9mm cast bullets + titegroup ?

[cjskalka]

To cut costs I've been looking to go to using cast bullets instead of fmj. My reloading manuals don't go to in depth about loading with cast bullets but more of how to cast your own which I'm not interested in doing. I know titegroup is one of the more speedy powders and from what I've read online some people experience excessive leading when using it below a cast bullet. Any experiences with this? I have a good amount of titegroup so I would like to be able to use it for this purpose but don't want to do anything unsafe.

Would it be safe to drop the powder charge 10% or so from a fmj load with the same weight lead bullet and work up a load from there? Thanks -Chris

[xxdabroxx]

can you find any load data on titegroups website re: cast bullets? Otherwise i would work up real slowly and chrono everything.

[sargenv]

Titegroup is one of the hotter burning powders and is very smoky when used with lead bullets (which can be smoky by themselves). I actually prefer a single based propellant like Solo 1000 over the high nitro powders like titegroup, Bullseye, Red Dot, Clays, etc. Jacketed bullets tend to be harder to push down the barrel than plain lead bullets, so essentially, any load data for Jacketed at standard velocities is likely safe pressure wise with lead bullets. Depending on bullet fit and hardness of the lead alloy, you may see some leading if it is pushed too fast. Undersized lead bullets cause a majority of the leading that people see and not a lack of hardness.

These are of course my opinions.. your opinion may vary and you might find completely different conclusions in your firearms.. I would back off 10% from max, as a starting point, and then see what the case, barrel, case extraction, etc tell me before drawing any conclusions about bumping the powder up. I have generally used jacketed data for lead with no problems as long as the bullet weight was within a few gr.. and this only applies to handgun cartridges..

[cjskalka]

can you find any load data on titegroups website re: cast bullets? Otherwise i would work up real slowly and chrono everything.

There are 2 lead bullet loads on the hodgdon website, it just didn't seem like much information considering how much there is for fmj loads. I'll just stick to their guidelines and go from there, thanks for your input guys -Chris

[J-cat]

You should use a more lead appropriate powder, like WSF, and a properly sized bullet for your bore. Otherwise, you'll see leading.

[five.five-six]

I am working up a 9mm load and was going to use wsf as well after doing some research