Lead vs Bismuth

[Nuthatch]

I took my new Pedersoli trade gun out yesterday afternoon to get myself oriented. I have to say that I was very impressed with the gun. It handles and shoots well. I cast up some wavy looking round ball to try out and was pleasantly surprised to shoot 4 into a single ragged hole at 25 yards (benchrested). Not bad for me & a flinter.

When it came to shot, though, things went awry. Lead #6 shot fine out to 25 yards. I did loads from 1 oz to 1.75 oz and they all worked. So far so good.

But then I loaded up some bismuth #6 and it shot terrible. I mean really bad. Up at 15-20 yards, it was passable. But out at 25, I barely got more than a handful of shots on a 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I played around with the wads a little -- mixing up OP fiber and OS cards with similar results. Lead good. Bismuth bad. I took it all the way up to 2 oz hoping to gain something but got nothing. Radically different results from lead.

To put more context on it, I had previously messed around with using shot in my .50 smoothbore & had similar results. Lead #8 (recycled from an old dive belt) shot very well and were forgiving of whatever I put down the barrel as far as load volume, powder charge, cards, wads, etc. But the bismuth #6s were terrible.

I had read that a lot of folks see no difference at all between lead and bismuth as far as patterning. But I'm getting drastically different results. Any guesses what I might be doing wrong here? I'm all for experimenting but bismuth is pricey to experiment with. I'm sure I've already shot through $100 worth of shot and still don't have a solid hunting option.

Sources for the lead & bismuth #6s were rotometals.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Results "similar" to your rifle, means you may be getting torque along the shot column.

After the powder, try loading a lubed, half-inch fiber wad, the shot, then another lubed, half-inch fiber wad. If that doesn't work, try the over wad with freshly applied canola oil as in the Sky Chief load.

LD

 

[megasupermagnum]

How are you measuring your shot?

 

[Nobody85]

Bismuth is junk that environmentalist are trying to push on people they hope won’t know the difference. It’s coming a day when lead will be banned in some states, then the rest. They figured that if they can’t get rid of guns, they’ll get rid of bullets. Only thing bismuth is good for is pepto. If it was good for casting projectiles, the military would use it . Chilled lead all the way.

 

[maillemaker]

I took my new Pedersoli trade gun out yesterday afternoon to get myself oriented. I have to say that I was very impressed with the gun. It handles and shoots well. I cast up some wavy looking round ball to try out and was pleasantly surprised to shoot 4 into a single ragged hole at 25 yards (benchrested). Not bad for me & a flinter.

When it came to shot, though, things went awry. Lead #6 shot fine out to 25 yards. I did loads from 1 oz to 1.75 oz and they all worked. So far so good.

But then I loaded up some bismuth #6 and it shot terrible. I mean really bad. Up at 15-20 yards, it was passable. But out at 25, I barely got more than a handful of shots on a 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I played around with the wads a little -- mixing up OP fiber and OS cards with similar results. Lead good. Bismuth bad. I took it all the way up to 2 oz hoping to gain something but got nothing. Radically different results from lead.

To put more context on it, I had previously messed around with using shot in my .50 smoothbore & had similar results. Lead #8 (recycled from an old dive belt) shot very well and were forgiving of whatever I put down the barrel as far as load volume, powder charge, cards, wads, etc. But the bismuth #6s were terrible.

I had read that a lot of folks see no difference at all between lead and bismuth as far as patterning. But I'm getting drastically different results. Any guesses what I might be doing wrong here? I'm all for experimenting but bismuth is pricey to experiment with. I'm sure I've already shot through $100 worth of shot and still don't have a solid hunting option.

Sources for the lead & bismuth #6s were rotometals.

Because the density of bismuth is different from lead, of course the bullet weights will be different. You will almost certainly have to do a load workup to find the optimal charge for the bismuth bullet, assuming it will shoot well with the given twist rate at all.

 

[SlidePicker]

Nuthatch, your balls won't be wavy if you get your mold hot first.

 

[JeffG]

If you must use bismuth, try wrapping your shot charge in heavy butcher paper. Make tubes double thickness and tie the ends with twine. Load a lubed fiber wad over powder, then shot. Tear off the twine on the front before you ram it, and use an over shot card. You may need to lower your powder charge, it sounds like you are blowing the middle of the pattern.

 

[nhmoose]

I quit duck shooting when lead was banned. More ducks I shot with non-toxic flew away to die a mile or more away and were not recovered.

Government for the greenies gone wrong again.

Never spent any money on state or federal duck stamps again. How mant did the greenies buy?

 

[Elgatodeacero]

Rotometals offers the best quality bismuth shot (I think it is 94% bismuth and 6% tin) but if you compare the pellets, lead is perfectly round and bismuth is not. The irregular shape of bismuth pellets results in patterns that are not as uniform as lead.

I use Rotometals #4 bismuth for turkeys and ducks, and #6 bismuth for dove and have had very good results hunting with a TC New Englander with modified choke tube.

My loading routine is card wad over powder and lubed felt wad over shot.

 

[Nuthatch]

Rotometals offers the best quality bismuth shot (I think it is 94% bismuth and 6% tin) but if you compare the pellets, lead is perfectly round and bismuth is not. The irregular shape of bismuth pellets results in patterns that are not as uniform as lead.

I use Rotometals #4 bismuth for turkeys and ducks, and #6 bismuth for dove and have had very good results hunting with a TC New Englander with modified choke tube.

My loading routine is card wad over powder and lubed felt wad over shot.

That makes good sense.