While I have shot a few commercial cast bullets, the majority of them were Oregon Trial, and the remainder were Zero HBWC's.
With the OT I used their 158gr RFN from both of my .357's with top end loads for hunting hogs, and with the Zero's I simply loaded light target loads for my .38 SPL.
Sine early last year I have been pouring my own from several different alloys. Initially I used straight WW both air cooled and water quenched to determine which one of them would be more suitable for loading in my 454. Granted I AM using a GC designed bullet, but I have run them with and without the GC with the same load and not found much difference in performance with regards to leading. I will say that the GC does show a marked improvement in accuracy however.
My WW alloy when tested for hardness usually runs between 10 & 13, depending on how long it sits after pouring and at what temp I poured it at. The longer the harder. I normally usually wait two weeks minimum after pouring before I size and load as this appears to be about the apex of the hardening. That said if allowed to sit another couple of weeks or longer they will creep up a bit harder also due to the temp at which they were poured. If I kep things at around 675 degrees for that particular bullet, they usually stabilize right at a 12 BHN.
What is posted above it a great general rule on using the proper alloy for the proper pressures with out a doubt. However it IS a general rule, and you cannot count on the WW alloy to be as consistent as it one might have been. The older the weights the more uniform they might be as in the later years cost contributed to ingredients and the overall alloy might contain any number of things besides the lead/tin/antimony it once did and also in more or less equal proportions.
As mentioned your fit will be the best determining factor in how well a particular bullet or alloy will preform in your handgun. Using the list above you might try something running both in a 12 and a 15 BHN with the proper fit to your barrel. Usually this is around .001 bigger than the actual bore dimension which is take using a pure lead slug driven through and measured using a mic, across the widest points of the resulting lands on the slug.
Once you have your overall dimension then your ready to order your bullets. If after you start out loading you see leading in your barrel it can be from one of several things. The number one thing is wrong size, followed by not enough pressure, followed by the lube isn't cutting it. The first one is pretty easy to determine, and eliminate, the second one usually will start off with the lower end loads but gradually get better as you work up. Sometimes it might take switching to just a touch quicker powder but even so you can see the diminished leading s you work up with what ever you start off with. The issue with this is some powder has a VERY narrow range in which to work, which is why Unique and 2400 type powders are so popular with lead bullets, where as H110/296 isn't.
As for the lube issues, most commercial cast bullets use a hard lube which will stay put during shipping. Not to say it isn't a decent lube, but sometimes just not right for the given situation. You can easily check this by tumble lubing a few rounds using Lee Alox which runs about $7 per bottle or so, and is plenty enough to do a couple thousand bullets if used properly. If you see the leading go right away which has been seen many times you know that the lube is the issue, however you have to only change one thing at a time.
Leading isn't a major issue unless it is so bad it fouls the rifling or is blowing the accuracy out in only a few rounds. If there is only a minor amount showing up after say 10 rounds but stabilizes and doesn't get worse I wouldn't sweat it. My 454 has one spot in the barrel where I can see a small smear appear after the first round, but after 50 it hasn't gotten any bigger, and I run them at 1550fps+. My 41 mag, the very first cast loads I shot through it years ago, had strings of lead hanging out the muzzle after only three shots and took a week of scrubbing to get it all out. Never got those bullets to shoot in it either.
So my best advice would be to first slug your barrel or have it slugged by one of your local gun smiths if your not comfortable driving a lead slug through your barrel. Also you need to verify the dimensions of each chamber mouth on your cylinder, as sometime these are not all the same size and sometimes they ARE smaller than the actual bore on your revolver. If they are you will never get cast bullets to shoot properly without seeing quite a bit of leading. The chamber mouths all need to be right at, or just a touch bigger, than .001" of your bore diameter for best results. One other area to look closely at is the area right where your barrel screws into your frame. Sometimes there is a restriction there caused by the barrel being screwed in overly tight. This can be removed usually by running some of the lapping compound coated bullets through with medium loads. Once you get it gone, you should be fine.
I only bring these things up because they are and have been real issues that folks have dealt with. They are things that if found right off the bat will relieve you from hour of scratching your head. Whether or not they actually exist in your revolver is always an unknown until it has been slugged. This is why so many folks recommend slugging your bore first. If you know up front you have issue in one or more areas, and correct them then you are miles ahead with not only cast bullets but your standard jacketed loads as well. You will see a marked increase in accuracy from both if everything is of the proper fit from start to finish.
I realize this was long and drawn out, but I have been through some of this first hand, and know it can make or break you from shooting cast. Cast bullets are cheaper, especially if you pour your own, and they will preform as good or better in most cases than anything jacketed on the market, as you can taylor them to a specific velocity that you want to shoot at verses having to drive them as hard and fast as you can to get them to preform.
Just as an example what velocity you you say you would have to drive any of your favorite jacketed bullets to, to deliver repeatable performance like these cast HP's,
The answer is just about 1000fps on the nose, the initial weight before firing was between 265grs and 277grs depending on which bullet. The end weight results was a loss of no more than 15grs overall no matter the initial weight. To me that is performance much better performance than I have seen with ANY jacketed bullets I have ever tried in some 40 years of loading. This isn't to say I threw in the towel on jacketed as they DO have a use, but for my handguns I have found that many I have sitting on my shelf will simply continue to sit there as I find more and better loads and results with cast.
Hope this didn't bore you to tears and it sheds a little bit of light on cast in your revolver.
