I just joined a pistol club for shooting mainly in the winter indoors. Their rule is no jacketed or steel ammo. So I guess this only leaves lead. Are there any other alternatives? I'm interested in .45, .357 Sig, .44 mag, and .357 mag, can you buy these rounds without jackets? If so can anyone suggest where to purchase? Another question I have is what is a steel load? Are they marked as steel on the box?

Thanks
Frank

quote:

Originally posted by 08 Cayenne:
So I guess this only leaves lead.

I wouldn't "guess." Ask them for specifics, and in particular what's permitted.

Autoloading pistol ammunition without at least partially-jacketed bullets is very difficult to find, especially in some calibers. "Jacketed," BTW, may mean "fully jacketed," not hollow or soft points.

My guess is that the range established its rules a long time ago and hasn't updated since. "Steel" probably refers to the surplus stuff out of Eastern Europe that was available in the 1970s and somewhat later. There were 9mm Parabellum loads whose bullets had steel cores. AFAIK, that's been illegal, or at least illegal to import for a long time.

The usual reasons for the kind of rule you mention is to prevent damage to their backstops and to prevent ricochets. Soft point or hollow point ammo will usually disintegrate or flatten upon impact with steel and not cause those problems.

If the club has other members, someone must know of a source of permitted ammunition.

I went to the range today and asked the senior range officer and he said that no jackets are allowed, only lead, also no magnum rounds. I asked him where I could find .45 or .357 without jackets and he didn't know, they all load their own.

That seems unusual. Lead bullets mean they must have one hell of a ventilation system there.
Haz-mat suits must be worn to sweep up.

Ask about frangible ammo. International Cartridge Corp stuff is really clean, although a little more pricey than regular ammo.

I went to Cabelas late yesterday and they have bulk .38 and .45's. This will be okay for days where it is too cold to shoot outside.