357 Mag Speeds...

[Critch]

How fast can I push cast lead bullets in my 357 Ruger before barrel leading is a problem?

When buying cast bullets, how do I keep from buying bullets that are too soft?

What is a good all around bullet weight for target shooting for the 357 Mag?

[BlueMoon]

I have bought cast bullets from Oregon Trail (LaserCast) that are hard enough to shoot at jkt velocities in my GP100 Ruger. Have used the 125 and 130 trunicated cone and the 158swc's but the best accuracy that I've found with my gun is with the 180grn True Shot bullets with max loads of LilGun. The odd thing was in my revolver the 125's were a little more accurate than the 158's before I tried the 180's. I'm now trying to cast some hard cast of my own with a Lyman mould in 170grn. BM

Bill

PS: edit-One secret to no barrel leading is having a well broke-in smooth barrel. My .357 used to lead up more when it was newer but it's half wore out now and shoots lead bullets better than jkt.

[Jack]

Critch, most of the commercially CAST bullets are relatively hard. If you find bullets that fit your bore, you probably will be fine.
You'll note that I stressed the word 'cast'......a few bullets are swaged, not cast, and swaged bullets are quite soft. The major bullet companies, like Hornady and Speer, sell swaged bullets. Swaged bullets are excellent for wadcutters and other low speed applications- usually not so hot for fast loads.
Swaging equipment is more expensive than commercial casting equipment- which means only the major bullet companies swage bullets, as far as I know. All the smaller lead bullet companies cast bullets, so they'll be harder-harder alloys cast better in high volume casting equipment.

[Rocky Raab]

Commercial cast bullets are probably harder than needed already. There are other factors involved in how badly - or if - a barrel accumulates lead fouling.

Just a few few of those other factors are barrel smoothness, forcing cone angle and smoothness, cylinder smoothness, chamber versus bore diameter, powder choice, primer choice, lube choice, and so on.

Some barrels foul horribly for no apparent reason and others don't at all. All you can do is try and experiment a bit.

I'd start with a good quality commercial bullet (most of the big names are primo quality), sized to one or two thousandths bigger than the groove-to-groove diameter and fired at moderate speeds by a fairly quick-burning powder and non-mag primers. Work up slowly in speed.

If you can fire ten shots without the group expanding like an umbrella, you're on the right track.

[Critch]

Thanks, I'm gonna start with some 125 grain cast bullets from Midway, I haven't decided on the powder yet.

What exactly is the difference between cast and swaged? I always thought they were synonymous.

This is brand new pistol, so I'm gonna shoot it for awhile before I start worrying too much about super accuracy.

One more thing, but not reloading speciifc. Some of my friends think I shoud get a spring set from Brownells for this Ruger GP-100, they said it will improve the trigger remarkably. Won't just shooting it a lot also help it?

[BlueMoon]

I've got the spring kit in my GP100 from Wolff. Had to go with the next to lightest hammer spring because some loads would not go off. Could have been the primers I was using but it helped the trigger pull so much I didn't look back. I guess about any gun will smooth out on trigger pull after used for awhile. The trigger spring kit comes with two sets of springs for the trigger return spring and hammer spring. The hammer spring is easy to change with the little pin that Ruger supplies under the grips and the other spring has to be put in after dropping the trigger group from under the revolver. After I dropped the trigger group on mine, I was cocking and pulling the trigger to see how it worked and a little piece or spring flew accross the room and it took me several days to find it. By that time, I had ordered another from Ruger. I would be very careful not to do that again. BM

Bill

[Rocky Raab]

Critch, the simplest explanation between cast and swaged is this: Cast bullets are formed from molten metal poures into a mould.

Swaged bullets are made from soft lead that is high-pressure formed (cold) into shape.

Swaged bullets are almost dead soft - they have to be or they couldn't be "squozed" into form. They're excellent choices for mild target loads at low velocity and breech pressure. Target loads for the .38 Special would be a good example.

Cast bullets can be made of a variety of metal alloys (swaged are almost pure lead) using tin, antimony and/or other metals. Some of them can be so hard they'll shatter on impact.

In general, the higher the pressure of the load, the harder the bullet needed. As you originally said you wanted to shoot bullets to the highest velocity possible, swaged bullets are completely out of the question. You'll want cast bullets with an alloy of at least BHN 15 (and BHN 20 would be better) for full-velocity 357 Maggie loads.

If those 125s are swaged, forget it. Stick to 900 fps loads or less with those.

I just checked at Midway. If you bought the 125-gr truncated cone bullets listed, they are indeed hard-cast. They're of a Lyman #2 alloy equivalent, and thus should be good up to about 1500 fps as it is about BHN 15.

According to the Lyman manual, you can achieve 1500+ fps with several powders. Try 11.0 to 13.0 of Blue Dot or 13.5 to 19.5 of 2400. Work up gradually, the top loads are HIGH pressure!

[BlueMoon]

I should have added in my post about Laser Cast bullets that they are too hard to plink with and you have to really goose them to make them shoot straight. For plinking, the swaged bullets made by Hornady or Speer are all you need for velocities up to 850fps or so. And you can buy or order them by the box of 400 or so for not much money. BM

Bill