Pure lead bullets

[milcol]

I will be casting some pure lead bullets for my snider 577 and Parker Hale volunteer rifle,thinking of dropping a 150 grain tin pellet into 15 lbs lead to help with fluidity when pouring,this will not affect the outcome any will it? just want it to pour more easy.

[montana_charlie]

I will be casting some pure lead bullets for my snider 577 and Parker Hale volunteer rifle,thinking of dropping a 150 grain tin pellet into 15 lbs lead to help with fluidity when pouring,this will not affect the outcome any will it? just want it to pour more easy.
Probably not enough to have any effect at all ... good or bad.
It would take 1050 grains to equal 1% of your lead content.

CM

[Toymaker]

I understand the effect of adding tin to improve fluidity, but I've never had any problem. I cast a lot of roundball, from .400 up to .545. I also cast a lot of conical for my Rigby muzzleloader (451 caliber, 535 grains) and a few for my 45-70 (459 caliber, 500 grain). And I use pure lead, no additives, for them all. The Saeco tester gives me a BHN of 5 from batch to batch. I usually use a little harder bullet for the 45-70, around BHN 10. The molds are both base pour and nose pour. Roundball I cast at about 750°F and conical at about 850°F. I get good fill-out, crisp sharp base edges, consistent weight and diameter.

So if everything is good, don't change - Right?

[milcol]

Thanks for the input,I guess if it aint broken dont fix it applies here.

[Old Caster]

The only problem using pure lead is fill out. Hotter temperatures help and pressure pouring helps also. Just about all Bullseye shooters used Star 185 grain Hollow point 45 ACP bullets when they were available and they were pure but swaged instead of cast. They used them because they were the most accurate bullets that could be bought and had a type of tumble lube on them without grooves. There are swaged bullets now that are supposed to replace the Star and they are OK but not as good and they have a BHN of about 10 so they are pretty far from pure. I am not sure if they use the harder metal because it is easier to get or if they somehow think they are better. Some even have grease grooves.

[too many things]

that lube they used looks like a type of powdered bee wax. don't know how it was made. it will melt and when a drop hardens you can tell it is wax.
have a box of 38 wad cutters no grooves just a little depressed ring on one end. guess for front

[jsizemore]

Sometimes you get better fillout with large boolits by ladle casting. You may have already tried this.