I have a Springfield 1911 and now load Remington 230 Gr. FMJ bullets because I am concerned about barrel leding. Will I get much leading if I load cast bullets ? What cast bullets would you reccomend ?

Leading doesn't happen if you've got the right bullet and a decent barrel. If it's under groove diameter, it will lead, so look for a .452" bullet for a .451" groove. A .45 ACP isn't a high pressure round, so the really hard cast stuff isn't needed. A softer bullet that's slightly undersized will slug up and fit the bore when the powder boots it down the barrel. If you're getting leading just ahead of the chamber, but not at the muzzle, use more powder.

Bullet lube isn't that critical if everything else is right, but most commercial bullets use a harder than optimum lube so it stays on the bullet while it's trucked over 500 miles of Saskatchewan potholes.

The very soft swaged bullets from Hornady and Speer can't stand much speed. I didn't have problems with the old 200 grain Speers if I stayed down at 700 fps, but they'd lead from end to end if I loaded them hot.

Get all the copper out of your barrel before you shoot lead. They solder together very well. The fastest way to get lead of out of a barrel is to cut open a copper Chore girl pot scrubbing pad and wrap some around an undersized barrel brush. A couple of passed cuts it out.

Hopefully someone close to you can recommend a brand. Shipping on lead is a killer.

Bye
Jack

I have a Springfield 1911 and now load Remington 230 Gr. FMJ bullets because I am concerned about barrel leding. Will I get much leading if I load cast bullets ? What cast bullets would you reccomend ?

Hi 2ndamendment!
I"ve loaded .45 acp for several years. I seem to get good accurate results in my Star P.D. with 200 grain semi-wadcutters sized .452. I have shot many rounds loaded with either 3,7 grains of Bullseye or 5.3 grains of Unique without any sign of leading. I admit that these are fairly moderate loads made up for the punching of paper and self defence against dangerous game, like tin cans, dirt clods, etc
I hope this helps.
By the by. How do you like your Springfield? How does it compare to the Colt product? I would like to find a Commander size .45 with (maybe) an alloy frame.
Good luck and good shooting!

Reloaders never really save any morney...we just find ways to shoot more for the same money. Switching to lead bullets will do that; cost per shot will be less, will just end up shooting more.

Got good advice so far, use good quality bulelts of .452" diameter.

For practice, tend to load for reliability and accuracy...don't care about 50 or 75fps of velocity.

These folks have given good advice. I shoot cast bullets out of a Springfield .45 ACP and have not had any leading problems. My preference is to use a good hard cast bullet made of wheelweights and linotype sized .452" and a moderate charge of Unique. One key is to keep the barrel clean and I use Shooters Choice patches, J.B. Bire Cleaner on a brush, Lead Wiping Cloth on a brush, solvent patches, dry patches and oil patches after every range session. All the best...
Gil

I have the Springfield Professional model, 2000 manufacture. I switched to lead to shoot more bullets for the same money. I use Magnus 230 RN hard cast alloy, 5.1 gr. of HP-38, and CCI large pistol primers. I have no leading with this load. It chronographs at 815 fps average and I can chew the center of the bullseye out of the NRA pistol target at 25 yards all day long.

The one modification that I have done to my pistol is I changed out the factory recoil spring to a Wolff 18# and slipped in a Shok-Buf pad. It makes for a tough time to get the gun back together, but I am not chasing brass all over the range or getting cussed out by the guy three benches down for getting hot brass in the side of the head. :eek:

As to comparing the Springfield to the Colt product--Springfield makes a far superior gun for the money. Mine was already tricked out and very tight right out of the box. My only dig was the recoil spring, using 230 hardball it would throw empties all over creation with the 16# factory spring. $10 for a new spring and it was fixed, and I always use a shock buffer in all my slide autos.

If you're looking for cheap practice ammo, I'd go with 185-grain hard-cast wadcutters and Unique or AA-5, at no more than 850 feet per second. Most loads in the 800-850 fps range are plenty accurate, easy on the gun and shooter, and cheap to load. Enjoy that blaster!

Papajohn