PCing Soft Lead Boolits

[Dinny]

Anyone have any experience with ASBBDTing soft lead boolits? I would like to see if they will expand/deform and make a better hunting bullet at subsonic velocities.

Thanks, Dinny

[bangerjim]

You can PC ANY lead. The physical action of the lead inside will still be the same when it hits the target.

The PC will let you shoot softer ammo. I usually cast 9-12. But have never shot PC'd pure lead.

banger-j

[prs]

I use a few 98PB/2SN for 45ACP hollow point 200g SWC at "standard" velocity with ASBBTL. No problems with leading and the lead boolit is soft. But no testing in wet paper or gelatin. I would not wish to be on the wrong end of one.

prs

[Dinny]

So assuming pure lead is 5 bhn, do you suspect the baking process would increase the bhn? If so, how much? Also, what bhn is considered suitable for a lead bullet flying around 900-1000fps to expand and hold together? That would obviously depend on the bullet type so I'm thinking LFPs.

Thanks, Dinny

[bangerjim]

Just baking lead (irregardless of the alloy) does NOT harden it!!!!!!

Water dropping higher Sb alloys is what hardens it. Soft will NOT harden by water dropping.

I would never shoot anything under 9 + PC in any of my guns......never....ever. But that is just me and my guns. And my total dislike for mining lead out of barrels!

[prs]

NO! It takes antimony and a trace of arsenic to take advantage of quench hardening after the heating. Heating alone with slow air cool would soften Pb/Sn/Sb alloy, at least at first. A well balanced alloy of about 14 should get you pretty close to what you are asking; say take Lyman #2 of 90/5/5 and cut it with equal part by weight of pure Pb. The same hardness can be achieved several ways, but keeping the tin and antimony in balance seems to give an excellent combination of malleability, hardness, and toughness; plus such blends are typically very cast worthy in regard to detail or fill-out.

prs

[prs]

Ah ha! Banger out draw the Rooster; this time.

Banager, my relatively sparse experiment of shooting the soft PC boolits did not lead the barrels. I did not bench rest shoot it, so I know nothing about real accuracy with them.

prs

[Yodogsandman]

If you were to use SOWW's, they would quench harden a little.They're considered soft (6 BHN) but, contain small amounts of antimony and trace amounts of arsenic. From what I understand, they'll HT from 9-12 BHN.

[bangerjim]

But they will not get that hard dropping them at only 400F......the baking temp we all follow for PC. And most of the COWW's I have ever ran across were soft lead only.

Water dropping is a voodoo kind of procedure that is fairly unpredictable. I stick to mixing my alloys for the Bhn I need based upon alloy content and air cooled hardness. Very repeatable and very reliable. Add PC and who cares about really hard!

banger-j

[snuffy]

My first attempt at ASBBDT'd lead was with harbour freight red and pure lead. The first pic on the left is 2 .452 boolits. The one on the left is a mihec 200 RNFPHP, the other in the TL 230 lee (the 230 was 14 BHN). They both shot okay from my SA 1911. Expansion was as good as lubed, one thing I was testing for. Would powder coating retard expansion?

Second pic is with 2 9mm round nose 124 G. from my full size CZ-75b. I also coated and loaded some of the TCTL 124's. The RN shot terrible, twice the group size as the 14 BHN lubed version. The TCTL, I couldn't even hit the standard size computer paper @ 25 yards! I actually had to step up to 25 feet to hit it. Looking at the 2 9mm boolits, I could see a lot of slumping of the soft lead upon firing. The rifling was not well defined either. BUT they did not lead the barrel! Simple fact is the 9mm is too high a pressure for pure lead.

Expansion was in "the bullet test tube" media, a soft wax.

[Yodogsandman]

If I want to heat treat Pc'd boolits, I heat them in the convection oven for at least an hour at 450*F, PC the boolits and return to the oven, and reset the oven for 400*F. After baking for 10 minutes at 400*F, I remove and quickly quench in ice cold water (with ice).

The voodoo do make em harder! Heat treating antimonial lead alloy is proven science! AND it's backed up by the results of thousands of experienced casters.

http://www.lasc.us/HeatTreat.htm

[coffeeguy]

Snuffy,

Thanks for the detailed pics and information! I've had soft lead boolits strip out every time I've tried them...But never tried them yet in .45 ACP. With lead alloy COWW's getting harder and harder to find, this makes me want to experiment with softer boolits for my .45, saving the WW's for higher velocity/pressure. Again, very much appreciated!

[Beagle333]

I haven't PC'd any pure yet, but I am using PC'd range scrap for my .45 LC and .38 loads without any problems. (My pure goes to my 1860's.)