38-55 & 50-70

[Bradley]

Any reason for not using pure lead in single shot rifles in these two cartridges?

[captaint]

Bradley - IF you're shooting black powder, the popular mixes seem to be 20-1, Pb& Sn and 30-1 of same. IF you're shooting smokeless, you will probably want some harder lead in the mix. Mike

[singleshot]

I'd venture to say it really depends on what you want to do with them. Are we talking hunting some game critter? How big? How tough? Is silhouette the game? Plinking at cans? Max velocity? Best accuracy? The answer depends on the use, but wouldn't necessarily disagree with captaint, either.

[country gent]

I normally use 20-1 in my 45-70 with paper patched bullets a buddy is using it with lyman 450 grn spitzer. I have heard of puure lead with paper patched ( no grooves to fill out) Im going to try 40-1 here shortly. The addition of a little tin seems to help the bullets fill out much better. I have also noted as hardness of the lead goes up so does the importance of bullet fit in the barrel. At Black powder velocities with a good lube ( and enough of it) I think pure lead could be made to work. I have reccovered swaged bullets from the dirt backstop at the club that were almost perfect mushrooms and still weighed 497 grns, started out around 503grns. These 45 cal bullets were mushroomed out to just shy of an 1" across the widest points. Go slow and watch for leading catch it before it gets heavy. Barrel condition and chamber will affect this also.

[mroliver77]

I have shot pure lead in wimp loads in a couple different rounds. My 38-55 I shoot 30-1 with 4895 kinda stiff loads.
I think a bit of tin not only hardens but toughens the lead.
J

[milkman]

Bradley
I have no experience with a 50-70 but my 45-70 likes a 500g GC boolit of pure lead moving at about 1050 fps. Accurate and deadly but not for long ranges, I try to keep it at or below 100 yd.

[williamwaco]

You CAN do it.
It will not hurt anything and should work OK IF the bullet fits perfectly.

BUT:

You will get better results and much easier casting if you add a little tin.