Lead

Shot a lot of USPSA/IDPA over the years and I have use just about all of them. Shot hundreds of pound of Montana Gold brass jacketed CMJ 40 cal until the prices got to high. Played with moly coated bullet in 38 and 45 and hated them, serious leading issues I never completely overcame. Currently I am using polycoated bullets from IbejiHeads in my 38 Short Colt (160 gr) and 45 ACP loads (230 gr) and for 40S&W I am shooting Armscor 180 gr FMJ currently. I have a lot of those loaded and unloaded but will likely switch to IbejiHeads for 40S&W too when I run out. Which is going to be awhile since I am not competing in USPSA as much as I use to.

All except plated, never cared for them. I tend to us coated and jacketed the most, only really use lead for black powder guns.

Lead, self cast from scrounged lead. 44’s 38’s 45’s

Soft lead for muzzleloading rifles, pistols, revolvers. Hard lead for cartridge handguns and smoothbore muzzleloaders. If I ever start shooting 6.5 Creedmore, jacketed bullets.
Currently all soft and hard lead balls and bullets are hand cast and, if required, sized and lubed in a sizer lubricator.

My own cast lead alloy coated with Hi-Tek.

Forgot I did play with plated but my XDs did not like them. Would peal the plating off them about the time I got them up to Major Power Factor velocities. But I ran them in my 610 for a season or two. Berry's RN plated was one of the few Round Nose 40 cal bullet available at the time and round nose bullet reload smoother on moonclips than flat pointed bullets common to 40S&W.

I don't use Berry's for handgun much anymore but I love there 220gr 30 cal bullet for sub-sonic 300 BO plinking ammo. Cheap, clean and accurate.

Cast lead mostly. Plated if I can't find what I want in cast. Jacketed sometimes for specialized loads. Mostly cast though.

I shoot lead usually BHN 18. 9MM, 45's .38's 357's Never had a leading problem.,

I’ve reloaded all listed. What I use the most if is plain Jane lead from MBC. Been using them for years and never had a leading problem in anything from 9mm to .45. I just stuck with them because they work for me.

Oh, and because they’re cheap. The more I can shoot, the better.

Straight clip on wheel weights.

My son is young so plated (or I guess jacketed would be ok but i historically haven’t) is my preference to keep lead exposure to a minimum. Berry is what i use. 38 spl, 40sw, 45 auto.

I shoot lead in all my handguns except 9mm---my Kahr (polygonal rifled barrel) and 1911 both get jacketed because they shoot the same ammo.

bob97 said:

My son is young so plated (or I guess jacketed would be ok but i historically haven’t) is my preference to keep lead exposure to a minimum. Berry is what i use. 38 spl, 40sw, 45 auto.

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The newer polymer coated bullet server this purpose pretty well also and might be cheaper depending on caliber.

mcb said:

The newer polymer coated bullet server this purpose pretty well also and might be cheaper depending on caliber.

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Sure it looks like they are definitely cheaper. My concern is hot gases burning off the coating and getting some lead to turn to gas as the bullet heads out. Im not sure how much that is an issue or even if it is at all, but i am trying to keep the risk as low as possible within the bounds of still shooting and reloading.

bob97 said:

Sure it looks like they are definitely cheaper. My concern is hot gases burning off the coating and getting some lead to turn to gas as the bullet heads out. Im not sure how much that is an issue or even if it is at all, but i am trying to keep the risk as low as possible within the bounds of still shooting and reloading.

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The coating stays on the bullets, the primeing compound is more what you should worry about.

bob97 said:

Sure it looks like they are definitely cheaper. My concern is hot gases burning off the coating and getting some lead to turn to gas as the bullet heads out. Im not sure how much that is an issue or even if it is at all, but i am trying to keep the risk as low as possible within the bounds of still shooting and reloading.

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They are pretty tough, not as tough as plated but close. Several of the polymer coating bullet maker have done demo's where they melt the lead core out of the of polymer coating leaving the polymer coating and empty shell.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the primer residue is you number one source of lead exposure. The lead compounds produced by the primer combustion are highly bio-soluble. Metallic lead is very low and even the lead oxide that burnes off the back of the exposed lead of a FMJ bullet are not as bad as primer residue. Handling spent cases is far more exposure than handling un-coated bullets.

I shoot a mix of jacketed and Lead bullets but some jacketed bullets like 4570 for example are way too expensive I also shoot cast in my 6.5 x55 Swedish Mauser the 6.5 bullets are like $0.30 or more each

Lead.

bob97 said:

Sure it looks like they are definitely cheaper. My concern is hot gases burning off the coating and getting some lead to turn to gas as the bullet heads out. Im not sure how much that is an issue or even if it is at all, but i am trying to keep the risk as low as possible within the bounds of still shooting and reloading.

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If I take my Hi-Tek coated bullets and remelt them I'm left with Hi-Tek shells sitting on top of the molten lead. A small fraction of a second exposure to propellant gas will have no effect. In fact if you paper patch bullets it can't even burn the paper.

74shooter said:

Ok, let’s hear it, lead, lead coated, plated or jacketed? What do yo load for your range fodder?

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Yes.

Lead from 32 auto to 480. 9mm gets powder coated. Magnums get 1:3 Lino. Everything else is range scrap.

I cast all my own and lube/size them traditionally. Most are cast from straight WW's, but I just finished cast a BUNCH of 155 gr. SWCHP's for my .38's and used a soft alloy to promote expansion. One of my newest molds that helps feed my Bulldog.



35W

So far I’ve only used RMR match winners.

Considering trying some hi tek Coated bullets since a lot of RMR stuff is on back order and could be some time before shipping. Although I will definitely purchase more from them in the future!