ANOTHER WW Question

[bbs70]

I was wondering how many here cast straight ww.
And how many mix ww with soft lead and in what porpotion.
I would like to know the pros and cons of each.

I have been casting with straight wheel weights for my New Vaquero.
I use lla to lube the boolits.
I use Lyman's 454190 mold.
I keep the velocity below 800 fps.
My shooting is just plain old paper target shooting, trying to get the boolits to hit what I'm aiming at.

WW are getting harder to find, but I have several hundred lbs of soft lead.
So to stretch my supply of ww, I cast some boolits with a mix of 50/50 ww and soft.
I've read here that some of you do the same.
I shot some of the ww/soft yesterday ( 300 rounds) to see if there would be any difference down range on paper.
It seemed that the 50/50 mix shot lower than the straight ww.
Probably because of the added soft stuff.

Accuracy didn't seem to be too bad considering my 61 year old eyes.
I used the same charge of 7.0 g of Universal as I do with the straight ww.

Out of curiosity I weighed some of the 50/50 boolits, they weighed just over 255 g.
I've never weighed my straight ww boolits so I don't know what they weigh.
Guess I'm going to have to and see.

[Ole]

You could also toss a little tin (3-5%) in your dead soft and save the ww lead for higher velocities.

[bbs70]

I drop a little tin ( probably 1% or less) in my melt then I water drop the slugs.
I shoot into 6 inch thick blocks of wet hardwood I pick up at the local lumber mill.
This way I can recover some of my slugs and also see what condition the slug are in after being fired into something.
They all seem to hold together without any deformativies noticed.
All I see is the rifling on them and where one slug had hit another and deformed.

Really the only thing I have noticed that was different from the ww slugs was that the 50/50 slugs hit lower.

I'm going to cast some straight ww boolits this afternoon and weigh them to see if there is a difference between them and the 50/50 mix.

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
If I am going to be casting for a caliber .30 rifle or other HIGHER pressure round I use straight wheel weight for taget work. Same for revolver... Higher pressure straight WW and maybe even water dropped.
For hunting I want Garenteed expansion so I start with near pure lead in low pressure to medium pressure loading. I test that boolit to when it starts leading . If I desire more FPS (More pressure) I try 75% WW... If that does not do it then pure WW. I also fire my "test" boolit into a soft type medium like a water jug... If it does not expand at about 50 yard FPS it does not go hunting. If I cannot get what I need from a Caliber 30 rifle I go to .375.. then .45... If a soft lead .45 cannot do the job then I just located the last dinosour and it is gonna get Slamed with a 12 guage Soft Round Ball at 1600 FPS. Millions of Buffs wers slain with near Pure lead boolits.
The problem with NON - Expanding Lead boolits is the same problem with non-expanding "J thangs"... they just Zip right through and do not leave enough internal damage to help TOUGH Durable outside living critters expire quickly. Hardly no one would hunt deer with FMJ Caliber .30 ammo... why do it with Lead non-expanding boolits ????? And if you ever see a deer hit in the shoulder with a HARD cast boolit that shatters on that tough bone you will hope that hunter never does it again. The results are not what I tend to call humane.
Tht is what I do... when I am in the Danville, Illinois area making noise Monday Morning at the Danville Rifle - Pistol Club range.
God Bless ya

[OLPDon]

Missionary;
I agree with you, I been deer hunting for more yrs. then I care to remember. I have used a .54 RB w/ 85 grs. Pyro RS never crono it but have recoverd RB it completley inverts. Expantion is the key word here soft as possible and still keep the Boolit were your sights are, espl. with deer (not a tuff hide or alot of mussel) Leading of a barrel will not happen in less then 3 shot with almost dead soft lead. Heck when hunting if we need to worry about leading in a hunting Boolit, the leading is not the problem. The most any deer has run off for me after a .54 RB is about 40 yrs. Deer was shot front between shoulders Ball came out rear ham, with passing though heart. He ran like greased lightning and piled up in about 40yrds. I have noticed the same results with arrow heart shot hits. They run like lightning, not so with Liver Lung shots they will run off but not at the speed of light.
But I digress.
Casting and shooting IMOHO falls into 3 basic cat. Paper, Plinking, and Hunting.

1. Paper (personal) >>>>What ever gets you there: ie groups with least cost factor.
1a. Paper (compatition)>>>>>$$$$ have less importance..

2. Plinking >>>>what ever doesn't lead the barrel can shot all day long and still leave you with beer money after.
3. Hunting>>>>>> What makes for the most clean and quick knock down $$$$ does not and should be factored in.
( The World Best Boolit will not make up for poor shot placement)

Of course M O H O
Don

[Tom Herman]

With 2% tin for mold fillout.
I tried 2:1 lead to ww once, but it left the most gawdawful leading in my Redhawk's barrel (.45 LC @ 850 FPS), so I went back to my standard alloy.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Kraschenbirn]

As long as the topic's open, here's a chart I blundered across a couple weeks ago. From my experience...and a little experimentation...it appears to be fairly accurate. Maybe someone might want to post it as a sticky, huh?

Bill

[EMC45]

I use straight Clip On WWs. For everything.

[Tom4570]

Good evening, I've been shooting clip on ww for over 20 yrs, and from my findings your 50/50 mix will most likely be a little lighter and a little larger in as cast diameter when comparied to straight ww. Your 50/50 mix hot dropped in water with a good lube should be ok be sure it isn't leaving lead in the barrel. Give it a try and have fun. Tom

[runfiverun]

winchester used 40-1 pb/sn for years in most everything
revolver cartridge related.
pure swaged has been used forever in bullseye shooting.
good lube and proper sizing will take you a long ways.