I have been trying to tell people that adding a few ounces of wheelweights to a 10 pound melt can make all the difference in some guns as far as conicals.
Using more than that starts to rapidly build up the force needed to start a load with roundball in my rifles. The reason is that I like a large ball and about a 10 to 12 thousanths lubed patch. I engrave the rifling at loading. All wheelweights in a pour would be almost impossible for me to load without a mallet unless I change something to compensate.
Paul, you will find this hard to believe, but it is true. Most of the people here do not use a ball large enough to engrave at the muzzle. They often report recovered balls with no rifling marks on them here. I don't understand it, but people in this conversation already have reported their recovered balls don't show rifling marks. I want a ball soft enough to show the threads after it has been shot, and large enough that it actually engages the rifling, not the patch.
Having said all of that, my brother-in-law shot cast roundball made out of wheel weights for years in his TC Hawken. That gun is hunting accurate with them at long ranges with heavy powder loads. He also had good luck with REAL's cast the same way.
If you want to play a little, it is easy to find out. Put half a pound of wheel weights in a 10 pound melt. Cast enough bullets for a fair test and pour the rest into muffin tins. Mark it when it is cold and stack it on the shelf. Add a full pound the next time and do the same thing. Testing will show the problems and the sweet spot. Technically, on a tight load that is engraved at the muzzle, a harder slightly larger ball would engage the rifling a little more and should be tough enough to allow hotter powder loads to be used before stripping becomes an issue. It should be a win win situation if you disregard the effort needed to start the load. On the other end, if you get too hard, the patch will be cut instead of the rifling being engraved over it. If you go that hard, you have to go to the thick patch loose load formula.
Just another excuse to go shoot so more!
