Noob Question

[MrXrings]

I have a TC Renegade in .50 and picked up the Lee combo mold for the REAL bullet and RB. I have fired store bought PRB through it already but wanted to cast my own. Question is if the round ball is patched and never touches the bore is there any reason the balls need to be made of soft lead? I can understand why the REAL bullets need to be. Reason I ask is my source of lead is fired bullets from a regular gun range and I'm sure the lead isn't dead soft. Thanks.

[swamp]

Round ball do not have to be pure.

[Tatume]

Hi X,

Soft lead is not necessary for patched round ball shooting. It upsets well on thin-skinned game animals, but when penetration is needed hardened balls work very well. Some of the old timers went to considerable lengths to harden their patched balls. I use wheelweight metal frequently, though I prefer soft lead for deer hunting.

Take care, Tom

[725]

MrXrings,
Round balls with good patches work just fine, soft lead or alloy, for paper punching. Live game deserve pure lead for terminal performance. REALs need purer lead. Soft lead RB's do obturate and force the rifling to have a more pronounced effect and resultant accuracy. Your range lead should be just fine.

[Boerrancher]

I shoot an alloy of 50% WW and 50% pure lead. It is my alloy for all of my rifles and hand guns, especially my hunting guns, and I also use it for my PRB's. My 50/50 blend should be close to what your range lead is, if it is an even mix of cast, swedged, and J-word cores, and I can assure you that it is plenty soft enough to mash out on game. Even in my little 32cal, they leave a hole the size of the ball going in and the size of a quarter to a half dollar when you smack a squirrel with them. I wouldn't want to contemplate the mess I would have if I was shooting pure lead out of my squirrel rifle. I also know in my 50 cals that my 50/50 alloy in a PRB will nearly tear a coyote in half at 40 yards, with 70 grs of powder behind it, if you hit them high in the back/ribs. I will find out how it works this fall on a deer out of one of my 50 cals. I do know it is deadly out of my 45LC on whitetail, so I don't see why a 50 cal PRB would be any less deadly.

Best wishes,

Joe

[MrXrings]

Thanks for the replies, thought it made sense.