Originally Posted by
WBR10654
well that is the first time I have hear that about the .515s for shooting hard lead...
DPB
We shot hard lead cast bullets for years in centerfire revolvers, .357 and .44 magnum. The faster you push pure lead, the more leading you get. This is well known by Black Powder Cartridge Silhouette shooters who push big 500+ grain bullets to higher velocities to get hits on 500 meter rams, so harder alloys resist that. The harder you cast, the larger the bullets will come out of the mould. Usually you can get .002 to .003 thousandths depending on how exotic your alloy is. I used to harden with linotype, mixed about 10 parts pure to one part lino. Linotype ingots were pretty scarce for me so I needed a better alloy.
Talking with Mr. Veral Smith of LBT one day, he told me that there were only 3 makers of wheel weights in the country and one of those was exclusive to Sears, so wheel weights were very consistent metal. He said the secret to get good hard alloys from wheel weights was to smelt them down in about 100 lb lots, flux them, scoop off the dross and pour them into ingots for use when you are casting. I mix 3 parts pure lead with one part wheel weights and have gotten very consistent hard lead bullets for years. With only 2 types of lead in the shop, it's easy to keep track of what you're melting.
I'm relatively new to skirmishing, only 12 years or so, but I've seen that many skirmishers use only pure lead in all their firearms. My rule is to use pure lead for anything that loads from the front and hard lead for any breachloaders. The slightly larger projectiles also engrave the rifling better making for better accuracy.
Bob Anderson
Company C, 1st Michigan Volunteer Infantry
Small Arms Committee
"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
- John Wayne in "The Shootist", 1976
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