First Time Reloading Moly Coated Lead for .45 ACP

[goodlookin1]

What should I expect as far as barrel leading? Will I have to clean more frequently due to the lack of a copper jacket? If shooting these kinds of bullets will cause barrel leading, I'd rather just avoid it all together and stick to copper.

Thanks.

[fal_762x51]

I shoot 230 grain wheel weight lead in my 1911. I use the Lee Alox on my boolits and have not had any leading with 4.1 grains of HP-38. It smells, but that's about all.

[Mikeb]

I've always thought that .45's were perfect for lead ammo. Heavy bullet at fairly low velocity. I shoot Oregon Trail bullets, they have a little silver in them. The silver makes them a bit harder and insures good performance on vampires werewolves and zombies. I clean with Ed's Red and brass pot scrubbers wraped on a brush. I tried moly lead bullets but wasn't much impressed. I still have a few hundred. I think I make ammo for about $0.05 each. If you want to spend $0.30 that's up to you.
take care
Mike

[Bobshouse]

I shoot Bear Creek 230g molly coated in my 45 and have no leading problems at all.

[goodlookin1]

I shoot Bear Creek 230g molly coated in my 45 and have no leading problems at all.

This is exactly what I have!

I have read that there are pressure differences because the lead is so much softer without a jacket that it will be slower (assuming the same amount of powder as a jacketed bullet). I'll pull out my Nosler Reloading book tonight, but what's a good load for these bullets using Bullseye powder? Any magic formulas?

Thanks for the replies!


EDIT: The reason I asked the original question about leading is because I have read that if you dont lube the bullet, then leading can happen.....but didnt know if this will happen with moly coated bullets. I dont have any lube for the bear creek bullets.

[Southpaw45]

I to shoot Bear Creek 230 grainers for 45 Auto and 200 grainers for 45 Colt. No leading problems with both of them. I'm loading 5 grains of Win 231 powder for the 45 Auto. These bullets are great. Just make sure you put just enough bell on your cases so you don't scrape off any moly. I talked to Steve the owner of Bear Creek and he told me he uses exclusivly reclaimed shot and they are a little softer than other brands. The moly takes care of any leading issues. Softer bullets seal the rifling better. It's an old trick for shooters who load black powder and they know about bullet blow by...

[Revoman]

I load, shoot and like the Bear Creek 185 grain moly-bullets and have had zero problems with them. (As a matter of fact, I load moly's for 9, 38 and 40 as well.)
Good accuracy with 3.5 to 3.8 grains of Bullseye. I do use a reduced recoil spring (15#) for the 3.5 grain load though.
The guy I bought them really likes them as well.....and yes, do watch the flair and crimp so that the coating is not affected.
For me, they shoot better than Berry's plated at a fraction of the cost. I do shoot Berry's 9mm from time to time as well though.
Hope this helps!

[SirLoki]

moly is no problem, i even load major 9mm and major 40 no problems with leading, a little smokey but thats about it

[J-cat]

Depends on the gun.

[Bug Splat]

Another Bear Creek shooter here. 230gr RN with I think 4gr of Red Dot is what I load. Never have any leading and I've been using Bear Creak for I think 8-9 years. Great stuff.

[diginit]

Same here. No leading and of course no copper fouling. 200 gr and 230 gr RN in a 1911. 6.9 gr of unique, 5 gr 321. Both just shy of max. I have a 18.5 lb mainspring. So work up either way.
4gr of red dot is the min. You may want to work up a load if you use it.
LSWC's don't work well with the 1911. So stick with the RN's.

Who pays 30 cents a bullet for BC MCLRN? $45 for 500 is 9 cents a round.

[bootcamp]

I got excessive leading in my 1911 from Wideners .452 lead projectiles. Not sure what brand but they were in 1000pc boxes. I used about 300 before I decided lead projectiles were not for me. Too much leading and too much scrubbing. Not to mention, dirty dirty dirty. I coupled it with unique powder and I would always get FTFeed after about 50 rounds from all the fouling. Garbage! I also do not like the puff of smoke I inhale from the Unique after firing off each round.

[Bug Splat]

4gr of red dot is the min. You may want to work up a load if you use it.

Yeah I used to use 4.5gr but every now and then I would get a jam where the slide would miss the rim of the next round in the mag even on a new mag. Maybe out of 200 rounds I would get 1-2 jams. Figure I should try slowing it down a bit and dropped down to 4gr and have not had a problem since and I've run about 500 rounds. I'm also saving powders. For every 4 rounds I get one extra

[ojisan]

The molycoated bullets should be loaded using the same data as bare cast lead bullets.
Do not use copper jacketed bullet load data.