Roundball Hardness

[dbowling]

I have 20 + lbs of wheel weights and have been casting all my ball and R.E.A.L. round with w.w. for the past 2 years with no issues.... of course I can't hit the broad side of the barn either... 

have you tried closing the doors first ?

   

[Red Badger]

I have 20 + lbs of wheel weights and have been casting all my ball and R.E.A.L. round with w.w. for the past 2 years with no issues.... of course I can't hit the broad side of the barn either... 

have you tried closing the doors first ?

   

I may be the primary administrator on this site but as you can see I am also the butt of must of the jokes around here.... I happen to have very thick skin and can let the children have their fun, but I do have the oppertunity to get even... 

[Dogshirt]

 

[pilgrim]

         That could be why Badgers rifle, named Patience,       waits patiently for him to .......................        Apparently the rifle DID name itelf.           

[Otter]

I have 20 + lbs of wheel weights and have been casting all my ball and R.E.A.L. round with w.w. for the past 2 years with no issues.... of course I can't hit the broad side of the barn either... 

Try shooting at the barn from the inside. It helps me a great deal.   

[Otter]

On a more serious note about the alloy question.

I've not cast many RB's but have cast many, many BPCR bullets in various alloys. What my mentor taught me is that up to a 50-1 lead-tin alloy is beneficial for casting and does not affect the hardness greatly. The tin in small quantities does act sort of like a soap to help reduce the surface tension of the alloy letting it more completely  fill out the mold at a lower operating temperature. Antimony does two things. First is to increase hardness, the second is to dampen the effect of the tin to grow an uneven crystalline structure in the bullet, making if unbalanced.
So my learning is that a 50-1 lead-tin alloy seems to cast really nice bullets and rb's. I've not noticed any difficulty loading or a difference in accuracy, Of course I'm a relative newcomer to shooting rb's.

And this information is worth everything you paid for it.   

[William]

Yea, some days it seems that I can't even hit the ground with my hat....

[Dogshirt]

I've had days like that.

[easttexas]

hi guys, i have shot every type of lead i can get my hands on thru the years in over 35 different revolvers and over a dozen rifles, fwiw, ive never been able to tell much difference in accuracy in any of the different hardness of leads, i have purty much always cast my own and ive usually used whatever i can get my hands on, ive shot plumbers lead, roofin lead, wheel weights both old and newer, and lead from diving weights as well as ballast frome boats, ive shot lead from phone booths and evrything except battery lead.
  the patch, if proper, will engage the rifling and ive never had a leading problem either with  a properly patched ball, i do try when possible, to use the softer lead in the revolvers as the rifling is engaged by the projectile only, but lead is getting harder to get and i will shoot what i can get.

im not tryin to come off as a know it all, just sayin what has worked fer me , proven and time tested, i try to keep it in mind that the folks who shot these guns originally, didnt have acess to all the super powders, lubes, etc thaat we do today, yet they managed to keep the food on the table as well as the enemies at bay so i try to go with the keep it simple outlook on all this stuff,  the mountain men woulda throwed their  hawkens in the first creek they came to, if they hadda found a repeatin rifle at the time anyhow

[Rocklock]

I think hard balls of any material (brass, we, glass, etc) would work better in shallow grooved barrels vs deeper - say .010 to .013. Lead balls w a tight patch fit will flow into the grooves and help the patch seal as well as adding "traction" for the rifling.
TC

[gunmaker]

I've heared tell a brass balls, but never knowed anyone ta own up to it.  Seems like a brass PRB in a ML would be somewhat like a dangreous game solid shot round. ? ....Tom (who's only shot lead)

[Black Jack]

I have heard of hunters using antimony to increase hardness of large caliber balls. The hard balls would have better penetration on very large game, like a solid bullet on African game. On the other hand, there is absolutely no need to use a harder alloy on a caliber like a .32. Of course, if someone gave me say, 50 lbs of linotype (or similar) lead for free, I would want to experiment to see if I could use it in my smaller bores.

[easttexas]

     ill be happy to shoot any lead yall dont like just send it on!

[Hanshi]

Linotype is expensive and hard to come by.  Why not mix it with WW or lead and come up with a hard ball without wasting the linotype.  You can also trade it 1 to 2 or 3 at least for lead.

[forrest]

As to a hard ball that is all use any more soft lead can go splat when it large bone, a hard ball will go through.

     Forrest