Lead finger nail

[Leon Garfield]

Molded these up took my thumbnail to it looks pretty soft. Should work??



158328158329

[DLCTEX]

What use? Round ball, pistol, rifle, velocity? Would work for pistol at non magnum velocity for sure. Rifle at low end velocity, yes. Best authority is your gun.

[mfraser264]

DLCTEX sums it well. What are your intentions? Always good to have soft lead on hand. Soft can easily be hardened but softening lead is much more involved.

[Leon Garfield]

Sorry these are for 44 cap and ball renington. I was wondering if it was soft enough for tht. I uaaually use wheel weights for my 45 and 9. This is supposed to be lead pipe but heck I got no way of knowing. Somebody said if I could scratch it with finger nail it was soft enough. Whats your imput

[FLINTNFIRE]

If it loads without to much force from loading lever , in my cap and balls thats my guidelines , to much force on the lever is not good , as long as they trim a sliver off while loading I am good to go. Yours should be fine if your nail scratches that easy.

[WILCO]

Molded these up took my thumbnail to it looks pretty soft. Should work??

I think you're good. Helps to have a LEE Precision hardness tester.

[Leon Garfield]

Ueah I know Wilco on my list of stuff to invest in

[WILCO]

Ueah I know Wilco on my list of stuff to invest in


Hahaha! Rome wasn't built in a day. You'll get it soon enough.
Keep moving forward in your quest. Keep us posted.

[berksglh]

Just got a new 1858 and lee 451" mold Friday. Cast some Using range scrap from local pistol range. Balls are very hard to scratch with fingernail.

Using staedtler pencils hardness test, 2B curls, 3B does not, so balls cast at about 11-12 BHN? And pure lead is suppose to be 5 BHN. So these are a bit hard.

They do cut a ring when loaded and shot fine on 30grain by volume of pyrodex P so far. Cold as heck out in the snow, so only 16 shot.

Good luck.