How hard is too hard?

[jrinne0430]

I am new to casting and have been using WW for most of my modern handguns with some success and want to start casting for my muzzle loaders however, from what I heard and read, WW projectiles (solid base conical or round ball) are too hard and should not be used in a muzzleloader. Is this correct? If so, what type of lead should I use (i.e. 97-98% pure)? Thanks

[square butte]

The purest dead soft lead you can get is what works best for round ball. Wheel weight will work in a pinch but not optimum.

[jrinne0430]

Thanks. What are some of the problems I may run accross using WW solid base conical or roundball for muzzleloaders?

[ktw]

WW projectiles will shoot OK but may present some loading difficulties, particularly the conicals. You are engraving these into the lands at the muzzle by hand.

Most blackpowder projectile molds are also designed to throw the proper diameter in pure lead. Projectiles cast in WW alloy are likely to cast larger.

Lead at 5-7 bhn works better if you can find some. Lead alloy in the 8-12 bhn range is not optimal but quite a few people appear to be able to get it to work, at least in the case of patched round balls.

-ktw

[testhop]

use pure lead for b.p.
and ww for handguns and rifles handguns can be kinda soft but dead soft makes for a leaded barrel
ww are getting wwharder to come by so dont waste them
if you are having trouble getting then i am sure some one will trade with you
range lead is ok to use most of the time for conicalsand i said most time s u rund ball s alway pure lead

[Rattus58]

Wheel weights for muzzleloader conicals will present a number of problems, from not swelling into the grooves properly to loading problems. All of them will lead to accuracy problems. If you have to use a wheel weght, try to find a bullet you can "patch" with paper and cast it bore sized.

Aloha... Tom :cool:

[jrinne0430]

Thank you all for the advise. I am having some problems finding pure lead localy however; WW are given away by many tire shops around here. I may try Midway for pure lead.

[ktw]

50 rounds down range with muzzleloader is a long range session. 50 rounds with a handgun is 'just getting warmed up'. You won't need as much as you might think.

Good luck.

-ktw

[mooman76]

You will find soft lead is expensive. You could try som pluming warehouses or if you have a shop that does those stained glass windows that lead is soft too. Pure lead makes more of a difference in conacals so you could use WW's for RB's and save your pure lead for conicals or like stated you could swap some with someone on the board but shipping will eat you up there unless you can find someone local!

[waksupi]

WW's work fine for RB's. Let the flames begin!

[fatnhappy]

WW's work fine for RB's. Let the flames begin!



ditto

[jack19512]

I am using ww's for my muzzle loader bullets because I don't have any access to any pure lead either. I can't compare pure lead to ww's but can tell you what I have done.

My mold is the Lee 340 gr. hollow base. The bullet loads fine, pretty much like the sabots I have used. Here is a pic of my last three shot group. I admit that it is not the most accurate but some of that is my fault I am sure. Distance is 68 yards.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a63/jack19512/ML.jpg

[idahoron]

I have a Green Mountain barrel on my Renegade. The Barrel is a 45, and GM says it is a .458 with 1-18 twist 32" long. The bullets my gun likes the best so far are Lyman 457121PH 475 gr Whitworth bullets. They come out of the mould at .455 I made some from soft lead and I had a lot of lead in the barrel. I am sure it was because of the trashy home made lube I made. I switched to a lube much like SPG and I tried some harder lead. I started to pour my bullets out of chilled lead shot. They are a bit tougher to get down than soft lead, but not bad at all. I use a felt wad over the powder lightly lubed with Hornady ML lube. I use 90 gr of pyrodex P with a magnum #11 cap. I am getting 1390 FPS and the groups at 100 yards are 3 shots normally under 2" These bullets at 100 yards will shoot through a 6" fence post and leave a BIG hole.
I also have a Lee 405 gr Hollow base mould, it pours at .459
I had trouble with these from the start. Even soft lead were VERY VERY hard to get down. I got only so so accuracy from them. I have sizers now so I am going to try some sized at 457, and .454 and try both soft lead and the harder stuff. Ron

[hunter64]

The stick-on WW's are almost pure lead and my tests show 5-6 bhn instead of pure lead that is 5 so close enough. So what I do when I need more lead for my black powder babies is go to your local metal recyclers and ask how much for a pound of used WW's? Then ask how do I know that some of the WW's are not zinc or metal and state that you can't have any of those in your melt or it will all be ruined. Then usually the guy behind the counter will say here is the pile and pick what you want and bring it back here for weighing. Some recyclers don't give a hoot and show you to the bin of WW's and you have at her. So I carry a 5 gallon bucket and sift thru all the used WW's and only pick out the stick-on versions there are lots of them and it doesn't take long. You usually have to pay 35-40 cents a pound, expensive but way cheaper than Midway at $2.60 a pound.

When I do my regular WW rendering session I sort out the stick-ons and this is usually enough to keep the black beauties happy but once in a while I have to do the method above if I run short.