I really dont understand some people.We have only been shooting pure lead balls in muzzleloaders since the rifle was invented and we have people now who insist that wheelweights work just as well. All to save about 1/2 cent per shot.Aint technology grand?

Bravo

Took a notion to cast some conical bullets for my Colt Walker replica with the decorative brass mould in it a while back. Wheelweight metal's what I had in the pot. The bullets worked fine in that application. Seating them with the rammer wasn't hard at all.

If you check the hardness on wheelweights you will notice that they are not that much harder. Thing is when wheelweights are made they are chilled and take on hardness,(remelted they get to the original hardness) I know a few that use pure lead and drop from the mold into bucket of icewater for a hard shell. The wgts do cast a little larger, and if using say a .50 cal get a .490 mold don't chill. Now as far as the mallet bit is concerned, you can get a ball nosed cutter (mill bit) and use a nylon short starter and face it with the mill cutter. I do this on my .54 though I do use pure lead I use a .535 ball and .020 ticking a tight fit but I only shoot 60gns of 2fg for all things metal to meat. I have a small seater I made from a 1 inch piece of nylon and necked it down in my lathe so it would enter the bbl, and then used a .537 ball nosed cutter to face it off. Then I made a short starter of nylon with a larger head for a short handled mallet. I works like this I seat the ball using the seater with the sprue up, the tight combo makes it hard to start, after I trim my patch I am treated to a sight of a nice round ball with the sprue rounded. Then using the short starter I can seat it with hand pressure and my ramrod finishes the job with no difficuties.