Which Pb and WW combination makes the best 30-caliber boolits????

[WestGaHunter]

I have some muffin pan ingots of lead (from old plumbing) and some from wheel weights.
I'm going to be casting (first time, BTW) Ranch Dog TLC .311 165RF with a Hornaday gas check.
I've read a little about alloys and have smelted at lower temps to avoid mixing in zinc. Ingot were fairly clean and poured into fairly consistent size.
I wondered if a combination of WW and Pb would be better than either. I also could use the lead for casting .44 for use in saboted .50 cal muzzle loader boolits.
I'd like somewhat hardened .30 cal boolits for .30-30 or low-velocity .30-06 for deer and hog hunting. I typically load at lower pressures for accuracy.

Any help in adding to my understanding of casting would be gratefully appreciated.

[PoisonIvyMagnet]

I have nearly the same NOE mold, just not tumble lube style. I have cast and shot both straight WW and 50/50 blend of WW and lead. Both have worked fine. Mine are gas checked and powder coated, then sized 0.311 for my Marlin 336. I would pick the 50/50 blend for deer to get some expansion. I'd worry the straight WW loads would pass right through (although the flat points are going to hit pretty hard even without expansion).

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[Hardcast416taylor]

I`ll second the motion for the 50/50 alloy , have used it for many years in both rifle and pistol boolets.Robert

[quilbilly]

I use 60% pure soft then add chilled, hard birdshot, followed by a little tin sometimes. That mix shoots well in both the 308 and 30/30 plus a bunch of other rifle plus pistol calibers at velocities up to 2200. While wheel weight boolits have shot well for me at times, I have never quite trusted wheel weight alloys so save that and other unknown alloys for fishing jigs and fishing sinkers.

[Tenbender]

50/50 in all hunting loads in my 30/30, 7X30, 357 Max, 45 Colt and 45/70. Actually more accurate than straight wheel weights.

[Reddirt62]

Pardon the intrusion but 50/50 up to what velocity in a 308?

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[runfiverun]

'up to' depends on too much for the alloy alone to dictate that.
up to 2700 is easy.
up to 2200 and hitting the target is another story.

I worry more about absolute fitment and manipulate my alloys towards that end rather than an final bhn.
a 50-50 alloy is real useful and can be heat treated to a good hardness.
it however is useless if it's to small for the throat or the land engagement.

[44man]

I tried 75-25, WW and pure. Not knowing affects on deer since I never used the rifle but accuracy was top rate. I water dropped them.

[Reddirt62]

This is good stuff right here....the blood and bones of it!! Thanks!!

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[runfiverun]

Jim that's more like what I use.
over speeding a large meplated boolit into flesh and bone will give you a very dead animal.
you'll have to look for some of the parts and pieces but it will be dead.
I remember hitting a grouse too far down when he suddenly stood upright [as I squeezed the trigger] on the tree branch.
I was using a large flat meplat at about 2300 fps in my 30-30 and the distance was like 15 feet.
there are probably feathers still floating down into town from that ridge top.
that made me re-think a few things about that combinations suitability for deer hunting.

[WestGaHunter]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll go with 50/50 in small batches until I get a better sense of it. I do plan to water quench for hardness.
I still have cold feet about going from ingots to boolits, but I gotta go sometime.
Thanks again for helping.
WGaHunter