Recovered 2-diameter PPB.

[J.B.]

    First time I've tried to post a photo..so fingers crossed. L to R.. Brooks postell/Creedmoor, Leeth tapered pp, Brooks 2d pp & BACo. 530 gg. Unfortunately my instructions didn't come across clearly for the Leeth mould and the ogive on that should have started further back..was made very abrupt. It is a tapered bullet though as I requested.

J.B.

[Distant Thunder]

I sure do like the looks of that Brooks (original) Postell, well except for those unnecessary grooves around the shank! What are those for again? That nose shape is on the list to work with in the .44-77, but in a 2-D PPB.

[beltfed]

JIm,
What was the alloy in that bullet you recovered such that
it bumped up into the rifling beyond the step?
Arnie

[Distant Thunder]

Arnie,

17 lbs. lead to 1 lb. 95/5 leadfree solder. Same as I've been running in my Hepburn.

[beltfed]

Jim,
That sounds almost exactly the alloy what Kurt is using .
Do I recall correctly that the 95-5 is 95tin/5Antimony?

Interestingly, I ran across a copy I made of a report by Dan Theodore on antimony containing alloys he
found to be working /shooting well with long ogive bullet designs. His final recommendation was
97% lead, 1.5% Antimony, 1.5% tin.
My 9+1 COWW/Lino alloy is estimated to be:
94.5% lead/4.5%Antimony/1%tin. Lee hardness 15.4
Arnie

[Distant Thunder]

Yes, 95% tin and 5% antimony leadfree solder. Kurt experimented with and used 18-1 I believe. It seems to yield a bullet that obturates to groove diameter well and also resists nose setback well based on his recovered bullets.

I am less fussy about these .40 caliber bullets because the design does not have a long slender nose. In my .45-70 with the long nose of my elliptical (profile) I have use this 17-1 alloy and my 10 lbs. of soft lead to 3 lbs. of linotype. My linotype supply got low and I bought a good supply of solder and have been using that and it is working well. The 17-1 will check softer than the 11 BHN that I used for years, but it seems to hold up well. I have not recovered any bullets to verify what they look like after firing.

[Kurt]

I use one roll of 95/5 and 18 lbs lead for the .45's and for the .40's I use one roll and 17 lbs lead because I find the .40's seem to setback more than the 45's