Lyman 2 piece cast bullets?

RCrosby

Years ago, Maybe around 1964, I visited Lyman in Middlefield, CT with my father. We got talking with an employee who showed us a cast bullet that Lyman expected to bring to market. As I recall it the idea was to cast the bullet in two parts; a harder rear portion and a softer nose. The two halves would then be epoxied together to form a bullet that could be driven to high velocity without leading while offering a soft frontal surface for good expansion.
Has anyone ever heard of these? Worked with them? Any info??
Thanks

FWAddit

I remember reading about those, but never saw the mold nor any bullets cast in them. If I recall right, a writer reported it was hard to get accuracy from them.

perry shooter

I saw them but very hard to get accuracy and very time/labor intesive same kind of thing wit a mold block that took Zinc washer and when you filled the mold with molten lead it would have the zinc base to scrub the bore . Both ideas OK I guess but took too much time . . The bad thing about hard VS soft Lead alloy is the harder has a lower melting point [:(]so it might lead the bore just as bad . Gas Checks work better IMHO. But proper size .001 over bore and good lube to seal and prevent gas cutting will allow you to push a lead bullet fairly fast with no leading.

rhope

I have a cousin who used a two piece bullet in his muzzle-loading target rifle. After casting he used a swage to join the two parts. They were loaded with a paper cross-patch and were super accurate. I have seen him shoot 100 yard groups which made just one slightly ragged hole in the target. I have fired a few shots with this gun myself and did almost as well.

My cousin is a very meticulous guy. Before swaging he weighed each piece of every bullet and discarded any that showed even a very small variation in weight. The paper patches were cut to precisely the correct size (always from the same type and weight of paper) and were then soaked in lubricant (I'm not sure if this was some kind of off the shelf oil or some combination of ingredients). After soaking the patches were stacked together and put in a little press to squeeze out the excess oil.

When shooting he would check the temperature and humidity and adjust his powder charge accordingly.

When cleaning between shots he used exactly the same number of passes with solvent, same number of passes with dry patch, etc.

Seemed like an awful lot of trouble to me but it is hard to argue about the results.

I'm not sure now but I think the finished bullet was 45 calibre. I remember it was a very long, heavy bullet.

I also seem to recall that the BASE section was the SOFT alloy and the NOSE section was the HARD alloy, which is opposite to what you mentioned. I think the idea was that the soft base would be compressed under the pressure of firing to form a gas tight seal in the bore.

I do know this is not a new idea as it was used in muzzle loading target rifles back in the mid to late 1800s.

airmung

A soft-nose hard-heeled bullet can be cast, though it is rather time-consuming. I would use these for hunting only and just use hardcast bullets of one consistent alloy for practice (though there will be a slight weight difference between the two types). Maybe shoot a few soft point ones to make sure your POI hasn't changed.

The process requires making a small lead dipper which will hold the proper amount of hard alloy for the heel of the bullet. Warm up your mould and pour this measure of hard alloy in first to form the heel of the bullet. Then finish off the nose of the buillet with a second pour of softer alloy or pure lead. The lead used for the nose will be hot enough to melt into the heel and the bullet will be one piece. This is easier with 2 lead pots. This will probably require some experimentation to figure out the best ratio of hard/soft amounts for the bullet.

Soft-point cast bullets will not come apart if done properly. They can also be hollow-pointed if desired. Heat treating them also seems to help, as the heel will become harder Then just size and lube, put on a gas check and go hunting.