BP bullet alloy experiment

[Slow Hand]

I pretty sure I ruminated about muzzle loader alloys awhile back. Well, today I tested them out. I’ve always hated casting pure lead because it seems to not want to fill out a mold as well as my more used alloys. Awhile back I cast up some Lee .58 cal Minies out of pure lead and some 20:1 lead to tin. The 20:1 cast much nicer and easier. The Lee has a daily thin skirt so I figured it would expand and fi up the bore.

Well, apparently today wasn’t a very good rifle shooting day as the groups below show. But the important thing, to me, is that the 20:1 bullets grouped roughly the same as the pure lead and as you can see, no keyholing meaning that the skirts are obturating and filling the bore. This will require some more testing on hopefully a better range day but shows promise for sure!

 

[Leadeye]

That's about what I use, tin helps with mold fill out.

 

[Creedmoor]

For most of my cast black powder bullets I have had better luck using 20-1 or 30-1 lead - tin.
Like Leadeye posted, a bit of tin will sure cast better bullets. Along with the correct GOOD and ENOUGH lube is just as, or more important.

 

[Slow Hand]

I’ve used 20:1 for most of my handgun cast bullets and pretty much all of my black powder cartridge loads for years. I figured if BP would obturate a flat based bullet in a .45 colt or a 45/70, thee should be no reason it wouldn’t open up the hollow base of a Minie bullet in a muzzle loader. Guess this shows that it at least has promise.
and, to show this rifle will shoot, this is a group from my first time out with it, that black square is 6” so I’d say that’s about a 1-1/2” group. I was definitely having a better day behind the trigger that day!

 

[Leadeye]

No problem with that group. I use the 20-1 in my 41 Colts hollow base mold and it gets the skirts into the rifeling.

I'm not getting groups like that though.

 

[Slow Hand]

No problem with that group. I use the 20-1 in my 41 Colts hollow base mold and it gets the skirts into the rifeling.

I'm not getting groups like that though.

I was pretty excited about how it shot the first time out. Yesterday, not so much! Definitely blaming it on me!