Hello! I recently acquired a Chassepot rifle and have questions on what boolits to use. Most articles I've found say 45 cal boolits in pure lead are find to use. I've slugged the bore and it measures .4550 and .4365. I would like to use my lee 457-405-F mold. The problem is I don't know what the alloy make up I'm using and afraid it might be too hard for such an over sized boolit. The guy I got the lead from said it is "Plumbers lead" and I have about 240 lbs of the stuff. I can barely scratch it with my fingernail and it is finicky on poring temp. Has to be between 700 and 725 in order to get a good pour. Boolits drop at 405-408 grains consistently out of the 457-405-F mold.
Dose anyone have experience with hard alloys and large bore interference? I'm concerned that with too hard of an alloy I would damage the rifle or worse have a pipe bomb a few inches in front of my face. Recommendations or suggestions will be much appreciated!
Thanks!
Chuck