Wheel weight and soft lead

[Lethemgo]

So I've been noticing more guys using 50/50 mix of ww and soft. What's the point just to get a softer boolit of course but what advantage. I have a harder time finding soft lead then ww but good to do it if the situation covers a problem. I generally use my soft for my muzzleloader and 50/70 rolling block and trapdoor loads and 45/70 trapdoor sometimes. Picking up 8 buckets of ww today so will be good to cast up a bunch of those. May even sell some because i know how hard it is to find here in California and the cash would help on medical expenses and hopefully a brother caster. Just wonder the advantages of the 50/50 mix.

[Wheelguns 1961]

I use 50/50 for cast hollow points. The bullets expand rather than fragment.

[jsizemore]

Boolits obturate at lower powder charge/pressure.

[toallmy]

I use 50/50 a lot , I like it in my handguns and long gun light loads . It seems to be more malleable ' squishy ' then straight coww's . The strait ww's in my area seam to fragment when hitting steel + I can usually find plumbers lead at my local scrap yard .
I cast some boolits with other alloys but 50/50 works for probably 90 percent or more of my casting .

[Rich/WIS]

I use range lead in my 45ACP which is probably close to the 50/50 mix and find that they all fragment when hitting steel. Sort of shot my plan to recover them whole in the ***. Only way to get some lead back was to screen the sand around the target and remelt the bits and pieces.

[243winxb]

Soft bullets slump and skip. Poor accuracy.

[lightman]

Some casters mix it for a softer alloy which works ok in some handguns. Others do it to stretch their wheel weight supply.

[upnorthwis]

I'm stretching my dwindling WW supply. Used to have hundreds of pounds of WW and every tire shop I went to would give me several buckets of them for free. Those days are gone forever. Since I've still got hundreds of pounds of pure, I just add WW to get a desired hardness.

[kevin c]

If you are finding lead wheel weights in quantity in California in this day and age you are most fortunate.

[gnostic]

It's my understanding, the softest bullet that doesn't lead the barrel, will be the most accurate. Also, soft lead is cheaper than lino or wheel weights. I water drop everything so hardness isn't an issue. As long as my bullets are the right size, I get zero leading...

[Walks]

If you're in CA, where did you find lead WW ?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

the "advantage" is only an advantage if applied with the correct load.

I like straight COWW or 94-3-3 for high pressure/magnum pistol loads and 50-50 (or equivalent BHN range scrap alloy) for low pressure pistol loads.

[Conditor22]

Soft lead is much more abundant the COWW. Roofers use it and tear it of all the time

[Lethemgo]

Thanks guys it's always good to learn different lead mixes and I for one don't know much about it. Soft lead for my muzzleloaders and coww for most others except for some 20-1 in a rolling block and trapdoor. Found wheel weights in California in my buddies back yard. He's getting out of here (lucky guy) and didn't want to move some buckets of it he's had for years when he was a mechanic.

[kevin c]

OK, that explains it. And if your buddy's stash is a few years old, you likely will have a very good ratio of lead to zinc/steel ww.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I`ve been using a 50/50 +tin alloy since the early `90`s, maybe earlier. I use it in everything I shoot from a 9mm up thru my .416 Taylor and .45/70.Robert