Most economical recipe.

[Uzi]

I have 100 lbs. of stick on WW lead coming at about a buck a pound. Since that is pretty much pure lead with a BHN of 4-5. What would be the most economical way to utilize it to get an alloy of 14-16 BHN and upwards suitable for shooting from a 44 mag. and 45-70.

I'm brand new to this so any advice and/or recipes would be appreciated.

[tomme boy]

You don't need that hard to shoot them.

Try 3-1 stick on s to lino.

[Stick_man]

Uzi, welcome to the forum. As tomme boy indicated, you could try 3:1 stickies to linotype, or you could even try 50/50 stickies/clip ons. How fast do you plan to push them? Gas checked or plain based?

[eldoradolee]

I have 100 lbs. of stick on WW lead coming at about a buck a pound. Since that is pretty much pure lead with a BHN of 4-5. What would be the most economical way to utilize it to get an alloy of 14-16 BHN and upwards suitable for shooting from a 44 mag. and 45-70.

I'm brand new to this so any advice and/or recipes would be appreciated.
I think you should "check the bhn" of your stick on weights.All the ones I ever got checked out between 5.5/6.8 bhn.Just my $.02 worth.Lee

[Uzi]

Uzi, welcome to the forum. As tomme boy indicated, you could try 3:1 stickies to linotype, or you could even try 50/50 stickies/clip ons. How fast do you plan to push them? Gas checked or plain based?

I'll be shooting them from my Marlin 1895 Marlin 45-70 and 1894 in 44 Mag . Generally, I have two loads for the ones I'll build 1. Cowboy loads with Trail Boss that are a bit over 1000fps and 2. some trap door loads with 32 gr. of IMR 4198 which go about 1450fps. For the 44 Mag, I'll be shooting 240 gr bullets, generally with about 12 gr. of True Blue which pushes them out at about 1200fps. I'm usually shooting pretty slow stuff out of them at the range.

I think I ordered a gas check 240 gr. mold for the 44 mag because I've had some leading problems around the chamber in that gun before. Plain base for the 45-70, which has never leaded with quite a few Laser Casts put through it. I'll be slugging the bore and the chamber on the 44 shortly, to see if I can correct the leading issue, but got gas checks just to make sure.

[bumpo628]

The 3:1 Stick-On WW to Lino mix will give you:
3 lbs SOWW + 1 lb Lino = alloy with 1.2% tin, 3% antimony
At $1/lb for the SOWW and $3.09/lb for lino, the price per pound is $1.52

However, this mix is a bit cheaper:
6 lbs SOWW + 0.67 lbs Superhard + 1 oz Pure Tin = alloy with 1.15% tin, 3% antimony
At $1/lb for the SOWW, $4.19/lb for superhard, and $17/lb for tin, the price per pound is $1.45

It all depends on what alloys you can find. The above prices are from Rotometals.

[Kraschenbirn]

+1 on the 50/50 blend. I shoot plain-base boolits in almost all of my handguns (up to around 1200 fps) using a blend of 50/50 clip-ons and range scrap, water-quenched to a BHN of 13-14. Also shoot this same alloy in my Marlin .44 Mag levergun (loaded to 'warm' .44-40 velocities) and in my .38-55 Highwall at BP-velocities.

Bill

[sqlbullet]

The stickies I have seen recently will heat treat. They had a little antimony and tin in them. You might try quenching from the mold.

If yours don't take a heat treat, then 50/50 with COWW would be what I would do.

[jkpq45]

sqlbullet - my thoughts exactly. Why not try casting up a few, water dropping them, loading 'em up with a sticky lube and trying 'em out?

Especially for your ~1000 FPS loads, you might find that works fine.

If not, get a cheap toaster oven and do the heat-treat dance, then see if they perform better. Certainly cheaper than buying clipons at $1.50 plus per pound or linotype (which is $5 per pound or unheard of around these parts.)

[Uzi]

Lots of good advice and ideas. Thanks. I'll try them the way they are first. if that doesn't work I'll see if I can scrounge some clip on WW from tire places to mix with the stick ons and see how that works. If that fails then I'll try some of the other less cost-effective approaches. Even in the worst scenario, they'll be cheaper than buying manufactured cast bullets. Plus it will give me a chance to fool around with some different alloy blends.

[badgeredd]

I'd suggest a 50/50 mix of COWW and SOWW. That will give you about 1/2% tin, 2 1/2% antimony, and 0.13% arsenic. If you water drop you'll be in the 15-16 BHN range which is more than adequate for the loads you are suggesting. Air cooled will be more in the neighborhood of 10-12 BHN which actually might work a lot better than you'd think. Linotype is getting quite salty in many places so I'd try to scrounge or buy WW lead. At a dollar a pound for smelted ingots, it isn't a horrible price at all.

Edd

[Defcon-One]

A couple of comments:

1.) Your Stick-on WW lead is probably pretty close to 6 BHN now. Most of mine has been. It is not pure, it has at least a bit of Tin, maybe a tiny bit of Antimony.

2.) Your factory cast bullets are probably made from Hardball Alloy (2% Sn, 3% Sb, 92% Pb). It is made by mixing 50% Pure Lead with 50% Linotype, by weight. That might work for you and it was developed because it is economical as compared to Lyman #2, which it was developed to replace.

3.) I have purchased a lot of Linotype in ingots and strips and I have never paid over $1.50 a pound.

4.) I recommend the gas checks, it will make a big difference, especially at the upper end velocities.

5.) Trade your Stick-on WW lead for Clip-on WW lead. It is much harder and may work "as is" and that is pretty economical!