Casting for bp...ww vs pure lead...question
- Thread starter icehunter121
- Start date
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
pure lead is best.
ww is too hard it cast over size and well you will have a hard time loading them as they dont swage down like pure lead i have used WW but you need to go down in size even more then a pure lead ball
Try some.
The alloying metals (tin/antimony/???) make WW harder than straight run lead. Will make starting a ball in the bore a bunch to a bit harder, depending on your patch thickness.
Will be misery on the hands to drive a Minie ball or REAL bullet into heavy rifling.
Try and see. It may work for you, or it may make too hard a bullet.
Cheers
Trev
The alloying metals (tin/antimony/???) make WW harder than straight run lead. Will make starting a ball in the bore a bunch to a bit harder, depending on your patch thickness.
Will be misery on the hands to drive a Minie ball or REAL bullet into heavy rifling.
Try and see. It may work for you, or it may make too hard a bullet.
Cheers
Trev
for the first several years I used nothing but wheel weights and miscellaneous scrap lead for casting round ball. They are slightly larger than pure lead because most alloy leads shrink less on cooling. Absolutely nothing wrong with them for target shooting as far as I am concerned. I would not use them in mini balls because I don't think the skirt would expand enough. I also would not use pure lead for mini balls because the skirt freezes too fast and I tend to get cracks and wrinkles in the US style mini with a thin skirt edge
For hunting, it is a toss up. On smaller animals including Vancouver Island deer, I would lean towards pure lead because they flatten out more. For bears and larger animals I would lean towards wheel weights or hardened lead because they would penetrate farther
I didn't notice any difference in difficulty of loading because I matched my patch thickness to the ball that I was loading
cheers mooncoon
For hunting, it is a toss up. On smaller animals including Vancouver Island deer, I would lean towards pure lead because they flatten out more. For bears and larger animals I would lean towards wheel weights or hardened lead because they would penetrate farther
I didn't notice any difference in difficulty of loading because I matched my patch thickness to the ball that I was loading
cheers mooncoon
The mold I picked up is a lee roundball in .530 DIA. THe patches I am using are T/C round ball,pre lubed,#7044,,,.015 thickness....do you think this will work or need a thinner patch??
I use a .535 rb. I bought some .15 patches and found them too tight, especially after some fouling builds up. I'm using .10 now, .69 cal patches and seems to work well. With a .530 ball it should be ok with the .15 patches. That would give you .560 for a .54 cal.
Optimum patch thickness is partially up to each individual. If you can get the patch down the barrel and it doesn't hurt your hand to much, the only remaining question is to make sure that the patches are not burning through. I like a patch to be fairly snug but not so much that I get a sore hand pushing it down the first several inches with the short starter
cheers mooncoon
With a .530 RB you might do okay with WW metal and appropriate patch. Try some denim in 6 oz. and 8 oz. weight. Compressed thickness will be close to .004" and .006" respectively.... obviously you need .005" around the RB for tight fit. My 54 cal rifle does really well with .530 pure lead RB's and 8 oz. denim patch. With the .530" ball and thicker patch you may do very well but only testing will tell. Good luck.
More or less the same statement applies to pure lead; you need the right combination of ball diameter and patch thickness. Also if you have been casting with pure lead, you will find that because ww shrink less, they will be a couple of thousandths bigger than pure lead ones, if cast from the same mould.
From your description it almost sounds as if you are casting a ball that is .005 under bore diameter
cheers mooncoon
I measured one of the cast balls the other day and they are at .530-.532. So my thinking is to find a patch material that is about .008 or so. The ones I cast out of ww,you cant even mark them with your thumbnail. I was also thinking about trying a unpatched ball and ramming it in the barrel just to get a feel for how hard it is.
I know I would have to pull it after....but some thing in the back of my mind says " DONT" try that stunt cause you are gonna cause your self grief. Thoughts on that one ppl??
I know I would have to pull it after....but some thing in the back of my mind says " DONT" try that stunt cause you are gonna cause your self grief. Thoughts on that one ppl??
as long as you put some powder down the barrel first, you should be able to shoot the ball out.
re your initial question, the ball should fall down the barrel without resistance. Most people shoot balls which are .010" under bore size. Once or twice I have had a ball slip out of my fingers and out of the patch and fall straight down the barrel
re patch thickness; buy or scrounge several thickness of patch material from .010 to .020 and try them. You should find that some will load easily, some will load with a moderate amount of resistance and some are very difficult to load. Go with the moderate resistance ones and check fired patched for burning through
a final thought; the handle on my short starter is 8 or 9" long because I find that seating a bullet that far down with the short starter makes it much easier to finish the job with the ramrod
cheers mooncoon
re your initial question, the ball should fall down the barrel without resistance. Most people shoot balls which are .010" under bore size. Once or twice I have had a ball slip out of my fingers and out of the patch and fall straight down the barrel
re patch thickness; buy or scrounge several thickness of patch material from .010 to .020 and try them. You should find that some will load easily, some will load with a moderate amount of resistance and some are very difficult to load. Go with the moderate resistance ones and check fired patched for burning through
a final thought; the handle on my short starter is 8 or 9" long because I find that seating a bullet that far down with the short starter makes it much easier to finish the job with the ramrod
cheers mooncoon
Just a note of caution. Make sure the ball is firmly against the powder when you pull the trigger. An air space between the ball and the powder will sometimes allow the ball to act as a bore obstruction that may result in a damaged barrel.
Bonus round coming up....found a old bed sheet in my shop that was destined for grease rag material and it measures in at .008 thickness...its clean and useable...now for the moose milk stuff...for some strange reason i had a bottle of Murphys oil soap kickin around. I cant remember where I got it, but low and behold I have it for a reason now!!
Then the water soluble oil...2 phone calls and scored a pop bottle full of it for nothing...I think I might be in business to retry the home made cast rb out of the .54...Life is just gettin better with every phone call!!
Then the water soluble oil...2 phone calls and scored a pop bottle full of it for nothing...I think I might be in business to retry the home made cast rb out of the .54...Life is just gettin better with every phone call!!
Mooncoon; you've got me scratching my head. How does the ball grab the rifling to initiate a spin if it is fit so loosely? Does the patch not only act as wadding and an area of less friction for the benefit of the projectile?
You've helped myself and others on this site more times than I can count, my questions are just that, and asked with the utmost of respect.
Truly confused, Plinker777
vagrantviking
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Alberta
The patching is the main thing that engages the rifling and imparts spin to the ball. You can often see the weave pattern impressed into a recovered or pulled ball. At the same time patching acts as a gas seal and also cleans by pushing the fouling down with every reload.
The ball also obturates or expands on firing to fit tighter into the grooves. Think of the powder charge igniting as a hammer that squashes the ball a bit wider. This is the primary effect when using unpatched conical bullets such as maxi or mini bullets. Its also why using the softest lead possible is recommended.
The ball also obturates or expands on firing to fit tighter into the grooves. Think of the powder charge igniting as a hammer that squashes the ball a bit wider. This is the primary effect when using unpatched conical bullets such as maxi or mini bullets. Its also why using the softest lead possible is recommended.
