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#1
02-10-2005, 09:29 AM
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Casting conicals?
I just got about 20 lbs of lead from a telephone job we were doing and I want to try and cast my own conicals,BUT I was told that the lead is to soft.Is this true?
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If God didn't want us to eat animals,he wouldn't have made them out of meat! 
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#2
02-10-2005, 10:27 AM
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Nope, not true.
For muzzleloader projectiles, you want the softest lead you can get. Pure lead is ideal. I suspect what you have is lead used for cable sheathing, which I believe is pure lead or very close to it. The reason you need soft lead for muzzleloader projectiles? Remember, when you are loading your conical, you have to push it down the barrel. Often, the projectile is engraved by the rifling to some degree while it's being loaded, using only your muscle power as you push in down the barrel with your ramrod.
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“May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.” Dwight D. Eisenhower "If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter" George Washington Jack@huntchat.com
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#3
02-10-2005, 02:05 PM
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Lead Hardness
Hi Deerman ...
 A friend and I bought 1000 pounds of cable sheathing, of which I have about 200 pounds left. This stuff is dirty (ours was anyway) but once skimmed off casts just beautiful bullets. I would try to score as much of this as you can. Aloha... 
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#4
02-11-2005, 07:52 PM
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Deerman,
Jack and rattus gave you all the advice you really need, thanks guys. What caliber conicals are you casting and what is your procedure? I cast .45, .50, .54 and .58 conicals on my Coleman stove in the backyard. I prefer the iron moulds like Lyman's better than those aluminum moulds. When you cast, be safe and use eye protection, long sleeves and gloves. Adam
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Adam Helmer
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#5
02-12-2005, 05:11 AM
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Thanks guys for all the help.Adam I have not even bought my mold, yet.When I got the lead that was when I deciced to try it.When I get ready to start I'm sure I'll have more questions.I was planning on getting a Lyman mold, that was the one I looked at and it will be in 50 cal.
__________________
If God didn't want us to eat animals,he wouldn't have made them out of meat!
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#6
02-12-2005, 10:18 AM
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Lead for ML use can never be TOO SOFT! I have even used pure, dead-soft lead bullets in the .45/70 at velocities up to 1350 FPS in both BP and smokeless loads with good accuracy and no leading!
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"It seems very difficult to impress most reloaders with the fact that every rifle is an individual, and what proves to be a maximum load in one may be quite mild in another, and vice versa." Bob Hagel, GAME LOADS AND "PRACTICAL BALLISTICS FOR THE AMERICAN HUNTER, 1977 The inmates are still running the asylum! "If you are 20 years old and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are 40 and not a conservative, you have no brain!" W. Churchill 
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#7
02-12-2005, 03:48 PM
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I cheat a bit!
I add about point 6 percent by weight of tin to the most nearly pure lead I can find. This doesn't have much effect on the hardness of the lead, but it does make casting perfectly filled out bullets easier, particularly those late nineteenth century style conicals that have lots of small, square grooves. Bob
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