wheel weight bullets in a smith?

[OLD CHIEF]

I saw a old post where someone was using hard lead ( wheel weights ) bullets in his smith. Anyone having good results in your smith with hard lead ? if so what ratio of lead to wheel weights are you using?

With scrap lead getting harder to find and more costly, I started using much cheaper hard lead in my smooth bore with good results.


Thanks
Bill Hicks
4th La
Dahlonega Ga

[Don Wilt, 11906]

Chief, I use 2/3 wheel & 1/3 pure lead. As the saying goes ' the gun will out shoot me anyday!'. Best to give it a try. Good luck.

[louis]

I've shot wheelweights, pure lead and linotype. They all worked very well.

[Eric A. Savickas, 08663V]

Did the linotype make screeching noises while going down the barrel?

[Ken Hansgen, 11094]

Bill, I have been using a 2:1 mixture of some fairly hard lead I brought from CA + some melted down X-ray foil from a dentist, which is quite hard. Bullets measure about 2.5 on the SAECO scale, which converts to about 5.5 or 6 on the Brinell hardness scale. What hardness is linotype? The Smith shoots these quite well -- as the old saying goes, "The gun shoots better than I can."

P.S. I'm sure you lube your bullets, as I do, so hear no screech as they go down the barrel!

[Buzzo]

If you use linotype, do you have to aim right to compensate for the far left leaning press use? :lol:

[Pete J., 4368V]

This subject comes up often, but it is well-researched by people like The Cast Bullet Association. Linotype is very hard and true Linotype runs 18 to 19 on the Brinell Hardness Scale whereas pure Lead is a 5 and the 1:30 lead/tin alloy used by many to improve "flow" and filling out the mould, is a 9.

Linotype is 84% Lead, 12% Antimony and 4% Tin. [Antimony itself is 50 on the BH and is the hardening agent in the Linotype.]

Wheel Weights used to come from three different manufacturers in the U.S. and each used a different alloy. Any wheel weights coming from places like China now compound the problem of getting consistency from mix to mix.

Is that significant? YES. For example, a bullet cast from Linotype that weighs 400 gr. will weigh 438.5 gr. if cast from pure lead. So if you are going to make up your own alloy, you better know what you are doing.

Secondly, with black powder firearms, we don't have to worry much about bullet alloys. Pure lead will do almost everything but a 1:20 or 1:30 alloy with tin will fill out the mould easily and harden the alloy just enough to keep from leading up your barrel.

A lot of people think that carbines shoot better with a hard alloy bullet. In actuality, probably not any better than you can hold the gun even using a bench rest. BUT CAUTION: if you are shooting a Maynard or a Smith and want to keep shooting it for 3,000 rounds a season, stay away from Antimony or Linotype. The rifling is shallow and subject to being torn up (rounded over lands) by anything as hard as Linotype.

Yes, somebody will jump in and say "I've been shooting Linotype in my Smith for 10 years without a problem." Fine. But what is the actual size of your bore when you slug it and then measure the slug with a V-anvil micrometer made for measuring a 3-surface object? Then, compare it with the real diameter of the bullet you are casting, assuming EVERY bullet is cast at the same temperature of alloy and mould.

Hot bullets (800-degrees) will shrink more as they cool than bullets cast at 750-degrees. Thus, you may THINK your bullet is .002 over land-to-land size, but you have no way of telling for sure unless you have the instruments and do the tests.

BUT, it doesn't make a lot of difference, unless you are using "hard lead" like Linotype. A bullet that's .005 over land diameter will still shoot well, but you don't know what effect it is having on the original rifling of a Smith or Maynard. A Sharps, not much problem. You probably can't shoot it out anyway.

All the above is to say that you are treading into an unknown area that has been well-researched in Handloader magazine and other publications devoted to those who accelerate cast bullets to 200% to 300% of the velocity of a black powder firearm.

Use caution. A 1:10 tin/lead alloy is twice as hard as pure lead and fine for any Carbine. This alloy is an 11 on the BHN Scale, and that puts it HALF as hard as Linotype. :roll:

[Mikeski]

I would like to add one more item to the complex subject of lead alloy and that is to make sure the printers type Does Not contain any Zink which is used to surface the type and make it last through many impressions. The reason beeing that Zink melts at almost the same temp as lead but is very hard and much lighter then lead but will never mix with lead as will tin or antimony thus giving bullets a balance problem. this info I got years ago from an article in the cast bullet magazine. Mikeski.