leading problem

[runfiverun]

soften the lead to seal like the hard lead higher pressure load does.

[gunslinger20]

I have a 10# lee pot, pure lead and ww Im not sure where to start, maybe 50/50 wpure lead to ww?
Thanks for all the help evryone.

[docone31]

First, Keep your Pot Clean!
Melt into ingots seperately. I use an old muffin pan and seperate heat source.
Keeping it clean is half the battle.
I like 50/50 mixes. Does the job with my ACP.

[mroliver77]

50/50 pure lead to WW is a good place to start. You could add a smidge of tin also. I think that is going to help a bunch. I have been there and done same to fix. Keep us posted.
Jay

[gunslinger20]

At presant I dont have any tin and ww are comming hopfully this thursday 1-6-11. I used to only cast maxi balls for my muzzleloader out of pure lead so this is a new ball game for me.

[gunslinger20]

ok got the ww why are my ww smelt ingets frosty looking. The melt temp was around 650 outside temp around 30. I could only put a few ww in at a time cuz the pot would freeze up, didnt want to get any forein metals in the mix. Boolits look good except for the frosted look. They are within 8gns of the stated wt. on the mold 300 gns= 308 the alloy that i was useing cast 317gns which i was told was 12bhn When i used to cast pure lead for muzzleloaders they had a mirror like shine. I have not shot any of the new casts. Is the frosting normal for ww boolits?

[gunslinger20]

Disregard the frosty boolit concern i got the answer. I shot a few, not for accuracy just to see if they lead and they did 20gns 2400 255gn lrfnpb as cast not sized tumble lubed alox 50% jpw 50% solvent cooked down not out

[MtGun44]

Try a real lube in a known good boolit design, soft enough and/or large enough to
fit in advance. Tumble lubed sounds like inadequate lube quantity and probably quality.

Frosty means zippo except you are hot enough and will probably get good fill out.

What mold? I shoot lots of 20gr/2400 with 50-50 Lino-Pb or straight AC WWts Keith
250 and get zero leading and 2" at 50 yds over a rest. Same results with many different
guns (accy varies a bit worse with some other guns). Same result with 4 diff .357 Mags
and .38 Spl S&W and Ruger (~ 1" at 25 yds, zero leading, multiple boolits incl LBT style
Lee 158 bb). NRA 50-50 lube or LBT soft blue.

Unknown quality lubes are often a real issue, IMO. I wonder why folks spend so much
time piddling with floor wax and other stuff when NRA 50-50, LBT, Lyman, etc lubes cost
very little. Save $1, lead the bore.

Bill

[gunslinger20]

lee 452255rf and c452300 I also have tried 255gn and 275gn boolits from penn that are .452 with single lube groove and they say bhn 12. I have not tried 50-50 ww-pb.

[gunslinger20]

ok still get leading in forceing cone with the following 6.0 gn trail boss and 255gn lee 452255rf with ww, ww water qu ww stick ons all boolits as dropped 453.5-454 barrel fire lapped cyl reamed 452 lube liquid alox jpw

[44man]

This is the most informative forum i have seen on the net anyehere.
If I shoot the same boolits with 24 gn of h110 there is no leading at all thats why I was thinking of trying a softer bhn than the 12bhn for light loads

Failure thinking of softer for light loads. Pressure rises faster and even though the total is less, it hits the boolit RIGHT NOW.
Use the 24 BHN or even harder up to 30 BHN for the light loads.

[gunslinger20]

wow im not following that thought, if you use hard boolits for lite loads and hard boolits for heavy loads why would there be any need for anything less than 24?

[geargnasher]

wow im not following that thought, if you use hard boolits for lite loads and hard boolits for heavy loads why would there be any need for anything less than 24?

Comparatively light loads require (generally) powders with fast burn rates to get consistent ignition and full, clean burn with low peak average pressure.

Fast powders are, well, FAST.

Let me introduce you to the nemesis of soft boolits and fast powders: Boolit Skid.

Boolit skid opens up the land engraves to wider than the lands, if it's bad enough it will cause pressure hemorraging around the boolit and gas-cutting which lays down fine lead particals in the bore ahead of the boolit. The boolit's passage over these particals irons them on and you get LEADING.

Harder boolits that fit the gun correctly will reduce Boolit Skid greatly with any powder burn rate. They don't have to be 24 bhn, but harder than 12 can solve some problems created with low-pressure loads/soft boolits/fast powders. Not THE way, just A way that can be tried.

Sometimes, if things are balanced right, the fast powder can overcome the acceleration rate of the boolit and force the base band to deform enough to reseal in the bore. It's a razor's edge, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. That's how black powder (one of the fastest-burning propellants in existence) and dead-soft lead can work in a revolver. That, and a quality lube.

Gear