Why the desire for pure lead?

[hemiallen]

From reading several threads I see many people who act like they struck a gold mine when they find pure lead, or stick-on wheelweights, while in my opinion wheelweights are 10x more valuable to me.

Are you pure lead lovers using these to make muzzleloader bullets, or am I missing some alloying secret that ww's are not the correct alloy for centerfire cartridges?

I have a lifetime of pure lead for myself and my grandkids (lol) but would use it for a muzzleloader... what other use of this pure lead am I missing out on?

Thanks
Allen

[Heavy lead]

I cut in 50/50 with wheel weights, soon ww's will no longer be, so I make them stretch as far as I can. Also I cut Lino with pure as well, and use pure in shotgun slugs with a little tin, also I use pure in wadcutters with a little tin in 38 special.

[kawalekm]

Two groups of bullet makers love pure lead. The muzzleloaders, as you said, and also the jacketed bullet swaggers. There are people here that have actually broken more than one press trying to use wheelweight lead for jacketed cores.

[sqlbullet]

It also seems to me that you can always alloy up for more hardness, but going back down in hardness is a problem. It isn't one I deal with since I cast only for 10mm Auto and might start trying some 30 cal bullets in my 300 Win Mag. Hard is good for me.

But, if I had BP guns or swaging equipment, I would want to keep my lead pure until I new what hardness I needed.

How hard is too hard to swage? The current source I have for scrap lead comes in a BHN of about 10.

[Willbird]

I shot up a LOT of Dad's linotype in muzzle loaders, some of his WW too :-)

Seemed to work just fine.

Bill

[calaloo]

I shoot the schuetzen game and use an alloy of 25:1 or 30:1 lead:tin. Many of the best shooters would not dream of putting any antimony down their barrels so I don't either. Pure lead is very valuable to me. I would like to trade wheel weight alloy and other mixed allot for pure lead.

Bill

[BABore]

50/50 WW-Pb shoots better than WW's in every gun I own. It also is more useful on critters due to its expansion properties, whether aircooled (10 bhn) or heat treated (22 bhn). Give it a try and you will no longer wonder.

[Tom Herman]

50/50 WW-Pb shoots better than WW's in every gun I own. It also is more useful on critters due to its expansion properties, whether aircooled (10 bhn) or heat treated (22 bhn). Give it a try and you will no longer wonder.

With 2% Tin for flowability.
I agree that Wheel weights are much more desireable than pure lead, as it will soon be harder to get.
That being said, I still need lead to alloy with the WW... As they say around here, "it's all good!"

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Green Frog]

If you don't know what alloy you are starting with, you won't know what you end up with, and won't be able to duplicate it either. I start all of my casting with pure lead and pure tin, or alloys of known percentages. Call me an old fuddy duddy or worse, but I don't enjoy time spent hunched over a hot lead pot enough to want to do it with unknown alloy leading to unpredictable results. I just cast to shoot, I don't shoot up my bullets just so I can cast some more. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! YMMV

Froggie

[Boerrancher]

I am another Fan of 50/50 pure and WW. I have found that I can reach 2500 fps with that alloy, and love the expansion I get with it. I use 50/50 in all my handguns, and rifles to include my 300 win mag. One of these days I will get brave and push it faster, but I am not ready to clean lead out of my bore, when I do get ready I will bump up the loads some. I have been sneaking up a bit at a time for years, until I hit 2500 fps so for now that is why pure lead is important to me.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[Gunslinger]

...also I use pure in wadcutters with a little tin in 38 special.


Wow... never heard of one who shot pure like that :-D. What kind of bullet dó you use? And at what velocity?

[Heavy lead]

Wow... never heard of one who shot pure like that :-D. What kind of bullet dó you use? And at what velocity?

Lyman 358495 only bottom luber groove filled about 800 fps, in a K 38 Smith, no problem. Always used to shoot factory hbwc''s that were pure with no ill effect either. I'm different than most, I would rather err on the side of too soft than too hard. Especially with light loads.

[KCSO]

I can make lead harder pretty easy... I can't make it softer.

[Willbird]

I'd say with the deep love some have for pure lead I should be trading it for WW 2:1 WW/PB :-).

Bill

[Hip's Ax]

Black powder cartridge rifle shooters use pure lead and tin. I shoot 30:1 in my 45/70 CPA and 20:1 in my 45/90 CPA for BPCR target matches. No antimony here. Not certain what the MV's are, yet anyway. They do get to the targets at 600 and 1000 yards though. :-D

[Doc Highwall]

Pure lead with tin at a 20:1 has a BHN of 10, about the same as wheel weights, but it is more ductile then wheel weights because of the antimony in the wheel weights making it more desirable for Black Powder and light loads.

[hemiallen]

Thank you for all of the replies.

Allen

[Slow Elk 45/70]

:mrgreen: Lots of good info , I think the most important thing at this time is to get all of whatever you can find...and use the good information from others to mix and match to our own uses..Thanks, S.L.:castmine:

[Buckshot]

.................Lead at either extreme eg: pure/very soft and linotype is a LOT harder to find then all the other stuff in the middle.

................Buckshot

[fredj338]

I like it mixed 20-1 or 25-1 w/ tin for cast HP. They expand more reliably than HP cast from WW.

[montana_charlie]

If you have pure lead to start with, you can make a copy of any bullet alloy known to man...and be assured it will duplicate the original.
It's like a counterfeiter finding a load of actual money-making paper. He can turn it into a copy of any bill that suits his fancy.

CM

[Hang Fire]

From reading several threads I see many people who act like they struck a gold mine when they find pure lead, or stick-on wheelweights, while in my opinion wheelweights are 10x more valuable to me.

Are you pure lead lovers using these to make muzzleloader bullets, or am I missing some alloying secret that ww's are not the correct alloy for centerfire cartridges?

I have a lifetime of pure lead for myself and my grandkids (lol) but would use it for a muzzleloader... what other use of this pure lead am I missing out on?

Thanks
Allen

For me. in one word, "muzzleloader."

[hydraulic]

I cast up a bunch of stick on wheelweights today and was surprised to find several floating after they were melted. Steel, I suppose. Hope they aren't zinc.

[Boerrancher]

I have a good friend who shoots 20 to 1, pure and tin out of his 30-30 at 1700 fps. He has pushed it to 1900 fps with no problems other than the group opened up a bit. He likes one hole groups out of his single shots and figures loosing a couple hundred feet per second is not going to hurt him while hunting. There are lots of applications where pure is better to have than an alloy. Pure with tin in a 20 or 30 to 1 ratio is a whitetail killer for sure. Lots of expansion and fairly tough for a bit of velocity.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe