Another Lead bullet for smokeless

[smokeeter]

I thought I 'd post my latest bullet mod for smokeless application. With all of the difficulty and uncertainty we're currently faced with shooting component availability (and increase in costs) I thought I would see if a lead bullet would fit the bill.
I have a couple of custom bullet molds that I had made many moons ago. This particular spire bullet that I made finished off at 300 grs. and was a .453 dia. It worked well with my Savage smokeless back in the day but it was nestled in a 50 cal. sabot and I never gave any concern with leading or excessive speeds.
Fast forward to the era of the .45 cal sabotless craze and try as I might to get this bullet for perform in a sabotless application efforts were futile. I tried powder coating full forming gas checks and a multitude of reduced charges and I just couldn't get any satifactory results.
I was toying with saboted .40 cal bullets in a 45 sabot and I thought if I could get this to previously work in the .50 cal sabot I would try it in the .45 cal sabot .
Since I already had the .453 bullets made I thought I'd run them thru my .40 cal fixed die and voila It shaved the .453 dia. down to .40 cal and reduced the weight to 233 grs.
Here are a few pics of the final product. I haven't tried them yet but I'm excited to do so.
I also feel they should perform well on game and not be as frangible as the .40 cal 200 gr. XTP is.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Wait, did you go from .453 to .40 in one step? Or a bunch of small steps? I couldnt do that in one step with out something hydraulic.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

ps, those are good looking boolits. Looking fwd to a range report

 

[smokeeter]

Good catch, sorry for any confusion . Yes one step with a hydraulic press and my die is sharp on the leading edge no taper.

 

[Shorty]

They are darn good looking boolits. What is the secret formula for the lead. 20-1 or harder? Love to see a 100 yd. Target or better yet the holes in a deer…

 

[Farmerboy78]

Targets please

 

[smokeeter]

Looks like I found a new rabbit hole to go down. The above brainstorm got me thinking of trying the resize deal with another boolit I had.
This one was a .453 , 300 gr. hollow pt. I ran it thru the die and it shaved the weight down to 220 gr.s and .40 dia.
I figured I might as well get a few of these to try at the next range session, with the spitzers.

 

[LBAhunter]

I thought I 'd post my latest bullet mod for smokeless application. With all of the difficulty and uncertainty we're currently faced with shooting component availability (and increase in costs) I thought I would see if a lead bullet would fit the bill.
I have a couple of custom bullet molds that I had made many moons ago. This particular spire bullet that I made finished off at 300 grs. and was a .453 dia. It worked well with my Savage smokeless back in the day but it was nestled in a 50 cal. sabot and I never gave any concern with leading or excessive speeds.
Fast forward to the era of the .45 cal sabotless craze and try as I might to get this bullet for perform in a sabotless application efforts were futile. I tried powder coating full forming gas checks and a multitude of reduced charges and I just couldn't get any satifactory results.
I was toying with saboted .40 cal bullets in a 45 sabot and I thought if I could get this to previously work in the .50 cal sabot I would try it in the .45 cal sabot .
Since I already had the .453 bullets made I thought I'd run them thru my .40 cal fixed die and voila It shaved the .453 dia. down to .40 cal and reduced the weight to 233 grs.
Here are a few pics of the final product. I haven't tried them yet but I'm excited to do so.
I also feel they should perform well on game and not be as frangible as the .40 cal 200 gr. XTP is.

Nice!!

 

[LBAhunter]

So, when you are sizing them, you are shaving lead off?

 

[smokeeter]

I've had a few questions on how I do this. I use a hydraulic press that I made and I force the bullet thru a specific sizing die. The bullet is forced thru the die and excess lead is shaved off of the original cast bullet and the finished sized bullet is what's left.
The die

The bullet started in the die and the hydraulic press forces the bullet into the die

The excess lead

The finished sized bullet

 

[michiganmuzzy]

I've had a few questions on how I do this. I use a hydraulic press that I made and I force the bullet thru a specific sizing die. The bullet is forced thru the die and excess lead is shaved off of the original cast bullet and the finished sized bullet is what's left.
The die

The bullet started in the die and the hydraulic press forces the bullet into the die

The excess lead

The finished sized bullet

How does the bottom of the bullet look after? Is it flat or does it have an edge ring?

Disregard this, i forgot that you already mentioned it

 

[LBAhunter]

How do you keep it straight? Does the ogive keep it straight?
Guess I missed it, I was wondering same thing michiganmuzzy.

 

[smokeeter]

These are cast a little hard so.... when the push rod is forcing the base of the bullet into the die the lead crumbles somewhat and the edge is a little chamfered resembling a slight boattail , this is a good thing when seating the bullet in a sabot.
Aligning the bullet is a little tricky with the round nose but the spitzers seem to guide themselves into the die, the only thing I do is try to adjust the bullet so the base is parallel to the top plate on the press.

 

[LBAhunter]

How hard is the spire point? I was wondering about expansion?

 

[smokeeter]

I haven't measured the Brinell hardness, but they aren't as hard as linotype. I suspect there will some expansion with the spire pts. The round nose hollow pt. will probably turn themselves inside out at smokeless speeds.

 

[Decay]

Have you shot them yet?

 

[Decay]

Interesting thread. I see its still winter inn Ontario so I can understand not shooting yet. I've got a few questions if you don't mind. Which rifle are you shooting? What's your alloy? and have you measured your hardness yet? In post #13 you say the lead "crumbles". Could this be because the alloy has zinc in it (maybe from from modern wheelweights)? The 40 cal looks interesting.

 

[Decay]

Have you shot these in the blue sabot yet?