Are 18 Brinnel Cast Bullets Too Hard For WBAS?

[Sgt. John Campbell]

Here's a question that I've not noticed being brought up before.  I normally shoot 200gr SWC's with a 12 Brinnel hardness for WBAS.   I'm currently out of these bullets, but have a full box of 200gr SWC's with an 18 Brinnel hardness rating.  Would these be suitable for WBAS loads and velocities, or would they be too hard on the steel for our purposes?  My loads usually come in at or about a 165 power factor level.

[Happy Jack]

They should be fine. 1911 barrels have very shallow rifling and you need a bit harder bullet to work well. You might want to check for leading after about 50. If no leading use them.

[Garrison Joe]

They will work fine.  They are harder than needed, though, and I find that hard a slug with our moderate loads will give you a fair amount of leading right in the throat area, even with a very good bullet lube.

In fact, Brinnel 12 hardness is harder than is needed for the pressures we shoot at.  About 9 BNH is sufficiently hard, and reduced leading to nothing in my 1911.

They will NOT be damaging the steel targets.  No need to worry about that.   

Good luck, GJ

[noylj]

Agree, harder than needed.
Then again, pure wheel weights are harder than needed.
If you get any leading, give them a very LIGHT tumble lube in Lee Liquid Alox or 45/45/10, and order 0.001" larger bullet next time.
For softer (12-15 BHN), you can go to mastercastbullets.com, Missouri Bullets, or Penn Bullets.
Alternatively, you can go to coated bullets (my favorite are Precision Bullet's Black Bullets that are swaged for uniform weight and dimension).

[El Pollo Loco]

18 is fine, I have been coating my crap lead bullet's in Hi-tec bullet coating and I am getting zero leading..