Help! Leading with commercial .357 bullets.

[flyboy]

I experience leading just ahead of the forcing cone in my .357 magnum.  I load 158 gr SWC bullets to about 1,000fps.   Some of the bullets were obtained from a local caster, and are lubed with some blue colored mixture.  They are supposed to be "hard cast". The Hornady swaged 158gr SWCHP seem to be the worst, with the softest lead and lube.

What am I doing wrong?

I have received these suggestions:

1. Dip all the bullets in liquid alox, then load and shoot as usual.

2. Use the toilet ring "wax" which is supposed to contain beeswax, and rub on an additional coat of lube.

3. Melt candle wax, paraffin, or beeswax, and lightly anoint the bullets and bore with it.

4. Get some commercial  lube... Hard? Soft?  melt it, dip the bullets , let dry and go shooting.

What is the truth in all this? I have a Lewis Lead remover, and it says .38 caliber on the box,  but I must have the wrong size inserts, or something,  because there is no way I can get the thing to pull through the bore, short of using a John Deere tractor.

Suggestions, please.

[Castaway]

On the Lewis Tool, there is a knurled ring that you can twist.  turning it to the right squeezes the rubber stopper, increasing diameter, to the left will release tension on the rubber and decrease diameter.

[flyboy]

I tried that, but maybe not enough. Will try again. Thanks

[jhalcott]

  What diameter are the purchased bullets. Very hard bullets do NOT always bump up to fill the bore.  As I don't know what the lube is I won't comment on it. I do have a "lewis Lead remover" like you described,it works quite well to remove leading. It can be adjusted as castaway said.

[blhof]

You might check with Veral.  I got his test slugs and found I had tight throats, Polished them out as well as lapping the bore and no more leading.  He has complete kits for slugging and firelapping.

[Texas Fred]

I had the same experience with some of the commercial cast bullets. I usually cast my own, but got a really  "good deal" on a large quantity of commercial bullets. They leaded the crap out of my barrels in everything I tried them in. I tumble lubed them in Lee liquid alox, that helped quite a bit, I boiled all of the worthless lube they had on them off and re lubed a bunch of them in my lubersizer. Those worked alittle better, but these bullets were bevel base, made a mess relubing them in a RCBS luber ,and never got them to stop leading altogether. Seems like some of those commercial casters see just how bad they CAN lead your barrel, lousy lube, bevel base, alloy toohard, some are undersize. I still have some of them and they're going for a trip back through the melting pot

[Castaway]

Just for curiosities sake, have you miked' them to see the diameter?

[dakotashooter2]

??   It sounds like you have  2 (?) different bullets here, is that correct? Swagged bullets are soft by neccesity  and at 1000 fps you still may be pushing them too hard.

The location of your leading would seem to indicate more of a sizing issue than lube. It's been my experience that bullets from small commercial casters are generally "caliber" sized and usually undersized for most guns. They are also often too hard for their size and the lube too hard, a necessity to facilitate handling. Add to that undersized throats or a large bore and you will have leading. Pretty much why I quite buying local commercial cast and casting my own.

[flyboy]

Just for curiosities sake, have you miked' them to see the diameter?

THUNDERATION, Dude! How'd you know? , and you, too, Dakotashooter.
I just miked ~ 20 of the little buggers, and they all measured .355-.356! And the swaged swchp were the same, but they are softer , so they will probably obturate and fill the bore. That's the same as my jacketed/plated bullets!  9mm diameter. 
Well, I guess I have some alloy to add to my 50 lbs of wheelweights. 

It seems to me that when I was casting, .3575-.358 worked very well.   Guess I'll spend some of that "Tax Rebate", if we ever see it, on a good melter. Thinking about the RCBS furnace. Any wisdom, or would a Lee 20 lb. Big Mother work about as well ??

I don't think they sell  "Cake Cutters" any more, soooo....what caliber rifle cartridge case would I have to use for the .357s and where might I be able to get a couple??  I am going to lube them like I used to, in a cake tin,  and then use my Lee sizer.

Oh, by the way, Thanks!

[dakotashooter2]

.001 or slightly more, over bore seem to work about the best provided that the throats of your cylinder are not undersized (common with Rugers) and squeezing them down before they hit the bore.

FWIW the rule of thumb is:  lead near the forcing cone is a sizing issue, lead throughout the whole barrel or at the muzzle end is a  hardness or lube related issue.

[454PB]

A fired .35 Remington case will work well as a "kake cutter". Cut the case head off with a hacksaw.

[Argonaut]

Leading can be caused by too hard a bullet also. if the gasses get by the base of the bullet, it melts lead off the bullet and solders it to the barrel. If your bullets are under size then maybe this is a possibility.  I Use basically wheel weights sized to .359 and I have been using 6.0 grains of Unique for a 150 gr Keith style SWC. with a large single grease grove. It chronographs to an average of 1100 fps out of my 4 5/8 ruger .357 mag.

[Lead pot]

There are factors that will foul a revolver.
Improper fitting bullet.
Cylinder out of time.
Alloy to hard.
Bad lube.