"Pure lead..."

[geraldbergeron]

Hi,

I a new to this forum that I read every week since a few months; You have a wonderful forum.

I cast my round balls with lead that is as pure as I can find.

I was wondering why we have to use "pure" lead with RB/patch muzzleloader.

Thank you

Gerald Bergeron.

 

[trevj]

Pure is used because it is the softest.

Any alloying metals added in make the bullet or ball harder, which you may or may not wish to have.

Cheers
Trev

 

[ben hunchak]

Softer alloys(pure lead) expand to some extent upon firing, providing a better seal in the bore and are usually more accurate, it is usually easier to load in a muzzleloader as well.

 

[Claven2]

For smoothbores firing patched round ball, it really doesn't matter very much. For rifled bores, the alloyed lead doesn't deform readily enough to push the ball down easily with a ramrod.

 

[mooncoon]

I have shot thousands of alloyed roundballs out of rifled guns with no problems. If you are casting your own, there are small differences in diameter because of differences in shrinking rates. Commercial round balls are probably made of pure lead in part because they are swaged and the pure lead is easier to swage. One advantage of alloy is that it melts a lot cooler than pure lead.

cheers mooncoon

 

[nessy357]

I wonder how much it had to do with the availability during the early settler days when the sailing ships off loaded their lead ballast, and how available was tin and antimony, simpler just to stick to pure lead ?
I read a story about a rancher in New Mexico, while out riding the range had to duck into a slough during a downpour.While waiting out the rain he unearthed a rifle in a leather scabbard and a pouch.The rifle had a crude carving of a man on the stock. The pouch contained bars of lead and some rudimentry lead balls. The rancher deduced from the find that the local natives would cut an end from the lead bar and form a round ball with their teeth.
I've also heard where the early settlers retrieved ball from animals they hunted because of the scarcity of lead then.
Cheers nessy.

 

[mooncoon]

The square riggers at least used rock for ballast; that is where those rockpiles came from in Nanaimo, in Departure bay. Lead would have been far to expensive to use except for permanent ballast on small boats.
Judging from the writings of Mark Baker, lead was cast into thin strips or bars for easy melting in a small ladle. I think the part of the value of lead is probably true when you think of the stories of 3rd or 4th place shooters in shooting competitions, winning the right to dig lead out of the stump or board being shot at.

cheers mooncoon