.357 cast bullets

[4t5]

I got a bunch of bevel base bullets at .357 diameter, brinnel hardness of 15, I'm wanting to shoot these in a 357 revolver and Henry single shot, I'm thinking they got to run above 25,000psi to seal the bore well, does that sound correct to you cast shooters? this is me beginning with cast loads.

[Thunder50]

15 x 1422 comes out to a bit over 21K psi, but I am thinking your .357" bullets might be a bit small in diameter, unless they are powder coated, then they should be fine. I had a Colt new frontier with a .428" groove barrel, but .433" chamber mouths. As I went up in size from .430", groups kept getting smaller. and I settled on .433" dia cast bullets. Check your cylinder mouths diameter and use cast bullets at that diameter if possible.
Rifles, I go .002" over groove, if rounds will fit in the chambers.

[4t5]

Thanks for the reply, just trying to use these up and buy softer bullets when these are gone, any recommendations on a load that will work?

[gbflyer]

I would think that filling the case to the bottom of the seated bullet with Trailboss would work. Don’t compress it though.

[Jay Bird]

If the groove diameter is .357 or smaller, the hardness can be 30....its when the groove diameter is larger than the bullet that leading occurs. Many times a thousandths difference will only leave traces of lead.

Keep in mind that a little leading won't hurt nothing. People put too much emphasis on leading, mostly because they read too much. It's when the leading starts to fill up the grooves that accuracy falls off. Forcing cones full of lead will make the bullets enter the barrel lopsided..but it has to be noticeable.

Load up 50 rounds at the desired velocity and see what happens.....test the accuracy at the beginning and at the end. If you get a significant amount of leading just shoot a few jacketed rounds ...it will clean it up nice.


It litterly takes a book to answer everything as there's a million variables......just ask. --6

[mikld]

For me, 15 BHN isn't too hard, but that's close to the upper limit of my casting alloys. I tried the PSI to BHN "formula" once and it resulted in a need for a BHN of 22 for my 44 Magnum, so I quickly dropped that idea. Most of my revolver bullets run 11-12 BHN and because they fit the guns they are used in, I get very little leading (3, 38 Specials, 1, 357 Mag, 5, 44 Magnums and one 45 Colt).

True;

Keep in mind that a little leading won't hurt nothing. People put too much emphasis on leading, mostly because they read too much. It's when the leading starts to fill up the grooves that accuracy falls off. Forcing cones full of lead will make the bullets enter the barrel lopsided..but it has to be noticeable.