Lead Selection Help For A Noob?

[G11354]

I am hoping to start casting bullets for my Smith and Wesson 500 Magnum. Could anyone assist me in understanding what level of hardness I should be looking for and what lead mixture I should lean towards?

[rancher1913]

you need to give a few more specifics like how many feet per second you want to push it and what you want the boolit for, hunting--plinking--etc.

[Cowboy_Dan]

Wheel weights will probably do anything you want to for pistol use. Probably don't even need to try for any expansion if you use it for hunting.

[montanamike]

Wheel weights will do anything you want. I use them for fluff loads with trailboss all the way to full house h-110 loads with no leading. None!. You don't even need to water drop. It's a very easy round to shoot cast in.

[G11354]

Was hoping to work up some semi hot loads for plinking, specifically looking at a 440gr gas checked bullet. Apologize for the lack of details, new at casting.

[gwpercle]

With a gas checked boolit , wheel weight alloy will be fine. Hardness is not the most important thing, the fit , sized diameter of boolit to the revolver's throat/bore diameter is way more important, along with a good boolit lubricant or powder coating.
For years I cast everything of WW's , a little tin helps mould fill out, but not an absolute requirement. Used in both handgun and rifle.
My free unlimited supply retired from the tire business and now I mix my WW's 50-50 with pure scrap lead....the softer alloy works just as good, handgun and rifle , and may even be better .

Welcome to the forum from Louisiana !
Gary

[lightman]

Yup, Welcome Aboard! I'm with the others, wheel weights will work fine. If you have problems with mold fillout you can add a little tin. Maybe 1/2 to 1% should do it.

[white eagle]

suggestions for using ww is rite on the money
after you get into the habit a bit more you will
start to experiment more and see that all things are not equal
when it comes to hardness,velocity and gun