NerdLord

Not sure it this should be in BP, reloading or some other category but here goes...

Part of the reason I got into BP was the the reenacting (the whole mountain man thing, a move up in time from when I did medieval), Shooting with a club and knowing I could take advantage of two (2) hunt seasons (regular and BP) and well as a chance at those muzzle loader only zones California has. But do family priorities I had to drop out of shooting for several years. now that I'm back I find California has changed the laws, next year NO LEAD ANYWHERE IN THE STATE.

OK, now the conundrum, EVERYTHING I have is slow twist ball shooters made for lead...and on one makes non-lead roundball (OK, I actually found one, but at a buck a shot...uhm, no...).

I have no intention of letting the state turn what I have and the 20+ years for 'getting the hang of it' to be able to shoot well into range toys, club trinkets and wall hangers...

I can get from amazon and rotometal a bismuth/tin casting alloy but haven't found anyone that's used it as roundball or if it would be acceptable to the state.

MountainDevil54

what exactly is your barrel twists?

Gm54-120

Getting away from lead projectile is not cheap no matter how you slice it. You can get in under a buck a shot but not by much.

There are a few light solid copper bullets on the market. Some may be short enough for slower twist rifles. Copper Only Projectile aka General Bullet are about the least expensive. They will run around $37/50 for 160gr and 185gr .451s plus the cost of sabots. Barnes TAC-XP in a similar weight are pretty close to that on sale. Roughly 66-74cents each.

bronko22000

I just get so PO'd every time I hear about Calilfornia's gun/ammo laws. I'm glad to tell you PA guys that our representative said there will be no anti-gun bills brought forth in the near future.
As for your problem Nerdlord you may want to try some bullets that GM54 suggests.

MountainDevil54

from my understanding, that lead ban does not cover federal lands, aka national forest.

NerdLord

the flinter in a 1:66 twist (lyman great plains DoM 1995/ 1994), the cap plains pistol (DoM 1995/1994) is 1:33.
copper would chew both to pieces.

I checked, nation forests ARE covered by the state laws the forest is in..

there's a youtube.com, video dSQoTF9SlLQ put out by the forest service abouut that question.

applies to BML lands too

NerdLord

one pound of bismuth/tin on amazon is (rounded to nearest dollar) $22.00.
Tombob's non-lead roundball is $12.00 FOR 12! for 50 cal.

hunters_life

The premixed 97% Bismuth 3% Tin ingots you get from Roto Metals are California compliant. Whether or not balls cast from it will shoot well from your smokers is a different beast all together. I tried that mix myself a few years back when I saw all this craziness about lead projectiles getting out of hand. Most of my smokers handled them well. They will be a slight bit lighter and a good bit harder than a lead ball of the same size. Unless you get a pretty hard bone strike I wouldn't expect much expansion. But again, your experience with your rifle and pistol may be completely different. Slow twist rifles can be exceptionally picky beasts at times. I know mine are.

jrbsr

Im not sure this would work.
Do you have a round bullet mold, you could try lead-free 95/5 copper pipe solder.
It is 95% tin 5% antimony, no lead.
It seems to be like lead.

MountainDevil54

Could have sworn just the other week or 2 ago, a judge blocked that ruling on federal lands.