Shooting wheel weight lead instead of pure lead in black powder revolver?

[canoeguy]

I just picked up a Ruger "Old Army" revolver, it shoots great with commercial pure lead .457 round ball. I just picked up two Lee molds for it, a .457 round ball and a 220 grain conical.

Can you use wheel weight lead in a black powder revolver instead of pure lead? Does it make a difference if the projectile is a round ball or a conical?

What are the hazards and down sides?

I have about 300 pounds of scrap lead cast into ingots from wheel weights and other sources, but very little pure lead....

 

[ronnie gore]

lead weights

you would find the wheel weights would be to hard to seat into the front of the cylinder, where pure lead is nice and soft and works great in bp guns. i am not sure what kind of pressure you would get with wheel weights i suspect it would be a lot higher.

 

[GypsmJim]

Its too hard. You'll have trouble sealing the chamber and you'll run the risk of firing more than one at a time. If you try it be sure to grease the heck out of the cylinder so only one goes off at a time.

 

[alwslate]

I have one in stainless that I bought a few years ago and plan to try
triple seven in it someday when I get around to it. I had a blue one
back in the late 70s and shot the heck out of it for a while until I got
tired of cleaning it and sold it. I only shot Pyrodex, never black powder.
I shot commercial swaged .457 soft lead balls as well as cast balls I
bought bags of at gun shows. I think some of the gun show RBs were
cast of reclaimed bullets from shooting ranges. I also shot a bunch of
hard cast .45 SWCs for .45 acp and .45 Colt from 185 gr to 255 gr wt.
Remember a .457 dia. RB will be shaved some when seated. You just
have to make sure your bullets are lubed and seal the chambers. The
major problem with RB vrs. conical is that RBs are much lighter and
so point of impact will vary considerably. High pressure from a harder
lead RB? I don't think you could get enough BP or Pyrodex in a chamber
and seat a 143 gr .45 cal ball to damage your Ruger.

 

[mkk41]

I don't think you could get enough BP or Pyrodex in a chamber
and seat a 143 gr .45 cal ball to damage your Ruger.

In the big red Ruger book(pg.126) , Bill Ruger is quoted as ordering the Old Army to be proof-tested with Bullseye powder. They seated a ball over as much Bullseye they could , and , couldn't light it with a percussion cap. They opened the flash holes to get the ignition needed. Still couldn't blow the cylinder with any squib or full cylinder charges of Bullseye.

NOT TO BE TRIED AT HOME!

 

[CB38NC]

Hi Canoeguy
I just read your post and thought I'd better let you know about the following info. When I started reloading nearly 4 years ago,I was totally ignorant in this matter,so prior to getting started I ordered and read 3 different manuals,Lyman's,Sierra,and Lee's.I discovered in the last one a whole section dedicated to bullet casting (which the Lee family seem to be prominent pioneers of) and wherein you'll discover very useful info as to what kind of lead applies to what kind of loads along with a whole lot of data,and Richard Lee totally advises against wheel lead for blak powder(too hard)pure lead is required for it's maleability.Of course I don't know anything myself on the subject,but since we have to be very careful with our handloads for safety's sake,I decided you'd better get informed.By the way Lee's manual is a very good read and quite cheap and useful(very good data,especially on cast bullets & loads),maybe you should give it a go.

 

[mtgianni]

I don't know about the Ruger. I have cast and loaded ww round balls [patched] successfully for many years in 50 cal BP rifles. Accuracy is typically less than 1/4"-1/2" for a 10 shot group. IMO, if rb seat without shaving lead they should be OK. If the conicals are hollow based I would use pure lead with them. If they are solid and ww allow them to seat without shaving it will not hurt to try.

Many bp cartridge shooters use 1 in 20 or 1 in 30. I don't know what the tin gives to the Brinell Hardness Number but pure is 5 bhn and ww are from 11.5-12.5 bhn. Hard cast are 16-18 bhn, water dropped are 17-19 bhn and lino is around 22 bhn.

 

[Beans]

I don't know about the Ruger. I have cast and loaded ww round balls [patched] successfully for many years in 50 cal BP rifles. Accuracy is typically less than 1/4"-1/2" for a 10 shot group. IMO, if rb seat without shaving lead they should be OK. If the conicals are hollow based I would use pure lead with them. If they are solid and ww allow them to seat without shaving it will not hurt to try.

Many bp cartridge shooters use 1 in 20 or 1 in 30. I don't know what the tin gives to the Brinell Hardness Number but pure is 5 bhn and ww are from 11.5-12.5 bhn. Hard cast are 16-18 bhn, water dropped are 17-19 bhn and lino is around 22 bhn.

In my experience and confering with the Antimony Manhttp://www.theantimonyman.com/index.htm who lives in my area Tin does not add hardness but allows the lead mixture to flow better by improving fluidability which in turn allows the mold to fill out easier.

 

[Bugs Bunny]

I been using WW lead since the mid 80's as the years went by the quality went down as more & more ZINC is used in WW's.. I still use the same RCBS promelt & moulds for 44 & 45 slugs in CF pistols the wife & I use for IDPA, as for use in those older C&B type pistols I bet the stuff may be a tad hard or the lee moulds dump a tad undersize slugs if they are setup for LEAD..

On a side note with the use of WW's - if the WW's had been melted with a propane type device or anything that runs 900+ degrees, there is a good chance the material contains a really high ZINC content which will need be mixed with alot of lead just to be useable for decent casting - I never process any WW's at temps over 800 - 850 & try to cast at 700 - 750 degrees, some sell those ingots that are so hard my promelt wont melt them.

Most states have outlawed the use of lead in WW's now so thats becoming a thing of the past for us poor folks

a 5 gallon bucket full nets about 60% good viable material from the last few I have melted down, which really is not that good. if you have everything you should trial & error the material & your moulds, can't hurt to gain experience

 

[longranger]

Pure lead or 1:20,30 tin,you need the bullet to "bump up" and seal the chamber.As others have said W.W is to hard and will flame cut and lead your barrel and a possible "chain fire ". A lubed,patched round ball is a different story as the patch will seal the bore and give decent results.

 

[Kinman]

I got ingots of pure lead from the old Bunker Hill mine, they used to be so cheap guys used to put them in the trunk for traction. Pure lead is the way to go with a black powder revolver, you know you got everything right when after ramming the ball home you have the perfect ring of lead left over. I miss my original Colt 3rd model Dragoon, it was one of those that Colt brought out in the late 70's...saying that I will add that the Ruger Blackpowder revolver is the finest blackpowder revolver ever made, Ruger put alot of thought into its design and his loading lever is pure genious...the securement design is faultless and never allows the lever to flop down no matter how hot you load it. My Colt would flop down on real heavy loads and it used to piss me off, I would expect that from an Italian made revolver but not from a Colt. I wrote them and they said it was a design weakness as well as not having a top strap for added strength...Remington added the strap and made it a much stronger pistol. Ruger just improved on the Remington design and added his spring loaded hammer and such.

 

[5906fan]

as soft lead as possible. keep your mould hot and clean so slugs/balls cast well.
the .45 REAL slug (200grs) does well in the ROA also.

 

[old tanker]

...Many bp cartridge shooters use 1 in 20 or 1 in 30. I don't know what the tin gives to the Brinell Hardness Number but pure is 5 bhn and ww are from 11.5-12.5 bhn. Hard cast are 16-18 bhn, water dropped are 17-19 bhn and lino is around 22 bhn.

I shoot black powder cartridges and I use 30 to 1 lead tin alloy. It has a Brinnell hardness of 9. One reason for the tin is it helps the mould fill out, especially in corners of the grease grooves. Filling out a round ball mould for a cap & ball revolver is a lot simpler.

Leading is not a problem if the bullet fits correctly. You need the bullet to carry enough lube that it is plainly evident at the muzzle to help keep the fouling soft.

I can't say for Pyrodex or any of the substitutes as all I use is real black powder. I have shot balls and conicals cast from wheelweights in replica cap and ball revolvers. With plenty of grease over them they shoot fine, no crossfires unless you are using #11 caps instead of #10's. The biggest risk to breaking the gun are not from shooting but busting the rammer trying to seat the ball.