# Replacing reloaded lead balls with copper 45 acp



## guns899 (Dec 13, 2008)

I'm sure none of you have heard this before, but I am new to reloading. I recenty purchased 4500 rounds of reloaded 45 acp lead balls cheap. $150. I want to remove the lead and put in copper. What pros cons do I need to consider? I shot about 50 rounds in my XD 45, and I am still cleaning out lead. That will be that end of that! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

I'll assume the bullets in the reloaded ammo are standard lead bullets and not lead balls.

You need to know what powder was used and how much. Even if the lead bullets and jacketed ones are of the same weight a swap could be dangerous as lead will generally cause less pressure than jacketed bullets.
The load will have to be re-calculated. Probably with a different powder and charge. Disassembling that many cartridges will be a lot more work than it is worth. Imagine putting each cartridge in a kinetic bullet puller, wacking it on the bench 4-5 times (x 4500) then separating the bullet and powder before you can even start to load the jacketed bullets into them.

You may have one or more of the following probems with the current load.
1) lead is too hard for the velocity (bullet can't expand to fill the bore properly) (as a general rule soft bullets...slow... hard bullets...fast)
2) Bullet is undersized for the barrel (bullet can't expand to fill the bore properly) lead bullets ideally should be .001 or more over actual bore diameter.
3) Lube is too hard (bullet is not getting properly lubricated)

Something you could try is to dip the bullets in liquid allox. This additional lubing may reduce but probably not eliminate leading. Or sell/trade them to someone else.

Forgot to mention... If the XD is fairly new the barrel may be a bit rough yet, adding to the problem. a few hundred jacketed rounds through it to smooth it out may make a difference


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## guns899 (Dec 13, 2008)

Thank you for the info. I didn't even think about the different pressures using the same weight of lead and copper. I'll try to find out exactly what powder was used. As far as extracting the lead out, Hornady make a cam-lock bullet puller that looks like it will go through some bullets pretty fast. 
I don't know. It just seems like a waste to have that much ammo sitting around that I don't want to shoot. Maybe I'll find another solution to my problem.

Once again, thank you for the advice.


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