230lbs ww, 75lb lino, 20lb 60/40, 20lb pure lead--What Now? .

[Bula]

I'm going to shoot pistol only, 44 mag, 357, 38 spl. and 45 acp and colt. My plan is try 12 to 1 ww to 60/40 alloy and save the lino and pure lead for later. Any insight or suggestions on preferred alloys? I do plan on pushing my magnum loads pretty hard. I'd like to have an alloy that I can use for all my casting. Thanks all.

[Lloyd Smale]

throw it all together and make ingots it would make a great mag pistol alloy like that.

[garandsrus]

Bula,

12 WW to 1 60/40 (I think this is lead 60/ tin 40, correct? If not, the calculations are wrong) would give you 3.1 tin, 1.8% antimony, and 95.2 lead.
Edited to correct the ratio based on 60 tin/40 lead: 5.1 tin, 3.7 antimony, 91.2 lead.


I remember reading somewhere that the tin is not supposed to be higher than the antimony when both are present, but I don't remember why. I think it has something to do with brittleness vs hardness. Someone else will need to chime in as to the reason or say that it doesn't matter!

If you change to 12 WW to .6 lb 60/40 (with the caveat above) you will be at 2.0% tin, 1.8% antimony, and 96.2 lead. This should work well and save you some money on tin. You might try heat treating or water dropping these also.
Edited to correct based on the ration of 60 tin/40 lead: 12 WW with .3 lb 60/40 - 2.0 tin, 3.9 antimony, 94.1 lead

If you search the archives, you will find links to alloy calculators.

I normally cast all of the calibers you mentioned from straight WW without problems.

A lot of folks seem to like the Taracorp alloy as the best alloy for all around shooting, which is 2% tin, 6% antiony, and 92% lead.

John

[454PB]

I agree with Lloyd, but you're gonna need a BIG pot to do it!

[Sundogg1911]

I beleive with the 60/40 bar solder that the 60 is the Tin. (at least that is how mine is marked)

[felix]

Correct. 60/40 in pure form is actually much closer to 63/37 and that is TIN over LEAD. Convention of alloy nomenclature is major element first, minor element last in sequential order. This particular alloy when in pure form, and ratioed just right for the ambient conditions, has zero slush stage, meaning that it goes from pure solid to pure liquid and vice versa. ... felix

[Bula]

Based on what I've read, I'm looking to sweeten the WW with about a 2% total tin? So that would actually take me to approx. a 30:1 ww to 60/40. my initial train of thought was to get as close to Lyman #2 as possible. I've read that runs at about 5% Sn. Is that right?

[Lloyd Smale]

You cant get to #2 with just wws it doesnt have enough antimony and will need to have some lineotype added to get the antimony high enough. Thats why i suggested you mix it all together as i would guess youd come out close to #2

[cbrick]

What he has there is Lyman #2 with a trace of arsenic. Making the assumptions that his weights are correct and that his lead is lead and not an alloy, blending it all together it breaks down like this:

Lead: 89.88%
Sb: 5.3%
Sn: 4.68%
Arsenic: .166%

One of Lyman's published recipes for # 2 is:

Lead: 90%
Sb: 5%
Sn: 5%

Rick

[garandsrus]

Cbrick,

I came up with very similar numbers to what you came up with for the entire batch mixed together!

Bula - If you want to make a big batch of #2, dump it all in the pot and you are good to go.

A good way to make a large batch of alloy is to mix whatever you can to make a pot full and then keep track of the ingots. Do this for each pot full of metal. You will end up melting them a second time, with a consistent number of ingots from each batch to make your final alloy. For example, three ingots from pot 1, 4 from pot 2, 2 from pot 3, and 1 from pot 4. As you now blend the same approx weight from each of the different pot fulls, you wil have a pretty consistent alloy across the entire batch. The only drawback is smelting twice. The advantage is that you have about 350 lbs of alloy that is all very close to being the same!

John