cast my own which after a few weeks came up to around a 19'ish BHN.
As was mentioned shooting cast is a balance of fit, lube, and pressure, any one of which can throw things out of kilter.
All said unique is a great powder to use in the 45 Colt as well as plenty of other calibers when shooting cast. For my personal loads I use the Tier II which usually run at or just over 1000fps with a 250-280gr bullet. To date I have not had any issues with leading out of my 7.5" Redhawk.
Also as touched on previously, should you find you get a build up just ahead of the forcing cone out to a few inches, this is usually a fit problem. Full length is usually a fit and pressure and possible lube issue, and end of barrel usually a lube problem. Granted these are simply general diagnosis but they usually hit real close to the mark in my experience. One thing however can lead to another so should you experience something dramatic only change one thing at a time.
This was my 45 barrel after close to 200 rounds,
As a comparison this one is my 41 mag after only 4 rounds with too much pressure under too soft alloy, the first is just ahead if the forcing cone and the second is down towards the muzzle.
I have also run plenty of the 200gr OT bullets out of my 45acp without issue using Bullseye and several other powders in between it and Unique. Testing loads will be the only way to know for sure just what results you will get in you're revolver.
As was mentioned shooting cast is a balance of fit, lube, and pressure, any one of which can throw things out of kilter.
All said unique is a great powder to use in the 45 Colt as well as plenty of other calibers when shooting cast. For my personal loads I use the Tier II which usually run at or just over 1000fps with a 250-280gr bullet. To date I have not had any issues with leading out of my 7.5" Redhawk.
Also as touched on previously, should you find you get a build up just ahead of the forcing cone out to a few inches, this is usually a fit problem. Full length is usually a fit and pressure and possible lube issue, and end of barrel usually a lube problem. Granted these are simply general diagnosis but they usually hit real close to the mark in my experience. One thing however can lead to another so should you experience something dramatic only change one thing at a time.
This was my 45 barrel after close to 200 rounds,
As a comparison this one is my 41 mag after only 4 rounds with too much pressure under too soft alloy, the first is just ahead if the forcing cone and the second is down towards the muzzle.
I have also run plenty of the 200gr OT bullets out of my 45acp without issue using Bullseye and several other powders in between it and Unique. Testing loads will be the only way to know for sure just what results you will get in you're revolver.
I know the thread too a wide turn left, but there's some good info here. At this point I do not plan to cast my own, so maybe it will be trial and error for me in which commercially available cast will work for me. I need to pay more attention before clicking the "buy" button as well
41 Mag
Member
I know the thread too a wide turn left, but there's some good info here. At this point I do not plan to cast my own, so maybe it will be trial and error for me in which commercially available cast will work for me. I need to pay more attention before clicking the "buy" button as well
I totally understand. Had it not been for me getting a 454 I would probably not be casting myself. Due to the cost of the jacketed bullets, or even cast which would hold up to the upper end loads for that thing I really had no choice if I wanted to learn to handle and shoot it properly enough to hunt with. My first cast bullets were full tilt 300gr loads for it and with a LOT of help from folks who had been there done that, I managed to pull it off with little to no issues. I guess that was the point I tripped and fell head long into the rabbit hole though, because now I have molds for everything and enough alloy stashed away my grandsons will be using it long after I'm gone.
The 41 experiment above, well I knew it was most likely going to do that, but I had to try and find out for sure. Only took a few minutes with some Chore Boy copper pad to clear it right out though. Just a touch of modification to the alloy and I had it shooting like the Colt only running 1350's with a 220gr and bumping 1600fps with some 175 and 180's. That's what is so much fun about the casting your own. You can work it just about any way you need it and don't have to rely on someone else having it in stock or using the proper alloy or lube for your situation.
Stick with it, it isn't nearly as hard as it all sounds, just need to pay attention to the things noted above. Fit, Lube, and Pressure, it's all a balancing act. Also if you find you have possible lube issues with factory cast bullets, or get a bit of leading, you might try picking up some of the Lee Alox and give a handful a tumble lube in it. You might find it will clear up. Oh and my 454 loads use the Alox exclusively.
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