usmcmp

I shoot nothing but lead in my .40 pro works great and its cheap.

JeffWard

Works fine. Only Glock barrels (and maybe Kahr) advise against.



Use a good de-leading solvent when you clean, or just follow each session of lead with a few jacketed bullets!



Jeff

TOF

Lead works great in the 45's.

KRWeiss

40s too, I just don't like handling it.

TOF

When you have washed grease off your hands with leaded gas as much as I did in years past you don't worry much about lead poisening. I have also learned how to easily clean lead from barrels. I save around $120 per thousand by using lead and am a tight wad. That $120 builds another thousand. Also 99% of my shooting is in open air.

KRWeiss

I pay about that just for the bullets, another $20 for 1000 primers, but still prefer to avoid ingesting any lead at all. I hate the smell of gasoline, and while not often confused with a tightwad, usually get awesome deals.

parabellum659

M&P's got a standard rifled barrel not the polygonal rifling that most of your glocks,HK,KAHRS will have. to my knowledge leads A-OK

judgecrater

My 45 does just fine with lead. Very little deposit of lead in the barrel. Rarely even have to use a brush. If you reload, for almost the same price you can reload with plated bullets.

BILLG

Don't know where you are getting your bullets from but after many years of reloading I have yet to find plated bullets close to the price of lead bullets.

JFerg69

I know this is an older thread but any reloaders out there worried about lead build up might give Precision Bullets a try. I started using em back when I was into CAS about 12 years ago. Great bullet, fair prices and I've never had leading issues.

M1A4ME

Good to know since my next pistol purchase will probably be an M&P 9MM

WashMP

lead is the least expensive followed by molys,plated and FMJ. I personally prefer molys these days. I find them to be just as accurate as FMJ without the messy lube associated with pure lead bullets. Run 100% in all my guns.

Bongo Boy

Lube IS an issue to me, and the only lead bullets I've ever purchased turned out to be a massive PITA due to lube migration onto everything freeking imaginable. I pretty much solved this problem by running into a lube that stays put (Jake's Purple Ceresin), but after a few thousand rounds, still need to clean out the seating die. But, that takes seconds--the cold lube comes out as a chunk or two using a probe (I use tweezers).

Now, the only reason for me to shoot lead bullets is the case where I cast them myself. In that case I believe they're about $0.03 each, cutting the price of handloads in half or more over other bullet choices. Buying them at $0.10 each or more doesn't make much sense to me, when plated are the same price and much more fun to handle.

If I could find cast lead bullets with decent, hard lube for $0.06 each, I'd likely never cast another bullet unless I couldn't find the bullet I wanted,

davehoneycutt

Which lead do you shoot? Re-manufactured or your own reloads? Powder? Velocity? etc?

David

Bongo Boy

I too shoot lead almost exclusively in the MP40Pro. Some super fun ultra light shooters using the 180 gr truncated cone (Lee) bullet include:



...and I recently had Accurate Molds build me a 155 gr mold that produces these beauties:



I got an avg of 1,270 fps from these with 8.4 gr SR 4756, but I'm fixin' to do some of these in lighter loads with the traditional powders such as Solo 1000, Clays and maybe I'll even try No. 2 again,

This is raw data off the range using the 180 gr bullet a couple of years ago:



...and these are the 180s themselves, ready for presentation:



Everything is cast using wheel weight lead when I can specify, although in many cases I know I've used reclaimed range lead, as well as 'miscellaneous'. My supply is eBay, where I set my threshold at about $1.25/lb delivered. It's getting up the wherewithal to sit and cast for 2-3 hrs at a time that I find increasingly difficult, and buying at 3-4 times the price more attractive.

This weekend is the big gun show and the plan is to get several pounds of powder in some variety, in an attempt to hit the sweet spot with both the 155 gr cast, and a boatload of Rainier hollow points that just came in (165 gr I think). That's a lot of loading and a lot of range time, but I'll get to it and put the data up here if I remember. So many knobs to turn, so little time.

WashMP

buy molys. you can get them for about 8-9 cents each. no more messing with lube

dsb1829

All of the M&P's I have come across shoot lead just fine (2 FS M&P 9, 9C, and a FS 40). I can shoot after a mag or two the barrel looks about the same through to over 300rd. I am kinda anal about cleaning, so I don't let it go longer than a few hundred rounds.

My 9mm IDPA fodder is running about $.07ea using commercial cast bullets and recycled range pickup brass. I can't even come close in jacketed or plated (bullets alone run $.09-.12ea).

Canuck44

I cast for all my pistols and revolvers. I place my lubed bullets in the steyerfoam containers from old Win 9mm boxs. I prefer soft lube and this removes the "messy" from using lead boolits. I find the lead boolits to be more accurate than the plated/fmj in all my guns.

Take Care

Bob

Rem700

I cast and shoot my own I get the lead for free, If I am feeling lazy I buy locale from a fellow home caster for $50/1K