Wheel weights and BP

[wrcook]

I fire a lot of .45 colt in both my Cimmaron Cavalry model and my Schoefield, both modern made. I normally shoot either pure lead or 1/30 with black powder. Smokeless does not touch the lips of my beauties. My supply of pure lead is drying up, but I have a ready supply of wheel weights. How might wheel weights work with black? I don't have a need for the boolits to expand into the rifiling.

Bill C

[semtav]

You'll get a lot of different opinions on that, from the purists who say no antimony in their barrels to the died in the wool ww users for BP.
I have a 40-82 that leads up badly. Only batch of bullets that didn't were some that were .001 undersize of WW + 2% tin. Not shooting that gun right now, but I need to do more tests on that alloy and see if it was just a one off incidence or the WW really did make a difference.

[John Boy]

How might wheel weights work with black?

Bill, depends on the rifle. Here's a 100yd target. Out of 25 shots, 14 were in the ragged hole. The loading data is on the target

[NickSS]

I have been shooting WW bullets in my BP rifles for years without any problems. I only use 1 in 30 alloy for long range matches over 200 yards. For shorter distances I use what I got. Sometimes pure WW other times when I have pure lead I mix it 50-50 with WW. I have even used range scrap. I useually make up my casting alloys in batches of 50 to 100 pounds and check accuracy of my loads and make adjustments as necessary. I find that I get just as good accuracy with WW in some of my rifles as I do with 30-1 alloy.

[Archey]

Bill, I just sent you a PM.

[Dragoon 45]

I shoot Frontier Cartridge in SASS. I use wheel weights and scrap lead to cast bullets for this. So far I have not had any leading issues or clean up problems.

I load 37 gr of Goex FFFg with a .030 Walters Wad over CCI LP primers in WW cases. My bullets are Lyman 454190 which drop from the mould at .454 using wheel weights. This load is more than accurate enough for SASS. Out of my 5.5" Vaquero I get a mv of 780 fps and from my 1894 Marlin with a 24" barrel I get 1280 fps.

Between wheel weights and a couple x-ray room doors I have a nice supply of lead for SASS use. When I cast for my .40-65 or .45-70 I buy known alloy of 20-1.

[Dick Dastardly]

Depending on your gun and mission, WW metal is fine with black powder. Especially for SASS distances. For long range BPCR I recommend 25:1 lead:tin alloy.

Leading shouldn't be a problem with your mission and well fitting lube/sized bullets.

DD-DLoS

[Boz330]

I have gotten some really good groups from WW in my 40-65 BPCR,,,,,,,,,,,,BUT,,,,,,,,, it has always leaded up before the the end of a match.
I'm not sure why there is a difference but that is just my experience with WWs and BP.

Bob