>Is anyone familiar with lead bullets of about .15 cal., being about the
>length of a .22 cal. bullet ?
>
>JimMoore

You might look at flobert cartridges if the gun is from a historical site.
They were made for indoor target practice and are some of the earliest
internal primed metallic cartridges.  They were made in a number of
European calibers, 4mm flobert being the one that sticks in my mind.  Some
of the cartridges shot round balls but conicals were known.  The guns which
shot these were frequently made in Germany and Belgium and do show up in
the US, being offered in the Bannerman's catalogue if I remember correctly.
The modern .17 Remington was made commercially only in copper jackets; as
the velocity approached 4000 fps lead bullets would not survive firing (or
be accurate).  There may have been after market lead bullets with gas
checks made for the .17 but I have never seen any (the clue would be a
recessed base on the bullet where the gas check was crimped on).

Hope this helps

Morgan Blanchard
University of Nevada Reno