Hello, new to cast boolits and casting. I have 50lbs of plain lead needing hardening

[THE_ANTIDOTE]

New member here, I have seen the forums before but just recently joined as I started casting. I have an RCBS Pro Melt II and a bunch of MP molds I ordered a few days ago with a handful of Lyman molds I bought of eBay. I finally put the equipment to use on this past Sunday and everything went well for my very first time. Unfortunately, all I have on hand is 50 pounds of plain lead of which 10-12 lbs I casted into these beautiful bullets just to practice, but I was told I can not shoot them out of my magnum revolvers/carbines or my 45-70/45-90's due to the soft lead.

[Winger Ed.]

Welcome.

The deal with soft Lead as opposed to a harder alloy is keeping the speed down.
Look at the factory swaged Lead bullets.... they're fine until get get much above 11-1200 fps.

The harder alloys will get ya on up into the teens-2000-ish.
In your learning curve- I'd encourage checking into hard alloy blocks to mix in with the pure, and gas checks.

[Recycled bullet]

If you 1)melt your 50 lb of soft lead into a big pot and then 2)mix in 10 lb of roto metals super hard and 3 lb of pure tin then you will have an absolutely satisfactory lead alloy for the purpose of Magnum revolver velocity exploration.

Pour yourself a bunch of ingots and bask in the glory of lyman number two.

I powder coat plain base flat nose MP358429 bullets made out of an eight cavity aluminum mold using a very similar bullet alloy sized 357 and shoot them through a Ruger Blackhawk 357 mag using Winchester 296 with good consistent accuracy and get no leading and plenty of power for the steel plate.

[BLAHUT]

New member here, I have seen the forums before but just recently joined as I started casting. I have an RCBS Pro Melt II and a bunch of MP molds I ordered a few days ago with a handful of Lyman molds I bought of eBay. I finally put the equipment to use on this past Sunday and everything went well for my very first time. Unfortunately, all I have on hand is 50 pounds of plain lead of which 10-12 lbs I casted into these beautiful bullets just to practice, but I was told I can not shoot them out of my magnum revolvers/carbines or my 45-70/45-90's due to the soft lead.

I shoot only pure lead out of my 45/70s, 45/60, my 45 long colt, .38s or .357 magnum's, I keep my FPS at 1200 FPS or a tad less. These bullets shoot very accurately for me out to 1000yds+. Unfortunate someone would tell you something like you can't ??????

[Txcowboy52]

Welcome to the forum ! Good luck and good casting!

[Misery-Whip]

Plain lead can be harder than you think. Drop a few ingots on concrete, if it makes a thud sound, it is almost pure and usable for low velocity, but if it rings in any way it is hard enough for your uses. Especially if you powdercoat.

Smoke4320 here sells powders that require very little tooling and investment to get going. And will let you push softer alloys much faster.

[Land Owner]

Some threads and specific posts to read:

SAFETY First ==> https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...=1#post5583059

Lead Alloy Calulators ==> https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...oy-calculators

Favorite Alloy Compositions ==> https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ultimate-alloy

Fit is King ==> https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...=1#post5502615

Pencil Testing ==> https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...=1#post5451716

BHN Averaging ==> https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...=1#post5488662


There are a lot of Rabbit Holes when casting alloys of lead. Everything is a Learning Curve. There is a significant library of information on the CastBoolits Forums. Read, read, and read some more - especially the Stickies. There are NO DUMB QUESTIONS. Have fun.

[LenH]

Welcome to the madness, and don't over think things and have fun.

[45workhorse]

+++Everything above
Your barrels will tell you what they like. If you have a round that you can shoot accurately and doesn't lead, who care about speed.
Don't get me wrong, if you are shooting long range, or that is where you accuracy comes in then go for it.
I like big slow moving boolits! (No Critter ever thought after it was shot, dang that boolit was only going 1,200 fps!)
The American Bison was almost shoot into extinction, with big slow moving boolits. (Kinda like me big and slow moving)
If it works for you then it ain't stupid!

[poppy42]

If there just range fodder and If you getting accuracy and no leading. Don’t worry about how soft your lead is. Hardness is just a number. Keep your velocity down.