Trail Boss smokeless versus Triple Seven. Combustion temp? All I have is pure lead.

[Tallbald]

OK folks I'll get right to it and ask because I can't find the information I need using the search feature or FAQ section.
I'm new to casting but learning quickly with help and lots of research here. Thanks. Right now I do not have anything but pure lead from roof flashing made into ingots. Yes I'm trying to locally find wheel weights.. or pewter...or salvaged berm slugs...but I don't have any. I just don't. I did some first time casting yesterday with so-so results making pure lead 125 grain Lee .358 diameter RNFP for my .38 Special and .357 LIGHT loads. I plan to keep the loads in the 700 to 900 feet per second range, just like my Ruger Old Army's shoot with Triple Seven, that marvelous BP substitute I can get locally.
As I said, I do shoot Ruger Old Army BP revolvers using Triple Seven and pure lead round ball There's no leading in the guns after lots of use. I have half a pound of Trail Boss powder and am waiting on more. Trail Boss is, I understand, ( *I have since been told that pressures are different) supposed to mimic the pressures and performance of the old BP loads. I hope somebody here can tell me if Trail Boss burns at about the same temperature as Triple Seven or black powder. And tell me if I'm just wasting my time casting what I have to make light Trail Boss loads. If TB burns so hot that it melts the slugs in my barrels, I'll quit right now on the .358 slugs until I find the alloying materials I need. I don't need any more round balls. Thanks as always. Don. Bowling Green, KY

[rsrocket1]

Don't worry about Trail Boss melting the bases off your bullets. The combustion time is so quick there is no time for that. Bullets sized to fit the barrel is the most important thing. Once you have the proper fit, you will not get leading at your velocities with any moderately fast powder and TB is a really fast powder. I would not bother with T7 in a modern gun, even one based on a BP cartridge unless you feel like you need gobs of smoke and fouling to deal with (along with a rusted gun if you don't clean it that day). As for your pure lead boolits, you could add some solder to increase the tin content if fillout is a problem (looks like it might be from your initial casting post, but it also might be a contamination issue, I'll get to it in that thread). Otherwise, pure lead in a 38 was what everyone was shooting when the guns were invented so there is nothing wrong with that.

[Tallbald]

Excellent. I really want to practice casting technique today. The yard is mowed, laundry done, dishwasher empty and we are heading out to church. A handsome day it's going to be 64 degrees and bright sunshine. I'll recast the wrinkle nose slugs from yesterday and work to do better. I have a new Lee Classic Cast Turret press I want to set up too, and a pile of cleaned, sized and primed .38 Special mixed brass waiting for me to load. Gratitude expressed folks! Don.

[Boogieman]

Trailboss does not mimic black powder pressures. It will reproduce BP ballistics but pressures can run much higer. It should be loaded using the manfacture's data.

[Echo]

If push comes to shove, and it seems to be that way, you could buy some lead-free solder @ Ace Hdw and use it to improve the mold fillout. I would use between 2 & 3 % Sn to sweeten your pure Pb. Right, it will cost close to $20, but that will sweeten about 30 to 50 pounds of Pb, so the cost per boolit is minimal, less than a cent per, and the results are wonderful...

[Scharfschuetze]

If push comes to shove, and it seems to be that way, you could buy some lead-free solder @ Ace Hdw and use it to improve the mold fillout. I would use between 2 & 3 % Sn to sweeten your pure Pb. Right, it will cost close to $20, but that will sweeten about 30 to 50 pounds of Pb, so the cost per boolit is minimal, less than a cent per, and the results are wonderful...

The tin will help reduce the surface tension of the lead and help fill out those boolits so that they are wrinkle free. Lots of places to get tin, but given it's Sunday and you want to cast today, the above suggestion for solder at one of the box stores should work well for you.

The tin will also harden the lead a bit for increased velocity without leading if you want to go that route, particularly in the 357.

[Tallbald]

Quick question please. I rooted around in my shop. I found four small rolls of solder (I haven't had to solder in many years but I need to cast now...). Three rolls were rosin core so they are out. The other has 7 ounces ( by food scale measure) of "wire solder" made by "Coran-Sholes Industries" of Boston. It just says ""finest" and doesn't have aan alloy mix content mark on it. Not rosin core, but just soft gray maybe 1/8 inch diameter.
Any clue what I have ? I'm willing to sacrifice it to do some casting today. Take a chance and add it 2-3 percent by weight to my pure lead? Thanks. Don

[Tallbald]

OK. Here's what I'm going to do. I am assuming my 7 ounces of wire solder is 50/50. That's 3.5 ounces of tin. 16 ounces X .03 for 3 percent is .48 ounces. Call it 1/2 ounce tin needed per pound. I'm adding 14 inches of my only solid core solder to a weighed pound of my pure lead. Later folks! And thanks as always. Don.

[303Guy]

In my parts, I can get pewter by the ton - well, barrel full, from my nearest scrap metal dealer/recycler. Lead too. It costs me what they sell it for which is not bad as pewter isn't in that much demand here. Your nearest scrap metal dealer may have some too.

[44man]

First, a boolit does not melt with ANY powder. What soft lead does is slump if there is too high an instant pressure. Then it wants to skid the rifling instead of turning, this opens gas channels so jets of gas cut the lead, jets of lead vaporize onto the bore.
That is why the gas check was designed, to help halt skid and keep a seal.
Tin does not harden lead much but will toughen it some and it takes more tin then affordable. Elmer's mix was 16 to 1.
The reason pure works so good with BP is BP does not have the instant high pressure. Fast shotgun powders build pressure very fast and even if overall pressure is lower, the thump is still there. 10,000 to 14,000 PSI is still like hitting your boolit on an anvil with a sledge.
That is the reason to shoot soft slow so it enters the rifling slower.
Seems you posted before that you have a six cavity mold and ladle cast. That is a very hard thing to do since pure needs around 800* and a hotter mold. You would sure be better off with a two cavity.
Some say soft will re-expand to seal, afraid not, it is too late, they really refer to slump where your boolit is no longer the shape you cast. Gas will erode the base at the gap and spray lead all over the face of your cylinder and frame. Gas molecules are too fast. As the boolit moves past the cone, it is followed by vaporized lead and since the cone is larger then the groove size, the sides will get cut. To slump a boolit enough to fill the cone and size back down again is ruined.
Soft lead also has a harder time turning a cylinder to alignment. You can get offside wear. One fella long ago said you need to shoot enough the wear the cone into alignment. Sure way to start a boolit off center. Since the nose on a semi wad cutter can't pull the cylinder, the little edge gets mashed off.
Anyway, a little strip of solder is not going to do much.
If I could shoot pure I would since I have a good ton of ingots.

[44man]

Our scrap dealer will not sell to the public anymore, last time there they had rows of 55 gal drums full of WW's. They paid 10 cents a pound but refuse a profit by selling me any.

[quilbilly]

Since wheel weights are becoming difficult to find, I switched to using chilled, hard shotgun pellets from inexpensive partial bags of birdshot I see regularly at garage sales, estate sales, and (rarely) gun shows. I alloy them with roofing lead like you have at a rate of about 70-roofing and 30-shot then add a couple tin splitshot per 2 pounds from the Walmart fishing section. This alloy shoots well in both my handguns and rifles up to 2000 fps with gas checked boolits.