AM I in trouble ?? are they too hard?

[wyoduster]

Been casting a pile of bullets and just got my cabintree hardness tester this week ... My lead is reading .74 on the scale which is 12.5 brindall I'm shooting Shiloh Sharps rifles.. 40-65. Are they too hard should I regroup find some pure lead and remelt everthing? HELP!!!

[Gunlaker]

Personally I'd see how they shoot first. A lot of people will say that you absolutely need soft bullets. I've had good results at times with bullets that are a lot harder than what you've posted.

Chris.

[Don McDowell]

Shoot them, then decided what to do.

[montana_charlie]

Since you are using black powder, you probably won't suffer any problem due to the hardness. Even if the bullet is a bit undersized it will still get bumped up immediately.

But, you can't get lead that hard by adding tin, so there must be something else in there ... probably antimony.
If you get a thin 'wash' of leading in your barrel, that (according to some) might come from antimony in the alloy.
Whether it would ever build up enough to affect performance, I couldn't say.

CM

[Boz330]

That sounds real close to wheel weight alloy. Shoot them and see what happens. My experience with WWs and BP has been really good groups for 10-12 rounds and then the lead starts building up and accuracy drops off, YMMV. Every rifle seems to have it's own personality. One of the guys I shoot with uses WWs and has had good luck with them. You might try sizing them about .002 oversize.

Bob

[swis1.5]

i also shoot a 40-65 400-408 badger barrel 20-1 lead tin ratio lyman 410660 bullet sized .409 spg lube ccibr2 primer 56gr swiss 1/2 60th wad no belling or crimping shoots really well thev nose of that lyman bullet mics out at 399.5 thats 1/2 th under boer dia hope this helps.

[Dan Cash]

I am shooting a .45-70 Shilo Sharps and have no problem with bullets in the .70 to .80 range on my Cabine tree. I think you are alright.

[wyoduster]

That is almost my exact load.. I'm useing a Saeco 740 405 gr. Bullet and size them .408 for my Shiloh.
i also shoot a 40-65 400-408 badger barrel 20-1 lead tin ratio lyman 410660 bullet sized .409 spg lube ccibr2 primer 56gr swiss 1/2 60th wad no belling or crimping shoots really well thev nose of that lyman bullet mics out at 399.5 thats 1/2 th under boer dia hope this helps.

[John Boy]

My lead is reading .74 on the scale which is 12.5 brindall I'm shooting Shiloh Sharps rifles.. 40-65. Are they too hard should I regroup find some pure lead and remelt everthing? Your alloy will be fine. I have shot excellent groups using Lyman 457132 using Bhn 15.3 with 1/2% tin. Also straight WW bullets with a Bhn 13.5

[Chicken Thief]

Lets start by parting beard and snot!
BP and dead soft lead goes together because the lead will obturate and fill the bore despite being undersize.
If your boolit is big enough then by all means cast as hard as you wish!
I have a 10.15x61R Jarman that is made for PP (shallow rifling just like for j-words) and i cast @ 13BHN for it. It shoots great without knowing because i keep boolits on the large side.