Swaged versus hard cast... recoil??

So I'll begin by saying 99.99% of the bullets I've shot have been hard cast from wheel weights or from Magnus. 

A older master shoot told me that swaged bullets have noticeably less recoil than hard cast lead. Can anyone else back that up?

But if there's less recoil won't this mean you just have to jump the load up to keep the gun cycling with the same recoil spring and slide weight. Or does the swaged lead just feel smoother while still cycling the same?

Hammer a swaged bullet,hard cast and jhp through the barrel with a wood dowel. Let us know what you feel between the 3

So I guess the question is if you're running a heavy slide with a 9000sc does it still feel softer once you get the pressure high enough to cycle the slide or are you jist having to dump more powder in to level the playing field?

Yes, cast are a bit harder than swaged.  But for the pressures needed in your gun, the two are almost indistinguishable.  The same powder charge will work for both.  The cast obturate less than swaged where the swaged obturate more which creates a bit more resistance.  So it's basically a wash.  The obturation fills the bore and contributes to accuracy.  

Jacketed bullets are a different story.  Much more resistance in the bore.  That's where you'll need a bump in powder charge.

I cannot feel the difference between cast or swaged when running 3.4 or 4.0 gr BE. This is with all my 45’s including the ones with the 9000
Jon

Thanks guys, just making sure I'm not missing out on a magical recoil reducer lol.

Weight of bullet dictates recoil. Some people prefer swaged rather than cast because sometimes (not very often) an internal void will form in the cast and throw the balance off. I'm sure you know the results of something like that.

Sometimes swaged bullets won't go as fast as cast bullets with the same powder charge. That could reduce recoil.

S148 wrote:Sometimes swaged bullets won't go as fast as cast bullets with the same powder charge. That could reduce recoil.

Right, I'm just worried that would reduce the pressure and not cycle the pistol. I run my loads pretty tight on having just enough juice to run reliably while still reducing recoil.

Commercial swaged bullets have a BHN of 10-13 and most cast bullets are way too hard at 18-22. Home-made swaged bullets are usually almost pure lead as the hand-swage presses can't achieve the pressure of commercial units.
Felt recoil has to be a function of gun fit, height of barrel axis from hand, bullet weight, bullet velocity, powder weight, and powder velocity exiting the barrel. I can't see bullet hardness having any effect separate from those variables mentioned.
In most cases, I think "felt recoil" has more to with the shooter's prejudice going in and knowing what bullet/powder he/she is firing. A series of true double-bling tests would be most interesting.
I can run commercial swaged bullets up to about 1300-1500 fps, depending on quality of the lube (generally just a wax emulsion, which often does "die" at around 1100fps); however, most manuals also keep lead bullet data down in pressure. Lyman lists the MAP for their loads.
If you are shooting competitive Bullseye and don't cast your own, you should be using swaged bullets ONLY, due to superior dimensional and weight consistency.
Look to Star and Magnus.

Greetings noylj,


"Commercial swaged bullets have a BHN of 10-13"

Please quote your source of information.

The hardness tests I have conducted on swaged 32 and 38 bullets are considerably less in value.

Cheers,

Dave

From Magnus, Zero, Hornady, Speer, and Precision Delta. I would post my info from them, but my computer crashed and I can't access the hard drive on it.
Write and ask them yourself.