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casting .600 round balls

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11th corps

40 Cal.
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I have been "mining lead" lately, from a smokeless powder pistol range I frequent. The lead bullets I have been digging up I understand are too hard for muzzle loaders. Does the hardness of the lead make a difference for a smooth bore however?

I am just in the process of gathering lead. I am a novice at casting.
 
doesnt any metal soften with heat? im not a professional tho....
 
No sweat with the smoothbore. In fact lots of folks up here use wheelweights to cast RBs for moose from smoothbores in order to get better penetration. Diameter may be a little different depending on the alloy, so you might have to change patch thickness, but no biggy. I've heard of guys using alloy balls in rifles too, but I haven't tried it myself.

BTW- If nothing else you can use the mined alloy for other things such as fishing weights, thus reserving the pure lead for RBs if you want. That's what I do.
 
11th corps said:
I have been "mining lead" lately, from a smokeless powder pistol range I frequent. The lead bullets I have been digging up I understand are too hard for muzzle loaders. Does the hardness of the lead make a difference for a smooth bore however?

I am just in the process of gathering lead. I am a novice at casting.


if you are using lead from a range...I can't speak on the accuracy (I use pur) but you will have a big difference in ball weight. No problem for plinkling and goofing off....frustrating for target or competitions...Minie's are worthless with alloy
 
Not a problem for a smoothbore. I use wheel weights for .715 and .590 balls for my musket and trade gun respectively. They work fine. I save the pure lead for rifle and minie balls.
 
I'm with you. I bought a Tanner .590 mold specifically for WW metal to use with my fowler. The .600 ball will be maybe .005" larger and a few grains lighter but should pose no problem. I also like to save my lead for rifles; have a couple hundred pounds of WW. .600 soft lead ball works fine but sure does use up a lot of lead.
 

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