How accurate are pure lead bullets

[Andrew Quigley]

in a cartridge conversion.
Shot my 51 Pietta that I put the r&d cylinder in and it will keyhole targets sometimes at 25 yards using smokeless and hardcast bullets.
Wondering how a pure lead or 20-1 would do.

[will52100]

Pure lead or 20-1 will work well.  Did you line the bore and if not are you using hollow base ammo?  If the bore isn't linned you realy need hollow base ammo as the bore is a true 38 cal., where as the bullets are true 36 cal.  Hope this makes sense.

[shooter93]

I would say Quigley is correct about the bore size. Also when it comes to cast bullets hard bullets are the cause of leading very often as opposed to a too soft one. People always talk about hard cast but in the days of Keith and others hard cast meant 1 in twelve not the high antimony Brinell 22 bullets you see for sale every where. There are several companies casting these softer but hard enough bullets. They also work well for hunting.

[Andrew Quigley]

No I didn't line the barrel, yet. Jury is still out on that decision.
  I had just got it back from R&D, after they did a little fitting on it, and just shot some 125gr. smokeless loads I had on hand.
  Had read on some other threads that folks were shooting regular cast bullets in their conversions with good results. They hadn't lined their barrels either.
Not mine wasn't horrible. I had two that keyholed, two that made nice holes and two that went over the target or around it. But I was shooting off hand duelist, like I always do, at 25 yards and only five shots. The rain had just started and I didn't feel like getting my new toy and me wet.
I was just curious if the pure lead or soft lead without the hollow base would be as accurate.

[O.T. Buchannan]

Quigley, I shoot pure lead (and blackpowder) in my conversions.  In the .38, which is a 2nd. Generation 1861 Colt converted by R&D, it has the original sized barrel, and I shoot pure lead, hollow based bullets in it (.38 Long Colt).  I also have a Uberti 1851, but with the larger bore size.....like the 1861, it performs very well with blackpowder and soft lead.

In my .44s (an 1860 and an 1872 Open Top), the bores are .429, and I shoot .430 diameter bullets that are cast pure.  I DID try harder cast bullets, and just didn't get results that I was happy with.

I also have a pair of Dragoon Conversions, in .45 S&W caliber.  Same thing, I shoot pure lead in them.

[Montana Slim]

Andrew,

Commercial HBWC are pretty soft & expand nicely. I don't think you'll have problems with them key-holing.
Don't be surprised if the groups hover around 3" at 25 yds with HBWC....but you have to find the right load.
Also notice the size these slugs make in the paper....you can "measure" the difference.

I doubt you can "smack" a pure lead, solid slug hard enough to fill that barrel using a reasonable handload.

I've also fired regular hard-cast loads through my Pa's R&D and Kirsts (.375 bores) with good results...on steel at 10-20 yds. They didn't group as bad as I thought they would on paper, but we had a few that hit sideways.

Slim