Less Flux while casting for the Front Stuffer??

D

deerslayer303

New member
Hey Ya'll,
I read this section of the forum alot, but this is my first post in here. I hear alot of you saying that if you don't flux you will lose alot of the antimony and tin content of your lead. So since I cast for my muzzle stuffers (conical, RB) should I flux a whole lot less than I do? Because general consensus is the purer the lead the better for the front stuffer. I have all WW for my lead source and I melt at as close to 700 as possible as to not get any zinc anywhere close to the melting point. Thoughts??
 
Recommend you swap your Wheel weight lead unless it is from the stick on tape type weights for softer lead. The clip ons have tin and antimony in them which are the components that begin to seperate slightly and are the need for fluxing. Softer lead is indeed better for your ol smoke pole. Good sources for soft lead are tape on weights and should be sorted as are zinc and iron ones out there, lead roof flashing, lead pluming pipe are all good sources. You should be able to find someone eager to swap with you as the clip on weights are getting harder to come up with than soft lead. Several shooting interest forums have a buy/sell/trade forum available or you can sell your lead outright then try e-bay under outdoor sports and reloading search to get the lead you need. If all else fails buy direct from Roto Metals.

Hope this helps,
10 Spot
 
Yeah, I've been putting off the inevitable. I'm going out to a scrap yard Monday I called them today and they said they have lead in all sorts of configurations, from flashing, pipe, ww, shielding, etc. So I should look for pipe and flashing huh?
 
Ok, I will dig around out there to see what I can find. I will separate out my WW and cast my corn cob ingots with them, then I'll trade them off or sell them and buy pure lead. I got a thermometer on the way so I can start smelting at 650 deg. :cool:
 
Last edited:
Fluxing is a must, but you're not going to burn the tin and antimony out no matter what. The antimony binds with tin very easily, and tin is a true alloy to lead--meaning once it's there, it's not coming out. you might be able to reduce it a little, but it's there for life for all intents and purposes.

Now, lead x-ray shielding, old water pipe (length, not joints), roofing boots, etc, as well as stick-on WW, are going to be very close to pure. Good places to start looking for your RB material.

Now---all THAT being said... You aren't going to hurt anything by shooting the WW's you've been shooting. Soft lead will be easier to stuff at the start, but you aren't going to hurt your muzzle-stuffer one bit. What WILL happen is a lot less expansion and deformation---not an issue with target shooting, but a big factor in hunting.

These are all .451 RB fired at 15' from my 1851 Navy. I think the charge was 25gr. FFFg---all three into wet phonebook (AKA wet-packs).

DSCF4494-1.jpg


Left=dead-soft lead. Obviously it deformed heavily.

Center=dead-soft with about 3% tin added. Still deformed, but only about 50% as much with deeper penetration.

Right=regular Clip-on WW's. As you can see, deformation doesn't exist--in fact, I could have loaded this ball again and fired it without an issue. Penetration was more than double that of dead-soft. HOWEVER, impact cratering (what would represent a wound channel was very small. In other words, NOT a good ball to take game with--or try to, as it may be.

Summary: Use the alloy you see fit to the purpose. But on your end, your WW's aren't going to be much issue.
 
Great Post Rangefinder

Thank you! When you loaded that ww ball into your navy did you have to use a loading press? It looks like it still shaved a nice ring all the way around the ball from the pic. Anyway, I'm thinking of using a 50/50 mix of pure and ww's for my .58 R.E.A.L bullets that I will use for hunting fired out of my Hawken Carbine. I want them to deform some and still give good penetration. But with over a half inch of lead and over 400 grains should I reeeaaally be worried about the bullet expanding?? :D
 
I wanted to share this little story. I stopped by a wheel shop today that I haven't stopped at before. I walked in and all the mechanics were standing around talking. So I asked if they had any ww's they wanted to get rid of. And about that time a younger fella said "you making up some Musket balls?" I said yep, and he said " I've never tried it but I KNOW how to do I've seen the movie the PATRIOT" We all busted out laughing.
 
Wheel weight reccomendations, these days, can be misleading.
My tire guy is an avid modern gun reloader and shooter.
Of course, he has access to a lot of reclaimed wheel weights. And, he tells me they can be made of anything these days. Doesn't matter if they are stick on or the old clip on types. You never know what they will be made of. He even sees some that are all steel.
For guys like me who want pure soft lead, the WWs are not an option.
For modern pistol bullets they are probably OK but with inconsistent hardness results.
 
Deerslayer>> I don't even have a loading block for the 1851--if I did shoot a lot of ww balls through it I certainly would. So yes, that was loaded with the ball ram, same as I generally would with any ball. It shaves a nice ring, and is definitely harder to start, but not overly so.

Now, for your 400gr. REAL and deer... Why not just go for broke and hit 'em with your truck? :D

If you really want some expansion, you could hollow point it. Yes--Lee molds CAN be hollow pointed--I've done quite a few. In that case, with a 50-50 alloy (add a touch of tin) you'd be running the same alloy as my HP pistol bullets use in .357 and .40S&W with frightening results. let me know if you might want to entertain the possibility. I could talk you through the process if you have a couple tools, or we could work something out very reasonable if you don't.
 
Rangefinder said:
Now, for your 400gr. REAL and deer... Why not just go for broke and hit 'em with your truck?
Click to expand...

Fenders is expensive!:eek:

deerslayer303 said:
I will separate out my WW and cast my corn cob ingots with them,
Click to expand...

I thought I was the only guy what did that. I can look under my bench and tell the alloy from the ingot shape. Square ingots are pure lead, corncob ingots are wheel weights, and straight stick ingots are linotype.
 
I thought I was the only guy what did that. I can look under my bench and tell the alloy from the ingot shape. Square ingots are pure lead, corncob ingots are wheel weights, and straight stick ingots are linotype.
Click to expand...

NOPE! I hate playing the game "Guess that alloy". WW is lyman brick, dead-soft is muffin, hard rifle alloy is egg, and pewter is all 2oz. coin.--keeps it easy for recognition AND for blending. Pistol blend is 2 bricks, 2 muffins, 1 coin=perfect HP ratio. I like fast, easy, and consistent.

Fenders is expensive!
Click to expand...
Yah, but a day with an arc welder can turn out a nice bumper guard! :D Put a couple tow hooks on it and you don't even need to get out of the truck--it'll gut 'em, and carry 'em home for you. If they drag a little then you don't even need to skin 'em! :D
 
I do the same thing.
Pure Lead is in Lee ingots.
Isotope alloy is in Lyman ingots.
WW/Scrap alloy is in mushroom cans (range lead, recovered test projectiles, scrap ingots, drippings, whatever - I just stack the cans like ingots). I keep WW and "Scrap" alloys together, since WW alloys are so variable that you never know what you're getting, anyway.
Linotype is cast in bullet form: 437 grains, for almost exactly 1 ounce. It makes alloying very easy.
 
I separate my ingots by the corn cob are standard WW, The big heavy 8 inch iron skillet one is stick on WW. Muffins are WW with plumber's silver alloy for hot magnum bullet loads.

Oh and I flux any lead I melt down. It has not hurt anything so far.

Oh and for deer my grandmother once got three of them. One was a 150 class buck with a Ford LTD. The car was totaled, and so were the deer. They were pretenderized.:p Not to mention that it happened on a Christmas Eve :eek:. The car was 2 weeks old with less than 400 miles on it. Insurance replaced it in two weeks.
 
Now, for your 400gr. REAL and deer... Why not just go for broke and hit 'em with your truck?

[/QUOTE

You know, I thought the same thing when I ordered that mold :eek:, but its the only one they offer for a .58, soooo I guess I'll just count out using any meat from the shoulders LOL. They ought not run to far though. As far as hitting em with the truck, I would, because the truck is dressed for that occasion, but they NEVER run out in front of it. But you can bet your arse as soon as I slide behind the wheel of the ole lady's Tahoe (with no front end protection) I'm dodging them suckers like squirrels LOL. The thing is like a magnet for deer.
Click to expand...
 
Know what you mean. It's just like Bill Ingval said--"If you could find a way to put headlights and a horn on a bullet, you wouldn't even need to aim--just shoot and the deer will jump out in front of it." A .58 REAL just might be big enough to do it with... Did I mention that I'd be really curious what a cupped-point or full on hollow-point would do on a piece of artillery like that? :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top