The lead in jacketed bullets is soft, medium or hard?

[MikeSSS]

I've been picking up mostly commercial hard cast pistol bullets every time I go out to shoot my rifles. (More than replacing the rifle boolit lead, on good days.)

But, a few jacketed bullets find their way into the pot. There are lots of jacketed bullets laying around out there too.

If the lead in the jacketed bullets is soft, close to pure lead, I could use it for my cap and ball pistols and for hunting balls for my patched ball muzzle loaders.

If the "jacket lead" is hard like hard-cast bullet lead then I can use it for the rifles.

I sure hate to see it go to waste.

So, tell me about "jacket lead".

Thanks.

[fourarmed]

The short answer is "yes!"

I have toured the Sierra plant several times, and I know that they use different lead hardnesses for different bullets. They have to balance probable pressure with expected expansion. So a bullet likely to be used in a high-pressure application would presumably be harder than one for low pressure use. Within those parameters, expansion would then be controlled by jacket design.

[tom barthel]

Something you may consider is testing hardness per pot. You can add hard alloy as needed. I usually try for BN 14 at least. I have a few pounds od monotype metal and a small ammount of linotype alloy. It's rare for me to cast anything in the BN 20 range.
All said, free lead is free lead. Enjoy.

[Dale53]

MikeSSS;
I am sure you know this but I am putting a "Caution" in regarding melting jacketed bullets. Sometimes, they retain moisture between the jacket and lead. They look OK but can cause a "Steam Explosion" when dropped in a pot of hot lead. They have the power, if it happens, to completely empty a rather large pot, in all directions, of melted lead. Not good!

The solution is obvious. Do not drop jacketed bullets in a lead pot full of molten lead. You can fill a pot with jacketed bullets (empty pot) and slowly bring up the contents to molten temperatures. It is not a bad idea to put a loose fitting lid of sheet metal over the pot with an ingot to hold it on the pot in case of a "slow bullet" that didn't get the word:mrgreen:. I kind of "stay away" from the pot as it turns from cold to molten. This will also save you if a stray .22 gets in the pot, etc...

FWIW
Dale53

[Bent Ramrod]

MikeSSS,

I mine a range where a lot of .45 bullseye shooters used to shoot, as well as .22 shooters and shooters of various cast bullet pistol loads. I separate the .45 hardball from the .22's and those from a mixture of the cast bullets and the non-hardball jacketed pistol bullets. The hardball lead and the .22 lead, when cast into bullets, typically go 5-6 Brinnell hardness when tested on my SAECO lead tester.

I seem to recall pure lead is supposed to be 4 or so, so the cores and .22's are pretty close. The differential is enough to be noticeable when I make round balls for my muzzleloader out of them and start them down the bore.

Dale53 is right about the caution. Even with no water, the core will expand and partially liquefy under heat, squeezing out past the still unmelted portion at the base of the bullet. Like a grapefruit half when you stick a spoon in, this fine spurt of liquid lead seems to aim for the face as often as not.

[MikeSSS]

Good info.

Thanks.

Mike S

[quack1]

I regularly mine the 25yd and 50yd backstop while I am waiting for a rifle barrel to cool. I separate the cast from the jacketed and after smelting, have found the cast bullets I pick up are almost as hard as wheelweights. I'm guessing most of them are commercial cast and pretty hard. The jacketed bullets, after smelting come out to be softer, around the same hardness as my 20-1 mix.