Will this alloy work for 45ACP/ 9MM

[milprileb]

If I mix 9 pounds of wheel wt ingots to 1 pound ingot of pure lead and
drop bullets into water from the mold,

Is this sufficient hardness for normal 45ACP and 9mm cast bullet velocity loads ?

Your thoughts very much appreciated. Thank you in advance

[Doby45]

Perzactly. You could even go to 50/50 and be fine.

[milprileb]

Sir

I got access to wheel wts but limited access to lead. So I was hoping this alloy mix might work. I thank you for your experience sharing in this regard.

Metal for casting has become a dynamic for me. No linotype to be found and wheel wts are not that easy either. Lead is a hit or miss event if lucky.

[Calamity Jake]

50/50 WW/lead air cooled works for me.

[Larry Gibson]

If you could also add about 1.5 - 2% tin along with a little more lead (as mentioned) it would improve the alloy and make it cast better.

Larry Gibson

[pdawg_shooter]

I use straight WW, air cooled. Been using it since the 60s with great results.

[gray wolf]

45 ACP does not need a hard water dropped bullet.
Will you folks just get over this ?
8,9,10 hardness is all you need.
Hardness, Hardness,Hardness. Hardness.
how about, bullet fit, fit ,fit ?

[cbrick]

Listen to the wise old gray wolf. He speaks words of wisdom.

Even if your pushing the 45 ACP hard, air cooled WW with a little tin is everything you need as long as the bullet properly fits YOUR firearm. If your getting leading with this it is NOT an alloy problem and it is NOT a lube problem . . . It IS a bullet fit problem. It is an alloy problem if it is TOO HARD.

I've fired pure lead +2% tin HP's from my 45 ACP @ 800 fps and got zero leading while testing expansion but my bullets fit properly.

Forget that term "hardcast", it is evil, the single thing it does is screw up the minds of new casters.

Rick

[mpmarty]

+1 there is nothing at all wrong with pure lead boolits in 45acp. A bit of tin makes them cast better though.

[R.M.]

I agree on the softer 45 alloy. Too many people get caught up with hard bullets and sending them downrange as fast as they can. I keep my loads at a slower speed, and softer alloy. 8 - 10 bhn is just fine in a 45.
Magnumitus must be a testosterone thing or something.

[RobS]

Agreed on the 45 auto with either straight air cooled WW's or I even use 50/50 WW to lead, however for the 9mm I wouldn't use 50/50 unless I had a proper case expander or if I water quenched them. People do use straight WW with a pinch of tin for better casting but I rarely use tin due to expense. The 9mm is a bit tricky and I suggest sizing boolits on the larger side say .002 over groove. Boolit fit is important and double check yourself by pulling a dummy round and measuring the base of the boolit to ensure it is your intended diameter. Case swage does happen when seating a boolit and can really squeeze down on a nicely sized slug rendering it undersized for your bore. Many people water quench for the 9 mm to keep the brass from sizing down their boolits.

[grisy11]

I have been loading 9mm with half WW and half range scrap and a little tin and thay will go exit a pt 8x6 and most of them look like i could reload them agen

[milprileb]

Gents,

I am humbled by the help and I thank you. Folks have offered linotype and lead to help me out which is very kind. Today, I hit a small metal recyle shop and got some lead at a good price. I will try lead and wheel weight metal water quenched and see how it does. I am thinking 1 pound of lead to 9 pounds of WW for the alloy.

[357shooter]

Air cooled with that alloy is plenty hard enough for your purposes, as the others have stated - harder is not better.

Starting with water dropped is not a good idea for the 45acp. Only WD for the 9 if needed, but your alloy is hard already and most likely will work just fine. As long as the bullets fit and aren't undersized. Skinny/small bullets cause more problems than alloy.

You could go softer and be good, not harder.

[milprileb]

Sir, will revise the plan: water quench the 9mm and delete that from 45ACP. I still can use the 1 pound lead to 9 pound wheel weights for 9mm alloy ???

[grisy11]

I have a lot of lead and that is what im going to do it will help to keep more of my WW

[milprileb]

My buddy in Oregon is swimming in linotype but wheel wts are impossible for him to find.
I am able to get good supply of ww but never linotype and luckily today got some lead.

Grisly has lead and needs ww metal.

There certainly is no rhyme or reason for the way scrap metal seems to surface anywhere does it? I am not taking anything for granted any more. I am going to touch base with my junk yard weekly and be their new best friend so I don't miss out on any metal for boolits.

[Mavrick]

My favorite alloy for across-the board use is WW+2%. I use it in my .41 Mags, .45 Auto, 10mm and .40 S&W.
If I load hot, as with the 10mm and .41 Mag, from time to time, I MAY harden it a bit. I have pure antimony and pure tin, so I can be a bit more exact in my alloys, but the WWs vary the mix. I weigh finished boolits and compare them to a 'standard' to keep them close to what I want for a given purpose.
I prefer a slightly harder boolit because I shoot as much steel as I can, and the harder boolit shatters better. I shoot IDPA and USPSA so I have as much reason to shoot as I can.
WD just adds a step in the reloading cycle that doesn't NEED to be done. To use it to save a little money on componants MAY be OK with the 9mm, but is sure not needed with the .45.
There are only three things that are necessary for accuracy AND leading with lead...Fit, fit, and if THAT doesn't work...fit!
Some lubes may be cheaper, prettier, or easier to apply, and MAY lube better than others, but fit is still the important thing.
FWIW-I use LLA from time to time, but don't like it because it clogs my seating die. What I do is to 'dip' the boolit, it takes more time, though.
Have fun,
Gene

[grisy11]

I pick up all the lead and brass that i see and what i dont use i bring it to a scrap yard and trade for any lead that thay have.I have 3 scrap yards in 40 miles of me and only 1 of them will sell are trade for lead

[MtGun44]

Hooray for gray wolf! Yes, there are places where harder us useful, but a .45 ACP in a
semiauto is an unlikely place. Maybe in a 1917 revolver since they have unusually shallow
rifling.

Bill

[williamwaco]

Thank God!

Some sensible advice about bullet hardness.


milprilib,

Listen to these guys. You are getting good advice here.

PS, You can buy linotype from various sources on EBAY for about 1.25 per pound delivered to your front door.

A lot of people mistrust EBAY for some reason. I have bought several 65 pound batches of metal from several vendors on EBAY and have been completely satisfied.

By the way, I don't use Linotype for anything but mixing. It is WAY harder than necessary for any normal cast bullet use.

[milprileb]

Taken notes and taken for action.

I thank all your kind replies and experience shared.

[cbrick]

A lot of people mistrust EBAY for some reason. I have bought several 65 pound batches of metal from several vendors on EBAY and have been completely satisfied.

The reason is probably that if the dog bites you once it's the dogs fault. If he bites you twice it's your fault. Experience can be a great teacher.

Rick

[cajun shooter]

Most all handgun bullets may be cast and fired using straight ww's. If you can go to the local radiator shop and ask for some floor sweepings to help with fillout then that will help. The WW's in my area run very close to a BHN of 10 and Elmer did a lot of testing with bullets that were only in the 8 BHN. The bullet companies talk about hard bullets so that when they are put into boxes and shipped they may rub and bounce without doing any damage to each other. Many times, a shooter has gotten leading because of hard bullets that don't fit!!