Do I HAVE to use pure lead to slug my Blackhawk?

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-.../cerrosafe-chamber-casting-alloy-prod384.aspx

They have this thing for making casts of chambers - I wonder if it'll be good for rifling, too.

Haven't really done this myself, following this thread.

barnfrog said:

Or will a BHN 12 bullet be OK to slug the barrel and chambers of my .357 magnum revolver? I have some .452 bullets I could shave down to around .360.

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12 bhn is to hard. Pure lead is much easier, Old fishing sinkers. Even those a re a PITA IMHO I think pure lead is around 5 or so.

I used soft possibly near pure lead from old buckshot shells to slug mine. I think harder lead would make it a lot less fun.

I would. I have used muzzle loader round balls with success. Walmart sells fishing sinkers.

A lot of the fishing sinkers these days are made of zinc. Normally you can tell by the color. Pure/soft lead makes it so much easier to do.

Round ball works great. Cannot get lead sinkers in NY. Go on cast boolits forum and ask around. Lots of pure lead aficionados there to help.

Muzzle loader balls are the way to go, but when I have run out of them I've used the egg shell singer that have the hole through the middle, those work great as well.

I would assume you want the softest metal possible and you can’t get softer than pure lead.

Cerrosafe is a great way to cast your entire chamber, throat, and even rifling's of a firearm. You can melt it with a hot hairdryer or a low temperature heat gun. Much easier then trying to drive a lead slug in most cases.

thegatman said:

...... Cannot get lead sinkers in NY........

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Of course you can, they just have to be greater than one half ounce in weight.

Not sure what hardness fishing weights are but I have always used those to slug a barrel. I don't fish. But they are easy enough to find in most dedicated fishing stores.

barnfrog said:

Or will a BHN 12 bullet be OK to slug the barrel and chambers. . .

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Every rifle, pistol, and revolver I've slugged has been done with whatever appropriately sized bullet was closest to the top of the reject bucket from my last casting session.

Sure, driving a 12bhn will be harder, but only for the first inch. . . use a brass punch and get a bigger hammer.

Pure lead has a hardness of ~4 BHN