Noobie Questions

[Steve s.]

Okay so I'm a noobie to this boolit casting thing and I've only been muzzleloading for a few months.

I'm wanting to cast round balls for my .50's. I bought some Speer swaged .490 balls and they load fine with a patch. They take some effort to get started about the same as 370 grain Maxi-balls or 320 gr REAL. I picked up a Lee melting pot and mold at the gunshow the other day along with a few pounds of wheel weights I got from the tire shop. My first attempt at casting I water dropped the balls. Apparently that really hardened them. My father in law swears he always used wheel weights for casting RB with no problems. They won't start in the bore. I remelted them and air cooled them this time, they still won't start with a patch. I measured them at .495.

I'm disappointed to learn free scrap lead is pretty much non existent in California. Granted I need to get some pure lead but do I need to buy another .490 mold? It's turning out to be more cost effective to just buy balls cheap at gun shows.

[HARRYMPOPE]

pure lead or near as possible is what you need to use.Wheel weight is too hard and the bullet will come out to large compared to lead as you found out.Remember you can always adjust your patch thickness related to your ball size.My TC rifles like a pretty tight combo and i use short starter and a small mallet to get them to start.The smaller bullet and or smaller patch shoots fine but the other way shoots a bit better.Probably not noticeable an accuracy gain for field shooting though.

george

[Lead Fred]

Yup, what he said.

Even if you heat it to 800, and spoon the stuff off the top, you will be close to pure lead.

You can still import it via the mail. No one has to know

[Tatume]

In my 62 and 66 caliber rifles I shoot patched wheel weight balls as well as patched soft lead balls. They both load and shoot just fine. Hardened lead balls used to be loaded for dangereous game in Africa before the advent of more modern projectiles.

[Sasquatch-1]

I also cast wheel weight balls for my Traditions Hawkin in 54. Never had a problem. I have to start the ball with the little nub seater and then use the longer one before using my ram rod. This also has a well lubed patch.

[Nobade]

You can order pure lead from Rotometals, and they have free shipping if you buy $100 worth.

That said, I also shoot wheelweight balls in some of my rifles. Especially the 12 bore Pedersoli double. Tricks include polishing and radiusing the crown to allow the patch to swage the ball down without getting cut, and use a small plastic mallet to get the ball started. And don't water drop them, as you learned that makes them way too hard. You can play around with patch thickness also, perhaps find a bit thinner patch. And do lube it well, as has been mentioned already. I like Jojoba oil - it lubes the patch and plays well with BP fouling.

[Boerrancher]

I shoot a .495 round balls in all of my 50 cals. I just use a thinner patch. My balls are cast from a 50/50 alloy of pure and wheel weights. I didn't want to empty my pot one day and decided to try my regular boolit alloy, it worked so well I just stuck with it. I know lots of folks that shoot WW round balls, now for conicals you have to have pure lead.

Best wishes,

Joe

[mooman76]

What are you using for a patch? Maybe like some said you can go thinner. Your mould should not be dropping .495 even with WWs unless of coarse it is a 495 mould. Make sure your mould is closing good when casting. Another mould should do it for you if the rest of this doesn't work. It's a fairly common mould and a used one should be picked up easy and cheap.

[HARRYMPOPE]

In my 62 and 66 caliber rifles I shoot patched wheel weight balls as well as patched soft lead balls. They both load and shoot just fine. Hardened lead balls used to be loaded for dangereous game in Africa before the advent of more modern projectiles.

smooth bore?

I also find hard balls shoot well in smoothie bores.

[HARRYMPOPE]

I also cast wheel weight balls for my Traditions Hawkin in 54. Never had a problem. I have to start the ball with the little nub seater and then use the longer one before using my ram rod. This also has a well lubed patch.

I'll give it a try again i guess.

George

[Fly]

Well I go to the Metal Reclaimer & buy ole roofing sheet lead & lead pluming pipe.
Pure lead.
Fly

[Steve s.]

So a .490 mold can drop a .495 ball with too hard a lead alloy? That seems odd after cooling, seems like it would get smaller not larger. I tried tapping one in with a mallet to get it started now it's good and stuck 1/2" in. Too tight for a regular screw type ball puller, won't budge. I'm probably going to have to carefully drill it out today.

[mooman76]

Pure lead shrinks more that the harder metals and the mould is designed with pure lead in mind. They will drop larger with harder metals but usually not .005 larger. Your mould could be a little larger or maybe something is keeping from closing all the way. Just a hair and that will put you a few thousands bigger. Hold your mould up to light to see if you can see light through the halves and do it while casting also. What are you using for patch? I never use a mallet to get them in. Nothing against it if you know it will go but once it' started you can be where you are now and worse with a fouled barrel.

[stronics]

Whatever mold you have it is a .495, also a common size. If you could find some thinner patching material or a bigger hammer.
David

[Fly]

Once again use PURE LEAD.
Fly

[FLINTNFIRE]

pure lead is the right thing to use , but I have used ww , on maxiballs and round ,different guns will allow different things , patch size counts , but I would get pure lead and right thickness of patching lubed , and I agree I wont start anything with a mallet, coning the bore helps with starting ,as I do not use any short starters , but thats my preference