Wheel weight accuracy with 200 pound lots

[Just Duke]

Well my pure lead deal fell through so I am back to possibly using straight WW's. From what I have experienced over the years the more consistent bullets are from the same lot of lead. My Dutch Oven run a little over 200 pounds almost full.
So...anyway I can just use straight WW's for hunting or general plinking from a 200 pound lot?
TIA,
Duke

[Jon K]

There are a couple of soft lead deals going in the swappin & selling section right now.............Lead/Tin works better for me, nuff said.

Jon

[Cactus Farmer]

:coffee:Duke, I've never gotten any good results with WW. I know some fellows who do well with them ,so maybe they are just hard to figure out. As for hunting at BP velosities,lead will expand and WW just make a hole. I prefer lead for all shooting but it is a must for hunting.Wounded game is a wasted animal or if it's a bear or pig you are now in close proximity to a mad beast that will in all likeleehood out weigh you and out run you too,even with a hole in it. NOT GOOD. JMHO:coffee:

[Just Duke]

There are a couple of soft lead deals going in the swappin & selling section right now.............Lead/Tin works better for me, nuff said.

Jon

I would need a mix I guess in that case. 200 to 400 pounds and I did not see that. I did not want recycled range lead either.

[James C. Snodgrass]

Have you tried annealing WW ? I have done it and maybe I got lucky but they came out pretty soft . James[smilie=1:

[SharpsShooter]

I was in the same situation several years ago. Lots of WW but no Pb. Here is what I did and it worked just fine. First be sure the batch you smelt is enough to keep you shooting for a while. Have enough to cast that you will not deplete your batch working up loads etc.

Cast and sort for defects and as normal.
Sort by weight if you like. (I do)

I usually cast 100 or so 530gr bullets at a time and then place them in a sturdy metal baking pan, each bullet sitting upright on it's base. Place the pan in the oven when the Missus ain't looking and dial up 400*. Leave it for an hour and just turn the oven off and crack the door, allowing the now annealed bullets to cool to room temperature. Typical BNH is 6-7 and they are fine for BPCR plinking and game. The last Whitetail I shot with one was DRT.

I have shot some very respectable groups from my 75 sharps with these, but the downfall is of course once you use up the batch, it is a start over proposition.


SS

Added for comparison: Typical WW are 8-9 BNH and Pb is 5 BNH.

[45 2.1]

Oven annealed WW boolits will revert back to WW hardness in two to three weeks.

[Just Duke]

Oven annealed WW boolits will revert back to WW hardness in two to three weeks.

That's what I was thinking.

[bobk]

DUKE,
My current master plan is to work up loads with WW, and whatever base protection one likes, GC, cardboard, COW, whatever, you get the idea. Then, once I have the size and seating depth figured out, I'll cast them 50/50 WW/Pure. I am leaning towards GC, particularly in bottlenecked cases, but whatever works. This is for hunting use. I doubt if a subsequent accuracy check will differ much. Of course, straight cases like your .45-70, et. al., give you more base protection options.

Pure is out there, and it's not that pricey, in my experience.

Bob K

[montana_charlie]

Your question was...
"So...anyway I can just use straight WW's for hunting or general plinking from a 200 pound lot?"

The answer is "yes", but...

Since you posted this in the BPCR section, it is assumed that you will use BP for the propellant. Lead/tin alloy is the most natural match for black powder loads. You can use others in safety, but you could also shoot concrete/beach sand alloy if you wanted to.

The question is...what performance level do you hope to reach?

If a 'soft lead' alloy is what you think you need, don't settle for straight WW at BHN 12.
If you can't find 'pure' scrap to mix with the WW, buy certified stuff.
If you decide to go the certified route, it doesn't cost a lot more to get 20:1 or 30:1 lead/tin alloy.

If I remember right, you decided to go with a high-quality rifle, though I don't recall which brand. The very high performance potential of such a rifle is limited (to a great extent) by the quality of the ammunition you feed it. If you load it up with bullets that you already know have some undesirable characteristic, you can't wail in disappointment if results are not impressive.

CM

[Bullshop]

IMHO I think all them EXPERTS keep themselves so puckered up they cant see daylight.
Let me tell ya a story that sure opened up my eyes. I was at a long range buffalo shoot in Buffalo Gap North Dakota. I went to compete and to sell boolits.
I had my gun set up for a certain load/boolit using 30/1 alloy and sight settings all worked out for all ranges. At the first re-painting break a fella asked if I had any of the boolits I was shooting for sale and if so he wanted all I had.
I had several boxes that he got and I told him that since I did not size my match cases I could slip out the boolits in my ammo and he could have those too, and he took them.
Then to finish the match I replaced them with boolits from the same mold but a much harder, read lighter alloy. No time for new sight settings so just hoped for the best.
Using the same settings as with the 30/1 alloy of about bhn-8 but switching to the lighter by several gn and bhn-15 I went 8 for 8 at my next target the 800 yard buffalo, and as I recall was the only one to do it.
Now after that I dont get too twisted up about small variations in weight or hardness.
I have heard all the, "you cant do's" from the EXPERTS and many have just been proven wrong. You know like with black powder you have to use such n such for alloy, BULL!
Sombody finds something that worked good for them so it becomes the only way, BULL!
Too many sheep! In this fast world nobody has time or desire to prove or disprove much of anything but just want to hear from someone that has done it so they can just get the dope quick and fast, big bubbles no troubles. Truth is if them tunnel vision experts would open thier eyes they would realise there are many ways to skin a cat.
Now that should keep me in hot water for a good long time!
Blessings. Skeeter/BIC/BS

[Just Duke]

IMHO I think all them EXPERTS keep themselves so puckered up they cant see daylight.
Let me tell ya a story that sure opened up my eyes. I was at a long range buffalo shoot in Buffalo Gap North Dakota. I went to compete and to sell boolits.
I had my gun set up for a certain load/boolit using 30/1 alloy and sight settings all worked out for all ranges. At the first re-painting break a fella asked if I had any of the boolits I was shooting for sale and if so he wanted all I had.
I had several boxes that he got and I told him that since I did not size my match cases I could slip out the boolits in my ammo and he could have those too, and he took them.
Then to finish the match I replaced them with boolits from the same mold but a much harder, read lighter alloy. No time for new sight settings so just hoped for the best.
Using the same settings as with the 30/1 alloy of about bhn-8 but switching to the lighter by several gn and bhn-15 I went 8 for 8 at my next target the 800 yard buffalo, and as I recall was the only one to do it.
Now after that I dont get too twisted up about small variations in weight or hardness.
I have heard all the, "you cant do's" from the EXPERTS and many have just been proven wrong. You know like with black powder you have to use such n such for alloy, BULL!
Sombody finds something that worked good for them so it becomes the only way, BULL!
Too many sheep! In this fast world nobody has time or desire to prove or disprove much of anything but just want to hear from someone that has done it so they can just get the dope quick and fast, big bubbles no troubles. Truth is if them tunnel vision experts would open thier eyes they would realise there are many ways to skin a cat.
Now that should keep me in hot water for a good long time!
Blessings. Skeeter/BIC/BS

Thanks Bullshop I was hoping you would come along.

[Just Duke]

Your question was...
[I]

If I remember right, you decided to go with a high-quality rifle, though I don't recall which brand. The very high performance potential of such a rifle is limited (to a great extent) by the quality of the ammunition you feed it. If you load it up with bullets that you already know have some undesirable characteristic, you can't wail in disappointment if results are not impressive.

CM

Thanks MC the rifle to be had is made by Shiloh.

[Springfield]

You sound like a friend of mine who shoots BPCR. He has always felt the largest variable in shooting is...the shooter. Nothing else makes as much difference. And I tend to agree with him.

[longhorn]

I'm with Bullshop. Trigger time is what matters. My Browning will stay on the "body" of the ram at 500 meters with wheelweights and Goex Cartridge and me on the trigger; if I miss, it's me, not the bullet. Shoot, and learn to read the conditions.

[runfiverun]

it's lead, i bet a lot of silver and zinc went down range in the old days.
along with, well you know..
so i am betting alloys varied quite a bit back when.....

[Bullshop]

I have a book by Miles Gilbert called Getting A Stand. Some of the hide hunters of the day said they looked for the softest lead they could find for makeing boolits. The reason was they would find the expanded boolit just under the hide on the off side of the hit so could re-use it. Lead was a bit hard to come by on the frontier, not too many tire shops. Anyway if they looked for soft lead that ment there was hard lead.
BIC/BS

[GabbyM]

A hardness tester is handy. I've a Saeco tester. Fairly rudimentary for the price but I think it gets things in the ball park. When I mix 50/50 WW/PB I'll melt a 40 lb casting pot full and cast a few boolits that will fit in the tester decent to have good results. Not all bullets fit well. After they cool for a few minutes I water cool them so I can test them on the Saeco tester. They are rarely on the target number I've set. two one pound ingots of WW or lead may bring the number up or down by one. It's shockingly delicate. I've had this deviation when casting from ingots made from what looked like the same salvage material.

What I'm saying is range lead will work if you've a hardness tester of any sort.
Since roofing , plumbers or WW lead vary so much it's all soup in the pot.

[EchoSixMike]

If you smelt three different WW batches and then remelt using 1:1:1 ratio from each batch, you now have 600lbs of identical alloy. Or 4 batches, etc etc etc.

Something to consider. S/F.....Ken M