Wheel weights or range lead for ML bullet?I

[barnabus]

I have both wheel weight and range lead handy and want to order a mold for my .54 ML.which would be better to use as a deer hunting bullet alloy?

[mooman76]

Range lead could be softer or harder than WWs depending on what bullets are shot there. I'd go with the softer of the two alloys but either would work for RBs. You need soft lead for conicals especially Minies. I prefer a soft near pure alloy for deer myself but some like a harder alloy like WWs for better penetration.

[bubba.50]

whichever one you can get the best deal tradin' it for soft lead would be the best. the bullets will come out oversize & harder than a weddin' p***r if ya cast it in a muzzleloader mould.

now, if ya wanta try the paper-patchin' thing ya might make some progress with it.

[barnabus]

Ok. U think I'd be best trading for soft lead because it would be too hard to load?


whichever one you can get the best deal tradin' it for soft lead would be the best. the bullets will come out oversize & harder than a weddin' p***r if ya cast it in a muzzleloader mould.

now, if ya wanta try the paper-patchin' thing ya might make some progress with it.

[richhodg66]

I don't know this from experience, but have been told you need very soft even for patched ball as the patch won't grip the ball properly if it's harder.

I do know that conicals like my Lyman plains bullet require dead soft to work well.

[RogerDat]

Every report I have heard says dead soft, plain lead is the right material for ML bullets be they ball or mini.
If you have the WW and Range lead you can probably trade it easily for soft. Stick on wheel weight are soft lead.

[reivertom]

People have use hardened lead in MLs before, but it is tricky to get the right patch and ball size combo because normally the ball "takes" the shape of the patch combined with the patch when loaded and more so when fired. With a hard lead ball there is no "give" and not much fire forming into bore. Also you can get more penetration and not as much energy transferred to the animal by the ball expanding at ML speeds. You normally only see hardened balls used for ML hunting thick skinned, dangerous game with very large bored ML rifles. It isn't really worth the trouble even if it is free. Now with BP cartridge guns it is a different thing altogether.

[waksupi]

I have used ww's for round ball for over forty years. They work
fine, and will give deeper penetration.

[Chill Wills]

Shooting the hard alloy might be OK - I am not too sure.:roll:

About 1975, having cast some 54cal RB's of WW early on in my ML experience for my first rifle, I learned just starting those hard round balls in the barrel muzzle and loading them home was so hard I only shot a few and gave up.

I tracked down some soft Pb scrap and cast RB's with that. What a difference! Life was good again!

[triggerhappy243]

I can say from personal experience that using WW for maxi-balls, plan on using a framing hammer to get the bullet down to the powder.

[shoot-n-lead]

I can say from personal experience that using WW for maxi-balls, plan on using a framing hammer to get the bullet down to the powder.

I like that...:drinks:

No quick reloads....[smilie=b:

[rfd]

it's a matter of compromise. if you've been casting and patching with pure lead, and she loads well and shoots consistently accurately, you will probably need to adjust the patch thickness and or ball diameter when harder lead is used. but w/w or harder alloy will surely "work" if patched ... the question is how well it will "work" for ya. if you've already got a good thing going on with pure lead, why mess around - sell/trade the hard alloy for pure lead.

[Sasquatch-1]

If you are dealing with raw range scrap and want a softer lead sort out the soft point and hollow point jacketed bullets. These are usually swaged and SHOULD be a softer lead.

[longbow]

Maxi balls (and other solid boolits) and Minies are designed to expand under pressure to fill the bore and harder alloys do not do well at expanding to fill the bore. Minies with thin skirts may still expand to grip rifling but skirts may also crack. Depends how hard the lead is.

I know I tried many years ago and got mediocre results with hard Minies. Soft (maybe not pure but soft) lead worked best for me.

I guess a hard Maxi over a wad might work but as stated above would be difficult to get started and down the bore especially if there was fouling.

If you go the pre-engraving route and wipe between shots a groove diameter hard boolit may work. I have not tried that one but have used pre-engraved groove diameter soft lead bullets which I found difficult to seat if there was any fouling at all.

Longbow

[shdwlkr]

If you are shooting rb with patching material, the lead you use like ww, range lead is ok. Just need to pay attention to the patching material thickness.
If you are going to make sabots, maxi balls etc then you want soft lead as there is nothing between the lead and the rifling in your muzzle loader.
Used whatever lead I could find years ago when I shot muzzle loaders a lot, mine were TC's and YMMV depending on who made your muzzle loader.
The type of lead is sort of like you can't use 3F in calibers larger than .45. I shot it in all of mine I had all the way up to and including .58 all went bang. You just need to reduce the volume down by 10-15% when you go larger than .45 caliber when using 3F powder. Yes I got these ideas from shooting with some very good muzzle loaders back in the day when I was shooting. Now I just read and see what today's muzzle loaders are doing. Might one day be back in muzzle loading but not now.

[OverMax]

I'll take it your speaking of a side lock rifle. _In which case soft lead is preferred.
Range lead/scrap has who knows what alloy/s mixed in. Maybe one that may not even be related to lead is a possibility.

[Hellgate]

Pure lead will shrink more as it solidifies and thus cast to a smaller diameter. Hard alloys will throw larger diameter balls & bullets. The dead soft projectiles are more forgiving of patch thickness and "bump up" more to fill the riflings when fired.

[Good Cheer]

You won't know about how your mold and your bore diameter and your alloy will work until you try it out. But you'll know pretty quick whether or not you need something else.
I'd pick out bullets that look like they resisted deformation, mix up a big batch of range lead and give her a try.

[gnoahhh]

I just use dead soft lead for all ML projectiles, including round balls. Why? Because I have a lot of it and it works.

Another thing to take into account is ML projectiles aren't moving as fast, generally speaking, as high power rifle bullets are upon impact- and the softer the lead, the more expansion you'll get.

[Hanshi]

While I prefer soft lead for my rifles, I've found WW ball loads the same even though a little harder and larger. And I use .022" - .024" patches. The patch grabs the rifling, not the ball; though on really tight loads the ball will bear rifling grooves, too. I've also used range lead but mix it with a few WWs. In a smoothbore I PREFER WW ball. It throws about .006" larger and is more accurate for non-patched loads, which I use.