Rossi Rifleman

I've been reading with great interest the articles about using the lilgun powder with cast bullets. All the articles mention cast bullets,but I did not see any mention on the softness or hardness of such bullets. Most of the bullets I have need experimenting with are between 9 to 13 bhn. So should the bullets be harder? (Mine are gas checked). I would appreciate some more information on this. Thanks john..

I don't measure hardness. I use a gas check on my stout 158s and 180s.

I have only used Lil'gun with jacketed bullets in my 357. It has shot better the harder I drove it and my load I use it actually over book max without issues "in my rifle"... that said, it is a hot powder temperature wise and my barrel gets much hotter using it than with other loads. I am guessing that is not going to do well with lead bullets, especially without a gas check like GasGuzzler mentioned. I will defer to people who have tried it though.

It's probably the best for 180 cast there is followed by 2400 in my experience.

Johnnyjr wrote:I've been reading with great interest the articles about using the lilgun powder with cast bullets. All the articles mention cast bullets,but I did not see any mention on the softness or hardness of such bullets. Most of the bullets I have need experimenting with are between 9 to 13 bhn. So should the bullets be harder? (Mine are gas checked). I would appreciate some more information on this. Thanks john..

I have used lil'gun with lots of cast boolit loads with no problems at all. Now that I powder coat, I don't use gas checks and have had no trouble either. I use a lot of HS-6 lately but really don't have all the heat issues I hear about.

Appreciate the update.

My go to, best performing load in my 16" trapper uses LilGun, 14gr and a 165gr GC SWC.

For what it's worth, I've seen a general consensus that for plinking or target shooting, gas checks (and even powder coating) pretty much negates the requirement to match bullet hardness to your chamber pressures. For hunting you'll want to match bullet hardness to the actual terminal performance of your bullet profile. I'm currently shooting mostly plain base (PB) lead bullets and pay attention to hardness primarily to stay clear of that dreaded bore fouling lead monster. If a particular gun/load needs faster velocities (higher chamber pressure) for accuracy, then I usually switch over to powder coated bullets.

Thanks for the information