Howdy y'all! Although this is my first post on this forum, I've been browsing info from you all for years and have found it very helpful in all of my casting adventures . So, I owe a hearty thank you to all of you!
Recently I began reloading for my vintage (1905) Winchester 92 chambered in 32 WCF (32-20). To get started I first browsed the interwebz to see what those with more experience with this round had to say about it. There is, of course, quite a wealth of information for this cartridge out there. That being said, I thought I would add my .02 cents, as well as, see what thoughts some of you had on casting and loading for this caliber.
Being an avid black powder shooter, I have quite a bit of Stick-On wheel weights lying around that provide the soft lead that I need to keep the smoke poles fed. Pure lead, however, is too soft for slinging with smokeless powder out of a rifle like the '92. So, I did a bit of digging to see what I could do to harden it up a bit and make it work for casting out of the Lyman 311316 GC mold I picked up specifically for this project. I have none of the "clip on" variety of wheel weights lying around (and we are all in county mandated self-quarantine due to COVID-19) so obtaining some from the local tire shop was out of the question at the moment. I did, however, have some 50/50 solder lying around that I could add in to make myself a 20:1 (pure lead/tin) alloy. I figured I had nowhere else to be so why not give it a try! I have to say the results were very surprising to me!
Here is the load I settled on: (Disclaimer: THIS IS MY LOAD! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! PLEASE CONSULT A PROPER RELOADING MANUAL FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!)
Lyman 311316 GC bullet sized to .314 for my rifle. Pan lubed with a paraffin, beeswax, sheep tallow mix (I can't remember the wax and tallow ratios at the moment as I made it a few years ago.) Gas checked with .017 copper .30 cal checks.
Starline Brass
Small pistol primers
4.0 gn of Unique
C.O.L 1.560
Roll Crimped in a separate step with the LEE Bullet Seating Die
Now, my rifle has a slightly pitted bore but fairly strong rifling overall. At 70 yds this load grouped within 1" to 1.5"
I do not have a chronograph, so I have no idea what kind of velocity I am getting in the end. I fired 20 back-to-back rounds and experienced ZERO signs of leading! No signs of lead showed up on the patches with a thorough cleaning. I must say that I am very pleased with this load!
Has anyone else tried a similar 20:1 alloy with this caliber out of a rifle? After reading countless articles online and many different forum posts, I had assumed that I was going to experience major leading pushing such a soft alloy out of a rifle. Perhaps the gas check is the key? I know proper sizing plays a large roll...