mixed lead and WW's

[Harpman]

I figured to soften up my wheel weights, I would mix it roughly 60 pure lead and 40 WW..it came out as hard as the wheel weights....scratching my head now...they leaded bad just like ww's in my sharps, so I melted down pure soft lead, from some huge 1 foot wide by 10 foot long strips I got at the scrap yard, come out to 5-BHN but shoots btter than anything I ever shot in BPCR.....The other mixes and ww's were BHN of around 10.4-13.00.........I heard tale 10.4 was really good, but always leaded for me..go figure

[Nrut]

Hi Harpman
If you want to try 9 BHN just put your ACWW boolits in a oven set at around 450* for 1 hour...then just turn the oven off, leaving the boolits to cool slowly...:-D
I don't shoot BP so I can't say how they would work...

[pumpguy]

Harpman, How tight do your boolits fit in your barrel?

[Harpman]

its a pedersoli..459.5 and the bullet is a PJ 45001 tapered bands to 459.0...but I have been using lyman and saeco before this PJ, and they were 459, 460.....I tried 457,458,459,460....as long as it was 10.4 bhn or higher I got leading no matter what size.

[Harpman]

just did a little test, took that pure lead, about 30 pounds, and tossed in some sprue cut offs and wrinkled ww bullets, then figured with my luck thats too much, so I took some out, ended up with maybe a good handfull of cutoffs and 5 bullets in that 30 pounds, and after an hour it tested at 7.5 BHN....up from the 5 -bhn, sure didnt take much to raise that bhn up....I'm gonna get me a toaster oven for the wheel weights , putting them in our brand new oven would freak out the ole lady..If I can get those down to that 9-bhn like mentioned , that would be alot better than buying lead.

[leftiye]

Harp, Just a guess, but I'd go maybe .461" dia. with that .459(5) bore then the harder boolits won't gas cut and lead.

[Harpman]

I realized that afterwards,.But since I got 180 bucks in this mould and its shooting sub moa with softer lead, I'll probly keep using softer, or the oven treated weights...the unsized lyman postell did pretty good, but it was 461 on one side and rotate measure and its 458...now this new PJ is perfect 459 with the bands gradually getting larger, fits up snug in the rifling...excellent bullet.

[montana_charlie]

I got 180 bucks in this mould and its shooting sub moa with softer lead, I'll probly keep using softer, or the oven treated weights...
Was that mould made for you...or did you buy it from the original owner?

The reason I ask...

If the mould was made for your rifle, I am surprised it does not cast a bullet as big as your groove measurement...in the alloy you asked for it to be sized for.

If you specified WW (or whatever) when you ordered it, and Jones knew your chamber and barrel dimensions, then it sounds like you need to take advantage of his guarantee...if it casts undersized bullets. He has a good reputation for standing behind his work.

If the mould throws .460 bullets in the specified alloy, then your problem lies elsewhere. Possibly your barrel got a coating of lead while shooting other bullets (or those undersized ones you mentioned), and you haven't got it all out yet.
If you never get it truly clean, it will always lead up.

Then...if the mould was cut for somebody else, all bets are off on using a guarantee. You might contact Jones to see if he can ream it out a bit...
CM

[Harpman]

The mould is perfect, ...He made it for me, and I did not tell him I would use wheel weights..He knows way more than me about BPCR and I figured I would leave all decisions up to him and follow his lead..I just told him what rifle and it was for long range, .as long as I use lead that bumps up its fine, And from what I understand using cast we want them to bump up if possible... But I can not get wheel weights to bump no matter how much BP I put behind the bullet..same thing in my muzzle loaders, soon as I went to softer lead groups shrank dramaticlly......in my smokeless rifles ww's do great, I just cant get black powder to bump them up at all..atleast not at 10.4bhn and higher.....I definately have no problems with this mould or rifle......I just need to keep using my 1-30 1-40 equivalent, which is normal anyway...I think my ww;s are like 1-10 hardness.

[ANeat]

You may be able to check around and find another caster near you that would trade you some soft lead for your harder alloy. I know of one guy in Georgia, not sure how near to you he is??

[cohutt]

You may be able to check around and find another caster near you that would trade you some soft lead for your harder alloy. I know of one guy in Georgia, not sure how near to you he is??


he's about 3 hours north on hwy 27

and he's found a ww connection that has the potential to stock the alloy cellar with some nice reserves without trading away all my pure ingots. :mrgreen:

I took inventory yesterday and was pleasantly surprised, so i'll be happy to work a deal with harpman if he's short the pure lead he needs.

this thread has motivated me to try and move down the bnh scale some on 45-70 under 1400fps loads

[Harpman]

Thanks guys.....I can get the soft stuff if I need it from the scrap yard..30 cents a pound...If I catch them the day before they ship it out, which is once a week...I can get 500 pounds if I want...first though, I'm gonna try the oven process.......just incase anyone could use the info...I tried the 10.4 to about 13.5 from 1100-1350 FPS...And I could not get it to bump up right. I tried 3-F, 2-F.goex, cartridge, express....then when I got the soft lead it just so happen my swiss 1.5 come in.so I use it now and use my left over BP for my other rifles and pistols...The chamber and my cases are a perfect match, so it wasnt cuz the cases are too short, I tried resizing, no sizing, crimps, no crimps...etc..extra lube, less lube...etc...more lube helped but still had some leading...now with the softer lead and the swiss, I just drop tube 75 grains, put on a .060 poly wad and set the bullet on it, no compression. or crimping..and it does a ragged hole at 100 yrds, no leading at all..I am through with tests !!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-D

[ANeat]

this thread has motivated me to try and move down the bnh scale some on 45-70 under 1400fps loads


Yes I think bullet fit is one big key to no leading. In a big bore gun with a nice long bullet there is less chance of stripping the rifling using a softer alloy. A lot of lead/tin bullets went down the pipe of those things with great results.

[cohutt]

Yes I think bullet fit is one big key to no leading. In a big bore gun with a nice long bullet there is less chance of stripping the rifling using a softer alloy. A lot of lead/tin bullets went down the pipe of those things with great results.
Yes i got motivated....
I cast some 405s tonight out of 50/50 with a tiny bit of tin added. was having some mold closing/fin problems then the casts were good for about 60 bullets then the mohawk fins started appearing again.
Will size/lube/load a few for a weekend trial.
sidebar
My casting set up it outside in an open single slip garage cut under my house. My main a/c tower is right there blowing hot air and it is also in the area that bakes from the afternoon sun. a lead pot and a single eye burner for mold heating and making sprue pudding combined with a muggy 98 degree afternoon and heavy welding gloves.
in other words i was about a dozen bullets away from heat stroke. (mental note: cast in the winter, load and shoot in the summer)