Cap N Ball Boolit Alloy

[rodwha]

I’m working on a universal bullet for my Ruger Old Army and New Model Army. I’m feeling that 0.001” over chamber diameter is plenty since they don’t really need to shave lead like with a sphere. I’m considering my next Accurate Mold setup for 2% tin to help me with fill issues and set to drop boolits at 0.454”. What if I were to eventually use a little more tin or try a little antimony? How far can I go before it doesn’t fit my Ruger properly? I haven’t measured all of my chambers, but they are supposed to be 0.453” so I wouldn’t want a projectile to drop any smaller than 0.4533” or so, and I don’t want any larger than 0.454” as my other gun’s chambers are 0.449” and chamfered, though I’m really contemplating further reaming it to get closer to the Ruger. I also don’t want my boolits too hard for loading in the Remington.

[fredj338]

When I shot cap & ball I just went pure lead.

[rodwha]

When I shot cap & ball I just went pure lead.

I seem to have fill issues with my bullets. I’d prefer to fix the issue. And it seems I can add about a BHN or two and still get adequate performance. I just want to ensure I don’t lose any obturation.

And I’m also contemplating having two cavities hollow pointed. I’ve read soft lead at these lower velocities (roughly 875-925 FPS @ ~230 grns and I’m guessing about an additional 50-75 FPS if I lose about 30 grns for the cavity). I’m thinking along the lines of a lead Flying Ashtray from the 80’s. Sure would make things interesting when using energetic powders. My NMA’s more accurate hunting load is 30 grns of 3F. With Olde Eynsford that weighs 33 grns.

[gwpercle]

I had a realy old cap and ball revolver mould that cast a round ball and a conical boolit , cast both of pure lead or as pure as scrap lead roof flashing is ... probably has a smidge of tin in there ... A good deal of testing proved the conical boolit wasn't any big improvement over the round ball when shooting paper targets , tin cans and plinking .
But both were cast of pure lead . The shooting was a replica 1851 Navy Colt - 36 cal.
Gary

[Pipefitter]

As I recall (it has been quite some time since I got the Ruger Old Army out to play) the ROA wants slugs of .457"
Somewhere around here I have a Lee mould that casts one round ball and one conical for the ROA.
If you are having fill out problems or wrinkles try turning up the heat on the casting pot, pure lead casts better at around 700-750*

[DocSavage]

I would use straight lead for the ROA bullet size .457 dia. Using a harder alloy you might break the loading lever AFAIK replacements are almost non existant.

[Tar Heel]

Pure lead.

[rodwha]

As I recall (it has been quite some time since I got the Ruger Old Army out to play) the ROA wants slugs of .457"
Somewhere around here I have a Lee mould that casts one round ball and one conical for the ROA.
If you are having fill out problems or wrinkles try turning up the heat on the casting pot, pure lead casts better at around 700-750*

The ball needs to be .457”, but a bullet doesn’t need to be grossly oversized since it has bearing surfaces.

I’m using a Lee pot, and turned all the way up and still get fill issues. I don’t have a thermometer but I’d assume it’s reaching the proper temp.

[rodwha]

I would use straight lead for the ROA bullet size .457 dia. Using a harder alloy you might break the loading lever AFAIK replacements are almost non existant.

Kaido casts his around 10 BHN for repros. The Ruger won’t break. I’m looking to stay south of 8 BHN anyway.

[Soundguy]

Lead here.

[sharps4590]

Straight lead

[gunther]

try a .452 semiwadcutter(180-200 grain) made for 45 auto's before you invest. They shoot very well and are about as large a diameter slug as you can start into an Old Army chamber.

[Castaway]

For round ball, straight lead. Round balls tend to fill out without adding tin. For the conical, I’d go pure or the least tin to do the job, maybe staring at 1:30. As mentioned above, a harder bullet puts stress on the loading ram

[rodwha]

try a .452 semiwadcutter(180-200 grain) made for 45 auto's before you invest. They shoot very well and are about as large a diameter slug as you can start into an Old Army chamber.

Someone sent me some SWCs before claiming they loaded well in his Old Army. I had to seat them backwards, which is what I’d have to do through my NMA as well since the chambers are a little smaller.

But I’ve modified both gun’s loading windows. My Ruger can load my 45-285C, my bullets have a .375” meplat as will my universal bullet.

[rodwha]

For round ball, straight lead. Round balls tend to fill out without adding tin. For the conical, I’d go pure or the least tin to do the job, maybe staring at 1:30. As mentioned above, a harder bullet puts stress on the loading ram

The balls I’ve cast all seem just fine, it’s just my bullets including REALs. However I can’t find scrap lead locally and figured when I ran out I’d just buy 2% tin from Rotometals. I don’t really shot balls from my revolvers much at all. I mostly shoot patched balls from my rifle and hardness isn’t an issue there. But this little bit of hardness I’m speaking of won’t be an issue with my revolvers either. There are people loading harder bullets than I’m proposing. I’m staying south of 7 BHN unless it were otherwise optimal, which I just don’t see.

[rodwha]

For those of you who replied with pure lead, why would you do so if your results are poor fills? From what I understand the base is more important for accuracy. Regardless 2% tin adds what 0.3 BHN? Maybe that might be important on a Remington Pocket or some other tiny fragile loading mechanism. As I said there are people hunting with Kaido’s (and other) bullets from various .44 cal repros cast around 10 BHN for going on a decade. That seems harder than I’d want, though the modified Lee 255 grn bullet reduced to 240 grns for repros pushed by full charges of 3F T7 gives nose through tail full penetration on adults hogs in Florida.

[Soundguy]

I get perfect fill out with pure lead on a nice warm mold that is clean

[Soundguy]

If it was a lead microgroove grease Groove I can understand why there might be a problem but on regular stuff not really

[oley55]

I seem to have fill issues with my bullets. I’d prefer to fix the issue. And it seems I can add about a BHN or two and still get adequate performance. I just want to ensure I don’t lose any obturation.

And I’m also contemplating having two cavities hollow pointed. I’ve read soft lead at these lower velocities (roughly 875-925 FPS @ ~230 grns and I’m guessing about an additional 50-75 FPS if I lose about 30 grns for the cavity). I’m thinking along the lines of a lead Flying Ashtray from the 80’s. Sure would make things interesting when using energetic powders. My NMA’s more accurate hunting load is 30 grns of 3F. With Olde Eynsford that weighs 33 grns.

I am still a newbie to casting, but if casting pure lead isn't the answer to "fill-out" issues just a matter of higher heat? I was/am of the impression our reasons for casting at lower temps was primarily to prevent the tin and antimony from separating out on top of the melt. Just wondering out loud...

[Castaway]

Again, balls will fill out with pure lead, conicals not as easily

[rodwha]

I am still a newbie to casting, but if casting pure lead isn't the answer to "fill-out" issues just a matter of higher heat? I was/am of the impression our reasons for casting at lower temps was primarily to prevent the tin and antimony from separating out on top of the melt. Just wondering out loud...

Actually tin is considered ideal for helping with fill out, it’s been suggested to me by other cap n ball guys, that I even just 2% might make all the difference. It also doesn’t seem to disrupt its malleability much either. I’m actually quite shocked so many here are anti any alloy.

[jim147]

I tried some conicals in the 8 range years ago. It didn't work well. Went to soft lead and no problems.

[rodwha]

I tried some conicals in the 8 range years ago. It didn't work well. Went to soft lead and no problems.

What didn’t go well for you?

I’ve only loaded Kaido’s bullets in my Ruger but all things worked just as good as the maybe 8 other bullet types I’ve shot through it. If it fits on top of its preferred 35 grn charge each target will look the same despite being a different projectile, including a ball. The same has held true with my NMA but all I’ve shot through it were my two bullets and a ball, so all cast by me from scrap lead piping I melted down. That should be about pure or close enough to 5 BHN. So it’s never shot anything very hard.

[Walks]

I used to Cowboy Shoot with a Guy that used Bear Creek Moly-Coated 200gr H&G #68style bullets. He used no additional lube.

[sharps4590]

For those of you who replied with pure lead, why would you do so if your results are poor fills? From what I understand the base is more important for accuracy. Regardless 2% tin adds what 0.3 BHN? Maybe that might be important on a Remington Pocket or some other tiny fragile loading mechanism. As I said there are people hunting with Kaido’s (and other) bullets from various .44 cal repros cast around 10 BHN for going on a decade. That seems harder than I’d want, though the modified Lee 255 grn bullet reduced to 240 grns for repros pushed by full charges of 3F T7 gives nose through tail full penetration on adults hogs in Florida.

My balls or bullets, when poured of straight lead, look like advertising pictures for a mold manufacturer. Maybe it's the guy doing the casting?

Edit: Seriously, pour what you want to try. The revolver will tell you if it likes it. I doubt a bit of tin is going to be cause for damage to the Ruger. If you get it too hard, you'll know.

There is folks who jump out of perfectly good aircraft but, I'm not going to.

[rodwha]

It certainly could well be the guy doing the casting. I’ve done everything I’ve read or been told to do, wash well, dry, and smoke with wooden matches, along with turning the heat all the way up, resting the aluminum mold on the pot while it heats, and recycle the first several pours before I even consider the mold hot enough and my bullets and REALs have beveled edges. My pot can get no hotter, though I doubt that’s the issue. I’m all ears for suggestions, they go further than mocking anyway, especially with me.

[yeahbub]

I've noticed that different batches of "pure" lead will vary somewhat in how well the mold fills out. For a pot-full of reclaimed plumbing lead that didn't want to cast, adding a bit of tin almost always helped. For good fill-out purposes, 2% tin is the max that will make a difference. More than that won't improve castability, but some people prefer binary alloys for how they expand without fracturing in tough targets, unlike lead/tin/antimony alloys tend to when they exceed about 12 BHN. I have used WW alloy in C&B revolvers and still got good obturation with conicals before they age hardened too much. WW RB's are tougher to make that happen with because they don't have the mass/inertia and get moving more easily. But in the ROA, the chambers are already (properly) larger than groove diameter and obturation isn't needed to get a good seal in the bore. WW's or soft lead will work fine there. It's the repro revolvers with the undersize chambers that benefit from soft alloys. One of my favorite designs for the ROA and the NMA is the Lee 200gr REAL. I can size and lube the grooves in a Lyman 4500, .455 for the ROA and .451 for the NMA. To "heel" the conicals of whatever description, I remove the collet/decapping stem from a Lee .308, .30-06 or 8x57 full-length die and push the boolits into the die with the stem from a Lee push-through sizer far enough for the taper to reduce the heel band diameter to what I need for the revolver, .451 for the ROA and .445 for my NMA's .447 chambers. A long 5/16" punch through the top of the die and a whack with a dead-blow will pop them loose. Presto, bullets which drop into the chambers to the middle driving band, will rotate under the rammer and are positioned and centered for seating.

[jim147]

What didn’t go well for you?

I’ve only loaded Kaido’s bullets in my Ruger but all things worked just as good as the maybe 8 other bullet types I’ve shot through it. If it fits on top of its preferred 35 grn charge each target will look the same despite being a different projectile, including a ball. The same has held true with my NMA but all I’ve shot through it were my two bullets and a ball, so all cast by me from scrap lead piping I melted down. That should be about pure or close enough to 5 BHN. So it’s never shot anything very hard.

Hard to load and did not shoot well. I only tried it once so my not be the best info.

[sharps4590]

A friend of mine has a Whitworth and the 520 gr.(?) hexagonal mold. He couldn't get a good, read that pretty, bullet from straight lead. I told him maybe try casting faster. It worked for him.

Are you dipping or bottom pouring? I can cast perfect bullets within 1/2 gr. dipping. Bottom pouring.....well, I'd never use those bullets for precision work.

[Wayne Smith]

Speaking strictly of C&B revolvers except the Ruger Old Army, the issue is the loading lever - not fit or anything else. If you use a loading block or stand you can probably get away with harder alloy. If you are loading with the loading lever use pure only, otherwise you overstrain the lever. I've never had/used an ROA so I have no idea how strong the loading lever is on that.

I have no hesitation using WW or binary alloy in my round ball rifles, but they are patched round balls and the patch holds the rifling, not the ball.

[farmbif]

as many other said, pure lead is what I use in the 1851 navy and 1860 army. 1-2% tin will help mold fill out on those conicals

[ShooterAZ]

I've tried some of the LEE conicals in my ROA, they shot OK but they didn't really come close to being as accurate as round ball loads. If I'm having trouble with fillout in my pure lead BP loads, I turn up the heat until they cast well. I have added a touch of tin in the past, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. More heat was what I needed.

[rodwha]

I've noticed that different batches of "pure" lead will vary somewhat in how well the mold fills out. For a pot-full of reclaimed plumbing lead that didn't want to cast, adding a bit of tin almost always helped. For good fill-out purposes, 2% tin is the max that will make a difference. More than that won't improve castability, but some people prefer binary alloys for how they expand without fracturing in tough targets, unlike lead/tin/antimony alloys tend to when they exceed about 12 BHN. I have used WW alloy in C&B revolvers and still got good obturation with conicals before they age hardened too much. WW RB's are tougher to make that happen with because they don't have the mass/inertia and get moving more easily. But in the ROA, the chambers are already (properly) larger than groove diameter and obturation isn't needed to get a good seal in the bore. WW's or soft lead will work fine there. It's the repro revolvers with the undersize chambers that benefit from soft alloys. One of my favorite designs for the ROA and the NMA is the Lee 200gr REAL. I can size and lube the grooves in a Lyman 4500, .455 for the ROA and .451 for the NMA. To "heel" the conicals of whatever description, I remove the collet/decapping stem from a Lee .308, .30-06 or 8x57 full-length die and push the boolits into the die with the stem from a Lee push-through sizer far enough for the taper to reduce the heel band diameter to what I need for the revolver, .451 for the ROA and .445 for my NMA's .447 chambers. A long 5/16" punch through the top of the die and a whack with a dead-blow will pop them loose. Presto, bullets which drop into the chambers to the middle driving band, will rotate under the rammer and are positioned and centered for seating.

So going beyond 2% tin doesn’t help anymore with fill out. I had not come across that, thanks!

These are for hunting and for that I want a large meplat, especially since expansion cannot be counted upon at these lower velocities. I have a design I created long ago but abandoned for a much heavier version. It’s this other that’s quite close to what my universal bullet will be like, I just have a few things I want to tweak, and am awaiting a response from a fellow who ordered it larger diameter as Charlie Hahn (spl?) reams any .44/.45 percussion cylinder to .456”. Anyway, this is the bullet I’m working off of:

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-245C

I’m probably going to end up getting a .453” reamer and bringing the NMA up to the same specs. As thin as those walls are, which has given me major pause and why it hasn’t been done yet, I’ve been told by too many people they’ve had theirs taken out further and also using stout charges of energetic powders with bullets.

[rodwha]

A friend of mine has a Whitworth and the 520 gr.(?) hexagonal mold. He couldn't get a good, read that pretty, bullet from straight lead. I told him maybe try casting faster. It worked for him.

Are you dipping or bottom pouring? I can cast perfect bullets within 1/2 gr. dipping. Bottom pouring.....well, I'd never use those bullets for precision work.

I’m dipping from a 4 lb Lee pot. I wouldn’t think I’m pouring very slow, but it doesn’t hurt to try making haste slowly.

[rodwha]

Speaking strictly of C&B revolvers except the Ruger Old Army, the issue is the loading lever - not fit or anything else. If you use a loading block or stand you can probably get away with harder alloy. If you are loading with the loading lever use pure only, otherwise you overstrain the lever. I've never had/used an ROA so I have no idea how strong the loading lever is on that.

I have no hesitation using WW or binary alloy in my round ball rifles, but they are patched round balls and the patch holds the rifling, not the ball.

The Ruger is tough, it’s only weak point really being to forget to lock the retaining screw. Repros don’t use as strong of steel but apparently a bunch of various repros can handle around 10 BHN as it’s been done by far too many people for far too long. The only ones I’ve read that break are the little pocket Remingtons, but I’ve also read of teeth from a newer model Colt busting from something, probably too hard of a projectile I’d guess. I wouldn’t want to get close to 10 BHN though, I feel 7 would be as high as I’d want to go for these speeds, as I said I welcome a little expansion anyway.

I use the loading system they’re intended to use. I carry enough crap in my shooting bag and there’s no way I’d carry extras in the field.

[rodwha]

I've tried some of the LEE conicals in my ROA, they shot OK but they didn't really come close to being as accurate as round ball loads. If I'm having trouble with fillout in my pure lead BP loads, I turn up the heat until they cast well. I have added a touch of tin in the past, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. More heat was what I needed.

Maybe I just need to break down and purchase a thermometer. I wouldn’t think my pot is struggling to reach proper temps, but who knows?

[rodwha]

I still have further powder charge tests for both pistols now that I have a more accurate powder measure. From there I calculate the space needed to keep gas cutting from eating the nose, space for a potential cardboard punched card, and a little to account for any possible slight overcharges, but so far I’ve found the excess chamber capacity I want to fill with lead that will work with both revolvers is an OAL of about 0.525”. I think I’d prefer to get as close to 240 grns as possible as it just seems about ideal for the power range. Maybe shaving a bit off of their respective accurate hunting charges a few hairs would be worthwhile. This is what I’m working off so far:

https://i.postimg.cc/vTxzZr2g/DA41-FC94-95-CD-43-F2-8-C60-2-D0-CF78-E9-F8-F.png (https://postimg.cc/0KxmtwsP)

What I’ll do after I’ve settled all of this and created the bullet will be to order a new loading lever assembly for the NMA so that I can epoxy the ram to the bullet. This will keep deformation from happening. I want to keep the ability to shoot balls, though I just really don’t as I believe in practicing with what you use, but…

Now the fellow who utilized the epoxy also worked with all sorts of other things, among them hollow points. He created an epoxy form with the cavity stem and it worked well. I’m speculating the WFN ram might keep the cavity from deforming, and if not another loading assembly will fix that.

After he showed the various hollow point projectiles and whatnot he was as testing I realized that in essence I would be working with a lead version of the old Flying Ashtray from Speer. I don’t know that I’d mess with the hollow point modification, but it is an interesting idea having something like that as well. And from what I’ve read soft lead at these lower velocities holds up quite well. This was another consideration as far as going a little beyond 2% tin and a mold set for that if I find it needs to be a little harder.

If I have a mold set to drop proper bullets using 2% tin at .454”, but use 5% or 2% tin/antimony would the result be negligible for my uses since they’re slightly oversized even for the Ruger? I’ve also clearly figured maybe having it set for 5% might be best if I decide I am serious about having a couple of cavities hollow pointed.

[rodwha]

I recently read something that stated adding 1% tin iirc produced just 0.3 BHN to lead. But looking just now I see listed 2.5% tin is 8.5 BHN. My impression from what I’ve read was 2% tin really didn’t change the characteristics over pure lead by much at all, that it wasn’t really all that harder.

[GregLaROCHE]

The ball needs to be .457”, but a bullet doesn’t need to be grossly oversized since it has bearing surfaces.

I’m using a Lee pot, and turned all the way up and still get fill issues. I don’t have a thermometer but I’d assume it’s reaching the proper temp.

If you have a Lee pot turned up all the way, you are probably casting too hot or the pot has a problem and doesn’t heat to it’s potential.

[rodwha]

If you have a Lee pot turned up all the way, you are probably casting too hot or the pot has a problem and doesn’t heat to it’s potential.

Yeah, because turning it to its highest setting didn’t improve things I moved it back down from 10 to 8 where I usually kept it. I’ve not heard of being too hot a bad thing, that you just get frosting

[rodwha]

Looking around on Rotometal’s site I saw where I found the statement of 1% tin adding 0.3 BHN. But then clicking on their 2.5% tin ingots it stated the BHN was between 7-8 so that’s a bit contradictory. Anyway, since they only sell in 5 lb ingots I was wondering how others might melt a bar of that with a bar of pure lead to reduce the hardness a little and from there make my Lee 1/2 and 1 lb ingots so I can use them in my 4 lb pot? How large of a cast iron pot would I need to handle 10 lbs of ingots with space for safety and whatnot?

[Buzzard II]

I would use straight lead for the ROA bullet size .457 dia. Using a harder alloy you might break the loading lever AFAIK replacements are almost non existant.

I agree. Use pure lead. If you must use some alloy in the lead, load the chamber off the gun in one of those fixtures with it's own handle. Don't force/break your gun for any reason. Better safe than sorry. Parts are costly if you can find them, and gunsmiths are not cheap. Good shooting.
Bob

[gunther]

Quite a few Eastern Ky deer (100-150lbs @ 25 yards or less) have been had with a pure lead 0.457 round ball and all the 3F powder you can get under it. In an Old Army that's 40-43 grains. A slug much bigger than a Lyman 45468 limits your powder capacity severely.

[GregLaROCHE]

Yeah, because turning it to its highest setting didn’t improve things I moved it back down from 10 to 8 where I usually kept it. I’ve not heard of being too hot a bad thing, that you just get frosting

If the alloy is too hot, most people say you will cook off the tin. Also, as the level of alloy goes down, you normally need to turn down the setting to keep the same temperature.

[rodwha]

Quite a few Eastern Ky deer (100-150lbs @ 25 yards or less) have been had with a pure lead 0.457 round ball and all the 3F powder you can get under it. In an Old Army that's 40-43 grains. A slug much bigger than a Lyman 45468 limits your powder capacity severely.

I don’t know that I’d use my Ruger as a primary. I’ve never worked with my revolvers from the bench. My primary use is for it/when I need to track something, and my concern is that one day it will eventually be a hog. No way I’m using a ball on injured and upset hogs. Even still a WFN will outperform a ball.

I have further testing to do as I now have a measure that can work in 2.5 grn increments, but with the old measure the Ruger’s most accurate hunting charge (started at 25 grns) was 35 which weighed 38 grns on the scale (3F Olde E). I’ve tried about 8 different projectiles and offhand at 15 yds they’re all producing 3-3.5” groups for me. What I’m doing is filling the excess chamber capacity with lead and is looking to be between 230-240 grns. My NMA’s more accurate charge is 30 grns that weighs 33.

Triple 7 tends to perform nearly as well as Olde Eynsford and Swiss in the various handgun data posted around. 30 grns of T7 in a 5.5” ROA spat out the Lee RN he states weigh 225 grns at 881 FPS for 389 ft/lbs so I’m estimating my NMA using 3 more grains and a slightly heavier bullet to breach 400 FPS with its 5.5” barrel. My 7.5” ROA with the same load pushed it to 968 FPS for 470 ft/lbs. I’ve run across crazy numbers from Ruger users but often figured they were hyped up a bit. Looking at those numbers and adding 8 grns of powder and a little more lead? Sure looks like 500 ft/lbs can be easily surpassed. Of course only a chronograph will tell. I just need to purchase or see about renting one.

[Wayne Smith]

If the alloy is too hot, most people say you will cook off the tin. Also, as the level of alloy goes down, you normally need to turn down the setting to keep the same temperature.

Heat certainly is an issue but oxygen exposure is the real culprit. Tin oxidizes quicker than lead, and the hotter anything is the faster chemical reactions work. But without oxygen no oxidization. Those of us who cast with a gas burner and pot and ladle run into this all the time because of all the oxygen exposure provided by dipping, pouring off the mold, and returning the sprue. I get tin oxidizing within a half hour of casting and if I don't reduce it back with wax it will sheet off the ladle. This is how tin separates from lead.

[yeahbub]

Looking around on Rotometal’s site I saw where I found the statement of 1% tin adding 0.3 BHN. But then clicking on their 2.5% tin ingots it stated the BHN was between 7-8 so that’s a bit contradictory. . .

Rodwha, the hardening effect of adding tin isn't a linear relationship. It's a wavy curve on a graph that I saw in, IIRC, the Lyman casting handbook some years ago defining its effect on the alloy from all lead/no tin to no lead/all tin. The improved fill-out effect is considerable even in small amounts but increases more and more slowly, achieving maximum effect at retarding dendrite formation at ~2%. (Dendrites: that very fine tree-looking texture of crystallization on sprues of pure lead you can see under a magnifying glass - looks like a forest of whippy saplings in winter.) As for hardness, the effect is moderate until you get to big percentages of tin no one would consider using as anything but babbit alloy, way expensive. I've had soft lead I fluxed repeatedly that just didn't want to cast but poured like water after adding a 6" wire from a roll of old 50/50 lead/tin plumbing solder to a 10 lb pot. With today's lead-free 95/5 tin/antimony solder, half as much will do the same and never mind that smidgeon of antimony - it'll never make a difference.



Heat certainly is an issue but oxygen exposure is the real culprit. . .

Wayne Smith is right on the money. Tin will turn into tin oxide very readily at casting temperatures when in contact with air. Tin oxide is insoluble in lead and ceases to have any beneficial effect. It's formation is visible as the alloy goes from chrome-looking to gold, blue, purple, slate and finally to some grey crusty stuff folks think they need to skim off. As this happens, the alloy is becoming increasingly tin-poor and folks turn up the heat to overcome the effect, which can help for a while, but this also increases how fast the remaining tin oxidizes. Don't skim it off, that's money there. Turn it back into its metallic state by fluxing to separate the oxygen from the tin and the metallic tin will go back into solution in the alloy. My favorite flux is stearic acid, a fatty acid in a waxy form that looks like pretzel salt available at soap and candle making sites. Look around, though, it gets way cheaper in quantity. I mix it half and half with paraffin to improve the dwell time, throw a gumball sized chunk in the pot, light it off and stir. There should only be dirt/dust left on the alloy afterwards which should again be chrome shiny. To protect it from further rapid oxidation, I throw a heaping tablespoon or two of wood ashes on top of the alloy which will protect it from air being in direct contact with it. It floats agreeably, the sprues will go right through it and it won't contaminate anything. I don't need to flux nearly as often as I used to with this method.

That 45-245C is an excellent design - I want one. There are a couple of dimensions I would change when using bare boolits, depending on the revolver I intended to use it in. The rebated heel I'd make .450 to center well, driving bands are good at .456 for the ROA's .453 chambers. Once BP fouling enters the picture, the .003 heel clearance will be welcome, but .445 is too small for the ROA. For the Pietta 1858 Remingtons with .447 chambers, .444-.445 on the heel is good, but the driving bands should be .450 to ease the load on the rammer parts. At .456 diameter, .009 of lead is a lot to carve off the outside getting it into those small chambers. Sounds like work.

That being said, for paper cartridges in the ROA, it's fine as is. The .003-.005 paper thickness added to the heel brings it to .448-.450, which will still slip in easily, and .456 driving bands will shear the paper cleanly, thus exposing the lube. Perfect. For the Pietta 1858 Remingtons, I'd change the diameters to a .440-.442 heel, .450-.451 bands for the same effect. The bestest papers I've ever used are "perm" papers or "end wraps" which are available at beauty supply places or online, 1000 slips to the box for $3-4 or so and each gets cut in half for two cartridges. They're .001 thick but tough and tear resistant, and they burn up when you pull the trigger just as they are - no fiddling with soaking them in potassium nitrate solution and all the rest of that. The bottom of the cartridge should be .40-.41 diameter and taper up to full diameter 1/8 - 1/4" short of chamber depth, so the cartridge isn't so long that it stops before you start the boolit. Some folks taper theirs to .3-something at the small end, but the closer it is to cylindrical, the shorter the cartridge will be for the amount of powder you're putting in it. Life is easier when using a BP substitute which is compressible, like 777, Pyrodex or (my favorite) American Pioneer Powder 3f. With true BP, if you have a bit much in the chamber, it's tough to get the boolit all the way in. Making them is a learning curve but the convenience of ready reloadability in the field is very much worth it, IMHO. Woods walks while popping off at dirt clods, cow pies, knot holes and other targets of opportunity becomes a whole 'nother experience with paper cartridges.

My 2 cents. . . .

[Gobeyond]

So I guess everybody is getting wrinkles with pure lead. Big and small fine ones. This has to be ok. After two hours my pot gets hot enough to cast fine wrinkles with 40-50:1. I’m only shooting paper but do they fly right? Not much accuracy I’m getting so far. I like to hear that lead is dead soft at 5 bhn like rotomeatals says. I have hope for enough obturating in my Mauser 1871. .006 doesn’t seem like too much then. Can’t find a .448 bullet anywhere.

[mnewcomb59]

How long are your sprues liquid? Do they go from liquid to solid in 1-2 seconds? With pure lead the mold needs to be hot enough that the sprues remain liquid on top of the mold for at least 4 seconds.

If your sprues are solidifying faster than 4 seconds, dip a corner of the mold into the lead for 15 seconds then try again.

If you have liquid sprues for 4 seconds and still have wrinkly bullets, I recommend looking to your air vents. The easiest way to vent more air is to lightly bevel the top of the mold where the two halves come together below the sprue plate. I use a sharpening stone and put a tiny bevel on each mold half and that helps a lot.

[Bent Ramrod]

When I bought my Navy Arms 1860 Army back in the 70s, I knew from nothing about lead hardness. Cast 0.452” round balls out of whatever Lino/wheelwright range scrap I could find. The wedge on the revolver had to be replaced after 1500 shots or so, not because of shooting but because of the stress put on it by levering those hard lead balls into the chambers. The extra leverage of the rack-and-pinion lever hid the extra effort it took to load.

From then on, it was pure lead only. With boolits, extra heat seems to be the charm. The lead and mould should be hot enough so the boolits turn dark gray as they air-cool. But I’ve found that with roundballs, a change in technique is a huge help. Instead of the Ideal recommended procedure, where you mate the ladle spout to the mould horizontally, turn assembly to vertical, hold mould while tipping ladle back to horizontal and removing, I use the Ideal ladle like I would a spoon or a Lee ladle. Hold mould and ladle horizontally, bring spout to side of sprue hole, tilt ladle and pour from the side till I get a good sprue puddle.

When I do this, the wrinkles in the round balls disappear. Maybe the spherical surface of the cavity traps air with the Ideal method, while it flows out with the side casting technique. That’s my best guess. But I cast round balls from .25 to .625 caliber and it works wrinkle-free (for whatever reason) on all of them.