Herco - Cast Bullets & Burn Curvess

[GaryArkansas]

Found a decent deal at my local gun shop for some 9mm hard cast lead bullets.

With Unique, I've been getting some bore leading. Its a pain to clean the stuff out, and I don't feel like using gas checks.

I read an article about using Herco for low to medium velocity loads, because the burn curve results in a cooler ignition and less bore leading.

Anyone care to share their experiences with using slower powders for hard cast lead bullets?

 

[fecmech]

Gary--Switching from Unique to Herco IMO won't change a thing. They are very close in burn rate but both are very good 9 mm powders. I don't know what the bullets you have are sized at or what your bore diameter is, those dimensions are the main keys to preventing leading. Most commercial 9 mm bullets are sized at .356 but 9mm bores are all over the place. My browning Hipower was .3575 and I've slugged other 9's in the .357-.358 range. If you shoot .356 lead bullets in .357-.358 bores you will get leading no matter what powder you use. A general rule of thumb is go at least .001 larger on bullet diameter than bore size. I run .358 bullets in my 9's with no leading. I would suggest you slug your bore and get some idea of what you are working with.

 

[scott5]

Barrel leading

Hay Gary,
something I did when I got tired of pulling the lead out of my guns was to coat 500 bullets in MICA then load them and shoot them.

Your barrel has to be pretty clean first.

After that no more leading problems, I found I could shoot lead bullets as fast as jacketed.

I hope this helps.