I went to the range this morning to do some load testing, and when I was packing up my targets I noticed these two bullets (the ones on the right and left, center is unfired)on the dirt/gravel berm.

I thought this was a great example of the difference alloy makes. Both were fired over the same charge at a bit over 1300fps. The bullet on the left was a pure lead .875" flat point concial that started out at 1360 grains. It expanded almost 80% and retained 90% of its weight. It was also only .33" thick in the center after starting out at 1.0".

The bullet on the right was cast from Lyman#2 and dropped into water. It started out at 1300 grains and retained 87% of its weight while expanding to .998"

I'm impressed with the expansion of the pure lead and this is making me rethink my plan to use roundballs on waterbuff next year. I know they're not made of sand, but I'm toying with the idea of a "soft" in the right and a solid hardcast in the left, but will have to see how that combo regulates.

Cheers,
Bob