Picking the right bullet

[thisoldfish]

Anyone have any suggestions for a good bullet to use for reloads for a judge? I've heard that the taurus has issues with leading and I'm wondering of i should avoid lead and go for a coated bullet? (sorry for any poor terminology- new to handgun reloading).

[johnson]

I can't speak specifically about the Judge but I have had a lot of experience with leading. I currently load cast lead for a PT1911 9mm, a Springfield EMP 9mm, a GI .45, and a few other handguns, none of which lead. That doesn't mean they didn't when I started shooting them. Fortunately leading is usually easy to fix. Notice I said "usually".

The most common cause of leading is using a cast bullet that is too small for the barrel. The first step is determining the inside diameter of your barrel. That's done by driving a soft lead slug through the barrell and then measuring it with a micrometer. I usually do a couple. Start by getting some soft lead slugs that are slightly larger than the bore. I use egg fishing sinkers and file them a little if necessary to a diameter a few thousandths of an inch larger than the anticipated bore diameter. For example, a 9mm should be 0.355". They seldom are. My Taurus mikes at 0.3570 and the EMP at 0.3545 and I used a slug that was about 0.360. Select a bullet that is 1 to 2 thousandths larger and you should be good to go. I size at 0.356 in the EMP and 0.358 for the Taurus.

When driving the slug through the barrel I use a piece of the largest dowel rod that will slide into the barrel, cut about 1 1/2" longer than the barrel, and drive it with a plastic mallet. Easier on the barrel if I miss.

Yeah, it's kind of a pain to do it but you only have to do it once.

[thisoldfish]

Thanks Johnson (I actually printed that out and put in my gun file!). Informative- thanks.

[glenwolde]

Leading and revolvers, a nemesis of mine. After decades of reloading I still have yet to learn all there is to know about this. Johnson covered barrel leading pretty well, the only thing I could add is the reason for the barrel leading with a too-small a diameter bullet is caused by gas blowing past the base of the bullet, between the bullet and the barrel surface as it's fired. This also doesn't help accuracy. Slugging the barrel is a good idea, but if there's an odd number of lands/grooves it's not possible without specialized equipment. There simply is no groove impression on the opposite side of the bullet to measure. Smith & Wessons are this way.

In addition, the throats of the chamber are also critical. Not sure if the judge even has these since it chambers a .410 shell. You can slug your barrel, get the perfect fit, but if your cylinder throats are too tight they will swage the bullet down to undersized when it's fired. The bullet you're shooting should pass through the throats at the front of the cylinder with firm finger pressure. Likewise the Lee Factory Crimp die can swage lead bullets down to undersized.

If you're getting a coating of lead on the face of the cylinder, it can be one of several things. Undersized throats, a slight misalignment of the chambers (or some of the chambers) to the barrel, an excessive gap, a rough forcing cone, or a forcing cone cut to an inappropriate angle. Or a combination of any of those. Usually it's more than one. The forcing cone is there to allow for a slight misalignment. Rugers are cut with a 5 degree forcing cone, and often have problems with lead bullets. 11 or 18 degrees is more appropriate. The work around on this problem is to fire about half a box (at the most) of jacketed bullet loads at the end of your firing session and that will blow the lead off the face of the cylinder, and if you have any leading in the barrel it usually takes care of that too.

If you're getting a ridge of lead building up on the outside of the cylinder at the very front, close to the gap, it most often is excessive gap. If the gap is O.K. it's the forcing cone, or an alignment problem, or both.

The Judged should not be a match grade accurate revolver. The .45 Colt fits, but I would think this gun has a long freebore before the bullet gets to the forcing cone, rattling loosely down the over-sized chamber before it hits the forcing cone. But I've seen revolvers with multiple symptoms of the ones I've listed above that still shot amazingly well, considering. But I have no experience with a judge to be able to know if that assessment is correct.

You'll often hear people talk about "hard cast" lead bullets, but in some cases I think the lead is so hard it doesn't seal well enough under pressure and you get leading. With hotter loads, you want harder bullets, in my experience. Sometimes with lighter loads a hard bullet will lead. I have a Model 66 that won't lead at magnum velocities with a very hard bullet (Linotype) but the same bullet with .38 Special velocity loads leads (a little). A softer alloy (something a tad softer than Lyman #2) doesn't lead at all. The bullet is under tremendous pressure when it hits the rifling. It does expand (well let's say swell maybe) a bit to fill the rifling tightly. Even Linotpye with 25,000-35,000 PSI behind it smashing into the rifling isn't going to remain unaffected. Exactly how much it expands is the important part, it depends on the hardness of the bullet and pressure of the load. Within a certain range (and it's a pretty wide range, so chances are good you may never see this) you won't get leading, either side of the range it will lead. Since there's no way to measure this really, it's trial and error.

So even if your bullet is correct for your throats and your barrel, you can still get leading if the hardness of the bullet doesn't match the power of the load. You won't run into most of this unless you shoot a lot with a wide range of loads and a variety of cast lead bullets. It's most common with .357 shooters who use both full power magnum loads and lighter .38's.

There's so many variables with this it will drive you nuts.

[Jc85]

what I took away from that informative information was. 1 correct fit. and 2.. low grain starting loads use soft lead. high end hot loads use hard..

[Maximumbob54]

Bullet fit in the throat and then bore is the worst cause of leading. If you can get those two right then the rest is easy. I would say bullet lube is next. There is no one lube fits all that I know of. Tumble lube in liquid alox should be all you need for an easy shooter like the .45 Colt.

[glenwolde]

what I took away from that informative information was. 1 correct fit. and 2.. low grain starting loads use soft lead. high end hot loads use hard..

I should add that unlubricated swaged lead bullets often lead no matter what you do. Pure lead is just too soft. This is most common with .38 HBWC. I usually use Hornady HBWC which have a dry lube, the Remingtons don't, I'll lube those with Lee Liquid Allox. Very hard bullets may work in lighter loads, but at the very least it's a waste of money / Linotype.

[Jc85]

I don't cast. and still don't really know what swagging is. excuse my ignorance. From my understanding ordered bullets from places like midway have a little line of lube on the bullet already. Not saying a little spritz of allox wouldn't hurt.

[glenwolde]

I don't cast. and still don't really know what swagging is. excuse my ignorance. From my understanding ordered bullets from places like midway have a little line of lube on the bullet already. Not saying a little spritz of allox wouldn't hurt.

Anything with a visible lube line is cast. The swaged lead bullets are formed by compression of lead wire. These are usually only from big names like Speer, Remington, Hornady. They are also used in factory lead bullet loads.

[thisoldfish]

Thanks all. Really helpful. What would you all recommend as a great all around good bullet for me to start using for my judge reloads? I plan to use a 150gn bullet with unique- moderate amt. just don't know enough to know what the right bullet is for me- ie lead or jacketed. Thanks