Casting boolits for my new Pietta New Army target, had a question about lead.

[Mixxerd]

Hey all, I have only been a member for a few days and I have been doing more reading than I have in a long time. I just recently inherited a Pietta 1858 New Army Stainless target cap and ball revolver from my dad. I got loads of stuff to go with it but no manuals or technical info at all. I decided that I would like to cast my own boolits for it and picked up a Lee .450 200gr 2cavity mold to cast my own conicals. My dad did have a .454 140gr round ball mold that I got too. My dentist will be giving me the lead foils from their x-ray packets since they have not yet switched over to the digital x-rays. I wanted that type of lead because from what I could gather it was 98%lead, 1%tin, and 1%antimony and I was hoping that this would be soft enough for casting for my new revolver? I am getting the lead for free so even if I have to purchase pure lead from rotometals and mix it 50/50 I feel I am saving money.because 50lbs shipped is $100 so mixed with 50lbs of my ingots it should make 99%lead .5%tin and .5%antimony. 100lbs of lead will make me 3500 200grain conical boolits coming out to .0285cents per round.

Things I will be picking up still is a Lee PRO 4/20 bottom pour pot and lead thermometer. I also need mold lube so I will be buying a bit from someone on this forum I think the lube was called Zip lube. He also sold beeswax at an incredible price so I was going to pick up a bit of that too since I use it for my boolit lube. My dad left me his recipe for lube that was 1c olive oil + 1/3c beeswax pastilles. I will have to weight that amount so I know weights of what I am adding for increased accuracy. Anyways the lube also works great for sealing the ends of the cylinders to prevent chain fire.

I guess the main point of this was: Is my dental x-ray foil sheets 98%lead 1%tin 1%antimony soft enough for cap and ball shooting? This site has been great at teaching me things and I have learned so much from reading all that I can first before I ask questions, just sometime I can't quite google-fu as well as the next guy. Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

[TXGunNut]

Welcome to the forum! I did the same when I joined, lots of reading and wondering. Pretty awesome. Your cost per round calculations are a bit off but it doesn't really matter much, with a C&B revolver you can shoot all you want for just a few dollars. I use pure lead for muzzle loaders but a bit of tin & antimony may not hurt. Just have to try a little and find out.
I have a Pietta or two, if you need an address to write to for a manual please let me know.

[Mixxerd]

TXGunNut, That would be a huge help if you could post their address, or message me with it. Math has never been my strong suit but casting will be the most cost effecting way I can go about it. My dad had 4 pounds of powder. 3 of Goex fffg, and Jim Shockey's Gold fffg, not sure how I feel about the Shockey's it looks really coarse compared to the Goex. He had 10 cans of CCI no 11 magnum percussion caps. I believe they are the wrong size, so I have been pinching them slightly before I cap the cylinder.

Thanks again for stopping in and offering insight I'll keep reading and learning for now!

[John Boy]

Math has never been my strong suit but casting will be the most cost effecting way I can go about it.Just plug in the numbers ... http://www.realguns.com/calculators/handloadingcostsavings.html

[TXGunNut]

I'll have to do some more digging, Mixxerd. Will probably find it this weekend. E-mail addy is www.pietta.it
IIRC correctly it's actually a pretty useful manual.

[Mixxerd]

That's a huge help and gets me pointed in the right direction. I took it out to shoot today at my mother in law's while she watched my daughter. I shot 18 180gr conicals and 6 140gr round ball (.454 I think) The recoil was so soft compared to the 180gr conicals that my dad cast before he past away. I am planning on meeting up with my Uncle and get some help from him the first time I cast because he has been doing it for quite some time. Have to get a furnace and some more extras still but it is coming along nicely. I will check out that Pietta site and see what I find.

[TXGunNut]

I like the round balls, have quite a few store-bought ones and have a Lee mould for when they run out. My Pietta 1860 Colt replica seems to shoot better than my Uberti (?) 1858 Rem replica even tho the 1858 seems to be a better gun. I enjoy shooting the balls but haven't tried conicals.