Hey guys.

I was out shooting my .44 Mag on this glorious day of spring, and a friend sent a few of my handloads over his chrono. I am shooting hard cast .429 bullets and they seem to be clipping along at around 1350 fps. My buddy says that is too hot for cast lead and that they will lead the bore unless I slow them down.

Yet in my 45-70 I have my cast lead moving at around 1500 fps with no leading.

Would you fellas be willing to offer up a magic number where bore leading starts to happen for you?

Hey guys.

I was out shooting my .44 Mag on this glorious day of spring, and a friend sent a few of my handloads over his chrono. I am shooting hard cast .429 bullets and they seem to be clipping along at around 1350 fps. My buddy says that is too hot for cast lead and that they will lead the bore unless I slow them down.

Yet in my 45-70 I have my cast lead moving at around 1500 fps with no leading.

Would you fellas be willing to offer up a magic number where bore leading starts to happen for you?

Did the gun choke up with lead? Just becasue he thinks it will doesn't mean it's going to happen.

You were shooting it, think you'd have noticed if the bullets were going wild on the target...or at least seen the leading in teh barel after the shooting session's clean up.

Think if you found the right combiantion of bullet diameter, lube, and bullet alloy there isn't any reason that a handgun would lead up greatly. All henadguns lead a little bit even with the best loads, but a good load will reach an equalibrium ans stay at that point for a long long time.

Thanks ribbonstone...I don't have very much experience with cast lead, I am still on the uphill side of the learning curve. There were a few lead shavings on the cleaning patch though. What kind of speeds do you have your lead bullets doing?

I shoot my 32-20 at 1300 fps with almost no leading. Handguns all seem to lead a bit at any speed. If you can get a few hundred out before accuracy suffers to much it's ok. I've read 1400 fps plane base and 2200 gas checked but it depends on your alloy, lube and gun as Ribbonstone said.

Things do have to be working right in that handgun for 1400fps with plain based bullets. Can do it, and more, but sometimes you get a gun taht just refuses to work with them at that speed.

To be honest, when i run into a revolver that won't work past a certain vel. limit, usually change to a heavier bullet. Philosophy being that if more power is wanted and you can't toss them faster, then I'll toss a heavier bullet at the same speed.

In my 44 Mag revolvers I use a .431" gas checked bullet at 1350 fps and have no significant leading. You will always get that light grey coating in the bore but it should clean up with just a couple patches and minimal effort if you are doing everything right. As others have said, having good bullet fit in the bore and good lube is more of a factor than the speed. A poor fitting bullet will lead at any speed.

There are some other factors that play into leading. Having the right sized chamber throats can make a big difference along with fire lapping a bore.

Go over to Marshall's tech section and read the article on fire lapping or better yet get his techinical guide. That one little book has more on shooting lead than most of everything I've read.