Looks like I'm going to have to get some pure lead or something because these little cast bullets I make are stiff too much. So originally my alloy was heat treaded 100% wheel weights. Used nothing but clip on wheel weights ( the harder of the two types) quenched bullets right from the mold while casting and right out the oven after powder coating ( juat dumped them into a bucked of water nothing fancy) . Basically this game me a super hard lead alloy 20bhn average. Started calling it poor man's linotype lol. Well I needed that hard of a alloy for what I was doing with my AR-15 for various reasons. Well now I shelved that project for a little bit I'm trying to make something a little ....calmer , for lack of a better word. Basically I'm going form pushing these things 2100-2400 fps down too 1000-1400fps. Basically kinda a gallery load type of deal. The problem is a 20bhn bullet is just plain too hard to expand at all. So decided to mess around with air cooling instead of quenching. Well bring bang boom dropped my bhn down to 15bhn by not quenching after power coating, just let them air cool. Well a 15bhn and under alloy moving as slow as these loads are supposed to is supposed to be a good expanding deal.....wellllllll.... These little guys said lol nope
So these should only be moving like 1200fps . Made this load to be a kinda a suped up .22lr. and 55gr bullet power coated gas checked


First test 3 1gallon just of water @30yd. Basically a foot and a half of water .though it would be enough to stop and capture buuuuttt .... Well








Yeaahhh just zipped right though that , so I says ok. Five gallon bucket full of wet newspaper


Well it zipped though that too so since the bottas where still half full I set them up about half a foot between each other then the bucket behind them and well...



Went right though that !! I'm about to go to roto metals and order some pure lead ,tin and animony to mix my own alloys because this right here is crazy lol. I mean this load is pretty dang accurate soft shooting and just plain gun but I think I need SOME kinda expansion if I wanna use this one even small game. Honestly curious what these would do in my little .22 hornet

You still quenching after casting? If so, stop and see what happens.

Don't forget wheel weights are not lead anymore, many are Zinc. with similar melting points.

All the ingot's I made where 100% lead ,made sure to test every piece so nice since contamination

Haven t cast any new ones in a few months just going though old stock. The next few batches with all be air cooled

You know this has me curious, wonder what a HP would do ?

ROTO is PRICEY. Keep your eyes open for old houses you can salvage at or make a deal with the contractor tearing it down. Sometimes I get hired to haul one off to a dump. Often old houses have pure lead flashing on the roof. takes a minute to uncover but its worth it. Those old lead pipes are soft lead too. ROTO is quick and easy but if you keep your ear to the ground you should be able to come up with some without paying those vultures.

This came out of a deer I killed with a cap and ball revolver. Pietta 44 caliber. I used 40 grains by volume of pyrodex and a 200 grain bullet cast from a lee mold with soft salvaged plumbers lead. Shot was about 20 yards. I never chronographed any of them but velocities ought to be in the range your talking about.


bullet was one of these (left side)

Is powder for muzzleloaders available or is it hard to find like everything else?

Midsouth has some in stock right now

Gotta ask did it drop in it's track or did it run some after getting her with that thing

ran about 50 yards or so

Wolfdog,
Are you sure that quenching them isn't actually making them softer than slow cooling would?
Most non-ferous metals actually anneal (get softer) by fast cooling, unlike iron that gets harder by fast cooling.

Caps and primers may be t he problem unless your talking flintlock.

Yep, caps have disappeared from store shelves.

Maybe I should crank up the lathe and make a tool for you that will put hollow point into your cast bullets using your reloading press. .... Let me know if you want something like that and I'll get on the drawing board and make some metal chips.

Can't beat an offer like that, stand up guy .

Would the lead that is used for pipe boots for roofing be softer?If so I could bring some to Miss. when we come down this winter.

So what happens if you quit powder coating?
just

100% lead is like 5bhn. You should be able to squeeze that fairly easy with pliers.

Google Glen Fryxell (ingots to target)