Can u use hardball (92% lead) for 577-450 HM grease groove or PP boolits?

[Danm55]

I was just wondering. Ik ppl have said to use a 20-1 ratio. But i have hardball and that is about 15-1. Is this close enough? Prolly gonna use grease groove boolits.

[Red River Rick]

That 15 - 1 alloy will work just fine for your GG bullets.

[GregLaROCHE]

The 15-1 shouldn’t be any problem for PP boolits nor greased, as long as you find the lube that works best for your situation.

[Danm55]

Thanks that will save the trouble of having to add lead to the hardball and worry about getting it mixed up with the rest. reloading for this thing is a little more pricey than i thought. I had to go to CBE in australia for a mold it cost $260 for a single cavity 470 grease grooved mold. But with that i dont need to make grease cookies or PP. The 457 molds and stuff r cheap and available tho. I do have one of those as well.

[fgd135]

You might need to use a grease cookie under a gg boolit in the MH, just like you would normally do if shooting a PP boolit, if you get leading problems with the nekkid one. This advice from Paul Matthews "Loading the Black Powder Cartridge Rifle".

[truckjohn]

Depends on what size you cast them. The MH rifling is tapered for the first foot or so. They generally start somewhere between 0.468-0.472 and smoosh down to 450-something.

Many MH bullets depended on obduration to bump the bullets up from 450-something to around 0.470" throat, and that calls for a fairly soft bullet. The original black powder loads were paper patched with various card wads, felt wads, and grease cookies under it.

I cast mine in wheel weight, size 0.469", and shoot over a small charge of trail boss. I ended up with an easy shooting load that runs ~800fps.

Thanks

[curdog007]

A .450 bullet will bump up no problem to that size when using that alloy and black. It does for me.

[Hiwall55]

It will actually bump up before the bullet moves.

[beltfed]

Wait up guys,
"Hardball ' alloy is Not 15-1, as in 15+1 lead/tin which will indeed bump up nicely in BP loads.
Hardball is 92% lead/6% antimony/2% lead.
I expect it will NOT bump up much if at all in Danm55's 577/450 MH. But it will work if you load a bullet that is at or preferably at least a thousandth over initial groove diameter just in front of the chamber.

And, Danm55, Accurate molds company could have cut a mold to the larger diameter specs for your MH for you here and a lot cheaper than the one from AU. YOu just need to do a pound cast just in front of the chamber and so measure the initial groove diameter . Also, check the fire formed case I.D.
beltfed/arnie

[beltfed]

Also, Danm55,
A guy that goes by the handle of "Martini Belgium" attends the shiloh and the ASSRA forums, and
could lead you well in the care and feeding of the 577-450 MH. Just go on these forums and start a thread on "577-450 Help needed"
beltfed/arnie

[curdog007]

A .450 bullet works just fine in a Martini if you use a binary alloy, i.e. lead/tin. It won't bump with antimony.

[indian joe]

Thanks that will save the trouble of having to add lead to the hardball and worry about getting it mixed up with the rest. reloading for this thing is a little more pricey than i thought. I had to go to CBE in australia for a mold it cost $260 for a single cavity 470 grease grooved mold. But with that i dont need to make grease cookies or PP. The 457 molds and stuff r cheap and available tho. I do have one of those as well.

?????? The CBE molds list at $120 AUD ....we run .75 U$ so their list is around 90-95 bucks US ....where did the rest go?????? just askin