Wheel Weights & Leading

[HPT]

A couple weeks ago I shot some wheel weight bullets in my Rossi 44 mag then noticed leading. Up to that time I was using 20:1 with no leading (about 300 rounds thru gun). Since then, I stopped using the wheelweights but the leading has continued.

Same thing happened a few years back with my Sharps rifle - a few hundred rounds of 20:1 without leading, then leading the first time I tried wheelweigts and ever since

I don't have a borescope but am thinking in both cases maybe there is still some leftover leading from that first time that I am not removing and it causes the leading that has happened ever since.

I wonder if it could be in the chamber as that area would be hard to get to get the lead out especially on the levergun

Anyone experience something similar?

[kliff]

lately, WW seem to equal leading for me too, even under 1000fps! Hate to do it, but as the quality of, and price of WW escalates, I may just start buying my lead boolits from available sources... Missouri Bullet Co., for one. Shot some of theirs last week...NO LEADING, a good price, and 5 day turn around....

[Gunnut 45/454]

HPT
Are you water quenching or air cooling your bullets? Could be your just pushing them beyond the hardness. Plain based or checked? Could also be your lube is not up to the task. I've always water quenched my bullets and unless I push them to fast -never had a lick of leading. Properly sized you can push lead pretty fast. I'm running my Lee 170gr at 1998 fps out of my Marlin and 2200 fps out of my Rem 7400 '06.

[northmn]

Sontrary to what some think WW are not really all that hard. A BNchart has shown them at about 9 where 20-1 is about 10. Also 20-1 might be filling out the mold a little better. WW only contains a small amount of tin, like .05% and works better is a little is added. If you would add a little more tin it will also harden up. Leading is often a result of a too small bullet not fitting the bore correctly which permits gas cutting. If shooting as cast water drop them and they get very hard. I also find the Lee liquid lube to alleviate leading a great deal as it covers the whole bullet.

DP

[HPT]

In the .44 magnum, the WW bullets were .001 over groove dia and were heated then water quenced so I think are pretty hard. The fastest they have been shot is 1410 fps. Two lubes have been tried a homemade lube & SPG. No leading prior to WW with either lube, leading since with either lube

In the .45-70 Sharps, the WW bullets were .001 over groove dia and air cooled. The fastest they had been shot is 1150 fps. Three lubes have been tried - a homemade lube, Sagebrush lube & SPG. No leading prior to WW with either lube, leading since with any of the 3 lubes previously mentioned

I think I must be leaving some lead behind. Tight fitting patch isn't tight in the chamber which is where I'm thinking maybe there might be some left? Maybe I'll "go to town" trying to get any lead left in the Sharps chamber out? At least I can clean that one from the back.

To get lead out I heard that turpentine is best? Also heard about putting strands of choreboy on a brush? Maybe use both or is there some better way?

[runfiverun]

make sure it is copper and not copper coated steel.
i'd say they were plenty hard too, hard enough for 2400+ fps.

[Lloyd Smale]

they may have been hard enough but a gas checked bullet still helps clean lead out and for the most part my rifles get gas checked bullets. could be that your bore is a bit rough and could benifit from lapping too. Also spg is a black powder lube and not designed for the pressures smokeless powders run at. In a black powder gun its a mix thats mostly there to loosen up fouling. I dont know what your homemade lube is but one of the first things id try is a good lube like lars corduba or lbt blue. both of those lubes are about ideal for rifle velocitys with smokeless powders. Also you didnt really state what the leading looked like. WWs have antimony in them and sometimes antimony will leave a gray wash in the bore. If all it was was a grey wash and it didnt get worse you have nothing to worry about. Its only when leading builds up to the point that it effects accuracy do i worry about a cure. Linotype which is real him in antimony will give that gray wash quite often in guns. Its a bugger to remove. even tougher to remove then actually leading. Ive never seen where it hurt anything left as is though. Lots of ways to remove leading. You can buy something like shooters choise lead remover and let it sit overnight. Sometimes penetrating oil will do the same job. Wrapping some chore boy strands around a tight fitting brush does the job as do lewis lead removers. For the chamber you can wrap a bigger brush with chore boy and even spin it with a drill.

[Bret4207]

4/0 steel wool on a bore brush will get your leading out. As for your problem, consider that each alloy will drop a slightly different size and will exit the sizer a slightly different size. You may want to check that. Then you get into your dynamic fit- 20-1 will react differently to your powder charge than WW, quenched or not. How you go about addressing these issues is the tricky part. Myself, I'd go +.001 than you're using now if I could to start.

[pdawg_shooter]

OR...you could paper patch. No leading, velocity and accuracy equal to, and in some cases better than, jacketed.

[KirkD]

The softer the alloy, the smaller the diameter bullet your mould will produce once it has had a week or so to shrink. I assume that the .001 oversize measurement was made after the bullets had a week or two to shrink. If that is the case, then there have been some good suggestions made here that I would check into. In general, I use pure wheel weights and have found loads that give no leading in a wide variety of old calibers, provided I've got bullet diameter right. The only exception was a 25-20 that had a very rough 1" in front of the chamber. I had to use gas checks to stop the leading.

[popper]

Chore-boy (copper only, test with a magnet) and kroil oil. many strokes and DO reverse the brush in the bore. Lead in the chamber is a different problem. Pb in the throat comes out like Pb in the bbl. Try a good lube, like P-P PB.

[HPT]

Thanks All for the advice.

I will try to get the lead out with chore-boy and maybe look for some smokeless lube to see if that takes care of it

pdawg_shooter,

I really like the Paper patch idea. I have a .38-55 levergun that I bought the Lyman .38-55 250 gr mold for but bullets only came out at .377 which was too small for my .379 groove barrel resulting in sideways bullets at 50 yds. Maybe I will try to paperpatch it? I could size it a little, then patch it to .382 or patch first, then size down. What do you recommend? Is .382 too big?

[KirkD]

I never use smokeless lube, not even in my 30-30 loads. I use SPG for everything.

[Jon K]

HPT,

How did you slug your barrel?
Muzzle end first? Beach end? Did you push slug thru?
If you have a faulty reading(small), then upon firing, it is too small to engage the rifling, so it strips the lead. Antimonial alloy(aka WW) does not bump up like lead/tin alloy.

What you might also need is .002 over groove diameter, or the rifling in your Rossi may need lapping, to smooth the rough edges.

[pdawg_shooter]

Thanks All for the advice.

I will try to get the lead out with chore-boy and maybe look for some smokeless lube to see if that takes care of it

pdawg_shooter,

I really like the Paper patch idea. I have a .38-55 levergun that I bought the Lyman .38-55 250 gr mold for but bullets only came out at .377 which was too small for my .379 groove barrel resulting in sideways bullets at 50 yds. Maybe I will try to paperpatch it? I could size it a little, then patch it to .382 or patch first, then size down. What do you recommend? Is .382 too big?

Size BEFORE you patch. Slug your barrel and size to .001/.0015 over bore diameter. Patch with 16# paper, let dry, lube and run through a die that will leave it at groove diameter + .001/.003 or as large as will fit the throat. Load like jacketed of the same weight . There are a few other tricks of the trade but this will get you started.