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Hi folks,
I'm looking for guidance on the starting and max grain loads to start my work up and am a bit stumped. Any help would be much appreciated.

Bullet: Moly-coated semi-wadcutters
Grain: 200 and 180
Powder: Hodgdon Titegroup

Cheers!
 
Thanks, but I started my research there. Both of the bullets listed there are jacketed and I have been told that lead-only bullets have a lower charge threshold. My Lyman reloading book doesn't cover those bullet weights for SWC either. I'm trying to do this safely.
 
Thanks, but I started my research there. Both of the bullets listed there are jacketed and I have been told that lead-only bullets have a lower charge threshold. My Lyman reloading book doesn't cover those bullet weights for SWC either. I'm trying to do this safely.
The charges are going to be very similar. Given a weight, you must be concerned with how much more or less your seating depth reduces or increases combustion space.. less increases pressure and more reduces it.
Also, for a given powder charge, a lead bullet will generally go faster and with less pressure than a jacketed one as it seals better and is easier to physically drive down the barrel.
And the "threshold" for lead bullets has a lot of variables, mainly to do with leading and concurrent lack of accuracy and with the weights of your bullets and the cartridge, a normal loading shouldn't lead but I'd still only do a small batch to make sure.
 
I'm looking at the Lyman cast bullet reloading book and don't see titegroup listed for any 40 S&W cast bullet loads. It would be my guess that it's not well suited for that application. I do see it listed for like bullets in 10mm but at the greater pressures.
 
My Lyman reloading book doesn't cover those bullet weights for SWC either.

Geeze! My Lyman book doesn't even list the 40 S&W!

I see that Hodgdon only lists for the jacketed bullets on their website, too.

@Certaindeaf gave some really good info, but I think left a little bit out. The charges will be similar, but in general, due to the reasons he described, the cast bullet charge weight will be less. With cast bullets I've found leading and crappy accuracy is what limits velocity, not pressure.
For the 180gr jacketed bullets Hodgdon starts at 4.2gr of Titegroup @ 1.125.
For 200 it drops to 3.4gr.
My hunch is the listed starting charge weights would be reduced .2gr for a cast bullet and max would be decreased a similar amount. The biggest problem with low charge weights in a semi-auto is the lack of energy needed to run the slide. I'd not load up more than about 10 or 20 at the starting charge. I'd load up a couple batches of a similar amount in .1gr increment increases. That way if the starters don't do it, you can check the next step up, and so on. If you don't go crazy with the amount of test batches and if you pay attention and not set the bullets too deep, you'll not run into pressure problems.
 
Thanks, but I started my research there. Both of the bullets listed there are jacketed and I have been told that lead-only bullets have a lower charge threshold. My Lyman reloading book doesn't cover those bullet weights for SWC either. I'm trying to do this safely.

Hmmm, are you locked into Titegroup???

Lasercast manual features the bullets but doesn't have any loads using Titegroup. https://www.laser-cast.com/load-data.html
 
Thank you everyone. I really appreciate this. Learning the 'what' and, more importantly, the 'why' is incredibly helpful.

I'm not married to Titegroup, it's just what I have on hand. Same for the bullets. Given the unobtanium state of ammo and components these days, I'm trying to be as prepared as possible for a potentially ugly November.
 
When I go to the listed Website I get a Dire security warning; anyone else get that?

Yes -- the issue is related to the certificate they bought which is used in the encryption process. Apparently they left out the www version of their name. The info my browser gives me is:

Websites prove their identity via certificates. Firefox does not trust this site because it uses a certificate that is not valid for www.laser-cast.com. The certificate is only valid for the following names: chdsecureserver.com, www.chdsecureserver.com, oregontrailbullet.com, oregontrailbullets.com, laser-cast.com, grassvalleyfarms.org

Remember that computers are stupidly literal -- well, www.laser-cast.com is NOT the same as laser-cast.com.

Try this and you get the warning:

Try this and you don't:
Code:
https://laser-cast.com

If you click around the warning for the www version, you will find you end up at the exact same site.
 
Sorry, I posted the link because it was the easiest to find and copy. A google search for "Oregon Trail Bullets" (Lasercast) returned several other results. Including their entire manual in PDF.

I use the manual quite a bit for my .38 loads and for Xtreme bullets in 9mm.

There are several powders that would make good loads for those lead bullets OP. I personally use a lot of Clays, Red Dot, 231, for my various handgun loads, but Unique, 540, and Universal look good too, depending on what is available in the stores.

Hoping this is a better link to downloading the Lasercast pdf: (working on it)
 
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