I'm out of all hard lead. I do have plenty of soft lead. Anyone powder coated soft lead (BRN 5) something like .458 350 grains or 180 grain 40 cal and shoot well with it around 1000 fps?
I am thinking the same thing. I just wanted to see if anyone tried it.
3% antimony?
I’m going to nonconcur with the nay sayers. I’ve actually shot dead soft lead with a variety of “coatings.” Starting with paper jacketed, or patched if you will, and adding powder coated to my bag of tricks later. Both shoot just fine at low velocities. My .45-70 paper patched load is about 1800 FPS. No issues with leading, or bad accuracy or anything else. Almost all of my powder coated .45 acp is crappy, soft lead that shoots just fine.
Here’s my best group, when doing a ladder test, during load development.
Marlin 1895 guide gun @ 50 yards from the bench, using a 4X scope.
That's awesome. I used to do 3% antimony and 3% tin, but am completely out. No tire weight either. I may give it a go on .458 socom
True, but paper patch isn't what he is doing and your 45acp loads are likely not going 1000fps which is what he is trying to do with the 40 load.
Lead is tricky. Too soft or hard and it will give one issues. Too slow or fast for a hardness and it can give you issues. I tend to stick with wheel weights (while I still have that) and load that hardness to velocities which I know won't create issues for me.
Yup.My .45 acp 155 LSWC’s are supersonic out of a 5” barrel. Why are they not what he’s trying to do out of the .40?
As for the paper patching not matching what he’s doing? Yeah, paper and powder coat are not the same, but both need properly sized bullets for optimal accuracy. In both cases, the sizing of the bullet is more important than the hardness of the lead. Probably the number 1 reason for leading by hard cast bullets is incorrect bullet size causing blow by of the powder gasses. Soft lead obturates easier and is more forgiving of sizing problems. Especially at lower velocities, like 1000 FPS.