straight WW or blended

[**oneshot**]

Getting started casting for my 41mag blackhawk. Until now I've only cast boolits for my muzzleloader with pure lead. I have both both wheel weight and hardened lead ignots. I am not sure(waiting for answer) how much tin is in the hardened lead.

My debate is whether to blend, looking at 4lb ww to 1lb Hardened lead, or just use straight ww's.

Most of my shooting with the cast bullets will be target and steel plates. Not sure if the hardened lead will help keep the bullets together on the steel. I ask this since hearing from others that ww's tend to break apart rather than knock the steel over.

Thank you in advance
Tom

[felix]

Tom, when shooting steel plates for knockdown scores you want the softest lead you can shoot accurately enough to hit the required number of plates to win a match. So, start with WW and then add pipe lead only if required for more stick time on the plates. Instead, add some hardened lead for more accuracy at the same velocity. ... felix

[jhalcott]

what Felix said! You do not need HARD bullets for steel plates with a revolver or auto pistol. NOT knowing the hardness of the ingots it is a guess how much of each to use. You MIGHT be better off using 4#ww to 4# pure lead.

[leftiye]

Ditto on the above. Your wheelweights will be plenty hard for mag pistol velocities. For competition you'll vant to shoot as well as possible and an accuracy load that doesn't kick like He!! would help (if it knocks down the rams & etc.). So, it's still hard enough for the velocities. Maybe a little tin (2% or thereabouts) to help with making pretty boolits (pretty is better, more uniform, better fillout). Tin toughens the alloy so it doesn't shatter sa easily tooo. As also said everywhere on this board, boolit fit in your gun is the key to accuracy.

[Boomer Mikey]

Oneshot,

Everything you wanted to know about shooting cast bullets at steel silhouettes.

http://www.lasc.us/RangingShotFreedo...CastBullet.htm
http://www.lasc.us/RangingShotFreedo...tBulletPT2.htm

lasc.us is a great resource with many articles about cast bullet shooting.

I personally use a 50/50 ww/lino mix but I don't water quench my silhouette bullets. Bullets run BHN 12-13 with no "blowups" on steel since switching from pure linotype and accuracy is fine in my guns. If you need harder bullets for accuracy, water quench 50/50 to get BHN 27-30 hardness after 2 weeks. I size bullets to a snug fit in chamber throats and size bullets nose first in a Saeco or RCBS sizer then lube with the same die or a 0.001" larger die in a separate process. Sizing nose first improved group sizes @ 200 meters. Use carefully selected/weighed/sorted bullets for turkeys and rams.

If you're shooting short range steel, softer is better with less chance of splash back and ricochets. BHN 8-12 works great (ww+pure lead) a hardness tester is essential to evaluate your alloys.

Another option is : http://www.bearcreeksupply.com/

I use their BHN 11-12 bullets for cowboy silhouette and CAS work. I hand select bullets for silhouettes and use the rest for CAS. I can't justify making my own at their prices and they ship free with any order over $70.00. The swc is very accurate.


Enjoy,

Boomer