Half & half boolets

[gasboffer]

I read some of the posts lately on mixing soft lead with wheel weights and decided to try it.
I loaded the Lee 228 RN and 4.5 Bullseye.
Shot Glock 36 (Bar-Sto bbl) and XD45 at 40 yds from a rest.
The half and half boolets shot more accurately than regular wheel weight boolets out of both guns.
Glock 36 was more accurate than the XD by a small margin using both straight wheel weights and half and half.
I've been doing this (casting) since the early 1960s and am still learning.
Clyde

[thx997303]

I use the 50/50 ww/pure alloy for everything I shoot.

380 acp, 9mm, 38 spcl, and 45-70.

I heat treat them for the 380 and the 9mm and it works great.

[geargnasher]

And excellent multi-purpose alloy. Works great air-cooled for the .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .38 Special, .44 Special, etc. Water quenched from the mould works good for .40 and medium .44 Magnum, .357 Magnum, many rifle loads, etc. Heat treated to max hardness it will work very well where a tough, accurate, high-velocity rifle or pistol boolit is needed, such as a hunting load. You can even medium heat-treat to the 15 BHN range and get wonderful hollow point boolits, the kind that you can push fast but still control expansion and have excellent weight retention.

Gear

[MtGun44]

50-50 Lino-PB is also a really useful alloy, but a bit pricey.

Interesting that you, too, find that often softer is more accurate when so many
are hard core convinced that they have to water drop everything because
HARD boolits are the best.

Bill

[Jal5]

This is a related question.
I have much more range scrap that is fairly soft from an outdoor range, and a smaller amount of WW by comparison. Would it be to my advantage to treat the RS as soft lead and mix it 50/50 with the WW for pistol boolits- 38/357, 9mm Mak, 9mm Luger?

Joe

[BABore]

Sure can. You can also water drop it for a harder boolit. Try some both ways and see what the gun prefers.

[white eagle]

50-50 Lino-PB is also a really useful alloy, but a bit pricey.

Interesting that you, too, find that often softer is more accurate when so many
are hard core convinced that they have to water drop everything because
HARD boolits are the best.

Bill

I am seeing that as well Bill
for a hunting boolit I and concerned more about terminal performance than
leading because leading becomes a non issue in hunting
target shooting and general range work is different

[Tom Herman]

Clyde,

I'm glad that the 50/50 mixture works well in your pistols. That's all that I use in my revolvers, and I don't have any problems. Accuracy is fine, leading nonexistent to minimal depending on the gun/caliber.
I make my own version of bullet lube which is a dead ringer for SPG (2 parts paraffin wax, 2 parts sheep tallow, 1 part beeswax).
Mine are water dropped, but I don't do any other hardening after that. It's more of a convenience as I usually cast with several moulds at the same time.
I think that we are all still learning. That just part of life!
Happy shootin'!

-Tom

[thx997303]

I am seeing that as well Bill
for a hunting boolit I and concerned more about terminal performance than
leading because leading becomes a non issue in hunting
target shooting and general range work is different

Personally, I don't accept leading in any of my loads.

That said, I have run 50/50 ww/pure air cooled in excess of 1800 fps without a trace of leading.

IMO, leading is never acceptable.

[fredj338]

It's pretty much all I run in my various 45acp or 38sp loads. The pressure level is very low. I can get sim accuracy using ww, but why use them up for 45acp when range scrap or 50/50 alloy works just as well.

[Von Gruff]

Personally, I don't accept leading in any of my loads.

That said, I have run 50/50 ww/pure air cooled in excess of 1800 fps without a trace of leading.

IMO, leading is never acceptable.

I have AC 50/50 running up there as well without any leading. Sure works for me.

Von Gruff.

[Dutch4122]

Don't be affraid to take 50% wheelweights / 50% pure lead over 2,000 fps when water dropped from the mold. Mine come out to a BHN of 22. If your boolit fits right and the lube is up to the task 50/50 will do the job. Just use a slow for cartridge powder in rifles (so as to not overstress the alloy before the boolit leaves the barrel) with longer barrels; such as the milsurps with 29 inch barrels. Shorter barrels are more forgiving here so you can go to faster burning rifle powders in carbine barrels with burn rates considered normal with jacketed bullets.

Hope this helps,

[Ole]

My 50/50 water dropped has gone 1700-1800 fps in my .450 Marlin without a speck of leading.

I use it whenever I can to stretch my WW supply.

I figure we'll always be able to get roof flashing/other soft lead. WW's: Not so much.

[*Paladin*]

My 50/50 water dropped has gone 1700-1800 fps in my .450 Marlin without a speck of leading.

I use it whenever I can to stretch my WW supply.

I figure we'll always be able to get roof flashing/other soft lead. WW's: Not so much.

I agree. When I first started collecting lead, I figured WW's would be the bulk of my supply. Well, I now have a few hundred pounds more pure than WW alloy. So, I'm casting 50/50 primarily. Plus, it shoots very well in my .45's.

[Bret4207]

It does my tired old heart good (picture Aunt Bea here) to see people discovering the myth of HARDCAST!!! is just that, a myth.

[MtGun44]

Bret,

I have no idea what you actually look like, but Aunt Bea is definitely NOT what I had
in mind! :-)

But we do agree. I am forever amazed that I can get the same accy with .44 mag with
8 BHN Keith 250 as with a WD WWt, no leading in either one. Yet people keep telling me
that it can't happen and stuff like "I WD everything because it is easy and better."
????????

OK, whatever you say.

Bill

[stubert]

I have never water droped anything. I load for 44 mag & spec. 35 rem, 45-70 lever and reduced loads in a 458Lott. No leading

[btroj]

I tend to shoot much softer alloy than before. This meaning, to me, lower Sb in the alloy. I do water drop everything but only because it is just what I prefer to do. I keep a container next to me and drop the bullets into it. Heck, I even water drop pure lead for mizzleloaders.
The extra hardness I get from water dropping is not real important to me. It is a matter of habit.
I used to be a disciple of the harder os better crowd. I have been saved and now am guilty of going too soft at times. Heck, I use almost straight range scrap a lot for pistol bullets. And yes, they too are water dropped.

[frontloader]

are you "no leading" guys using gas checks? that is my quest also. not there yet, but Im working on it.,,,someday........frontloader

[thx997303]

I currently don't use gas checks in any of my guns.

The only reason I heat treat my boolits for 9mm and 380 is, these semi autos love to beat up the boolit on the feed ramp.

[Bret4207]

Bret,

I have no idea what you actually look like, but Aunt Bea is definitely NOT what I had
in mind! :-)



Hmm, well let's qualify that as an Aunt Bea type look of slight hurt and a bit of righteous indignation overshadowed by a warm feeling of pride in the boys.

Me? Picture Homer Simpson with a moosetash. :bigsmyl2:

[MtGun44]

Feed ramp damage is the most sensible reason that I have heard for wanting harder
alloy in semiautos, and Mike V. says that is at least part of why he uses lino for semiautos.
Not that lino is bad, but wow I can't afford to spend my limited lino on any old semiauto
loads.

As to gas checks, there is no real need for GCs in pistols. Good boolit design, PROPER
FIT and good lube, plus judicial choice of powders will eliminate leading in the overwhelming
majority of pistols. This includes up to max velocity of .44 Mag and .357 mag. I do not
own a .454 Cassull (SP??) or .460 S&W mag or .500 Mag and maybe for them or the other
super magnums at more like rifle pressures, a GC may be needed. IME, for the "normal"
magnums air cooled WWts or even softer alloys work just fine, permitting me to shoot a
touch over 1" with multiple guns and calibers at 25 yds for 5 shots and a touch over 2"
at 50 yds. I use a scope and rest for the 50 yds stuff, but my std ammo testing position
is sitting with a backrest and wrists between my knees, open sights. I actually wonder if
some of them wouldn't go better than 1" but my eyes aren't quite what they used to be
and that is about my limit anymore with any pistol.

Bret -
OK, got exactly what look you mean on Aunt Bea's face. Did you ever post in the "Your
Ugly Mug thread?" Getting so I like your style and find we agree on a lot of things, just
curious what the guy on the other end of the wire actually looks like. Me? Look to the
left.

Bill

[pls1911]

For 30-30 and 45-70, I've gone to roughly 80-20 pure lead and WW ( mixtures vary) mixed in 200 pound lots.
I get away with this because I heat treat everything at 450 degrees with an ice water quench, which provides me 20-26 Brynell harness but without the brittleness of lino type.
Of course the product can be annealed a bit to about any hardness level you like.

[btroj]

are you "no leading" guys using gas checks? that is my quest also. not there yet, but Im working on it.,,,someday........frontloader

I don't use checks in 90 percent of my handgun loads. Also no check on a 420 gr 45-70 bullet I have pushed to 1700 fps with minimal leading.
Good fit, good lube, appropriate powder equals no leading with softer bullets. I know some like hard for everything but I have gotten away from that.

The only rule in shooting cast is that there are no rules. Find what your gun likes and give it that. That is a sure fire way to happiness.

[mpmarty]

All I cast is air cooled wheel weights. 308 rifle loads get a check 45/70 loads don't. No leading in anything I shoot including 45acp, 10mm, 30/284, 308, 358 Win. and of course 45/70. I don't have and have never had any roof flashing or other "soft" lead. It isn't used in this part of the country. Roofers use aluminum and galvanized steel for flashing.

[Bret4207]

Bret -
OK, got exactly what look you mean on Aunt Bea's face. Did you ever post in the "Your
Ugly Mug thread?" Getting so I like your style and find we agree on a lot of things, just
curious what the guy on the other end of the wire actually looks like. Me? Look to the
left.

Bill

Well Bill, that's one hecka set of chompers you got there. Who's the guy with the gun?

:groner:


Naw, I haven't muh mugshot up yet. Someday.