What to mix with Pure lead for casting pistol?

[Utah Shooter]

Just curious of what I need to add to pure lead to make it suffice for shooting my 9mm?

[Oreo]

What else you got? Lots of ways to crack that nut. WW, lino, mono, foundry, super-hard, tin, solder, pewter, shot, etc.

[Utah Shooter]

I do not have anything else. Just lots of pure lead. What would be the cheapest?

[odfairfaxsub]

cut it in half with ww is what i do utah man

[MT Gianni]

38 wadcutters are fine with soft lead. Mid range loaads for revolvers could use something harder added. Full bblast revolver loads and auto pistol cartridges need harder still. You ashould be able to get some hard alloy from Rotometals to use as a blend.

[MtGun44]

50-50 wwts or 1/3 lino.

Bill

[44man]

For a nine, I would just water drop WW metal to start. Then I would go up in hardness if they don't work. It is a small case but has high pressures.
I think backwards. A .38 with a wad cutter would be very hard from my guns but I could use softer in the .357.
It is the powder in the tiny brass, FAST with a hard thump at the get go.
Pure lead seems to be harder to get and muzzle loader shooters would drool. I am sure you could trade for harder lead. Pure is a treasure to some but not in high pressure pistols.
To buy antimony and tin to make it work can be more expensive then going to Rotometals for a good alloy.

[sixshot]

Good advice above. If you have a good supply of pure lead just start scrounging around for either WW's (no zinc) or linotype. One of my most used alloys is 5 parts lead, 2 parts linotype. You will have to experiment with hardness depending on what velocity you are looking for. Good luck, its a lot of fun & there are a lot of good old Utah boys that can help you out if they aren't up here in Idaho fishing!

Dick

[connecticut-yankee]

Are you shooting a Glock - if so they don't recommend firing lead cast ammo. In fact, their rep told me it would void the warranty.

[masscaster]

Hi Utah Shooter,
Personally I Never Cut Pure Lead, unless it's to make say 30:1 BPCR Alloy, or the like.
Swap with someone who has WW's. (Want To Buy/WTT Section)
50 lbs. will cast quite a few 9's, and the other person may have a hard time getting Pure.
For $11.00 Shipping ya can't beat it.

Jeff

[mdi]

Fine answers above. If you can find some lead wheel weights, not zinc, a 50-50 mix of WW and your pure lead will work. Or melt your pure lead, 10 lbs and add 1 bar (1 lb.) of 50-50 solder and you'll get 20-1 alloy. It should be about 10 on the BHN scale and good for handgun bullets, and should get you shooting. Linotype (getting harder to find), Wheel Weights (also getting harder to find), pewter, etc. are added to lead to make it harder. Check out Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook for info. on casting bullets and look here too; http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

[floydboy]

I've got the same problem. 100# of pure lead and don't know the best way to use it for 38/357 and 45acp. From this post looks like my best option is 50/50 WW pure lead as that's what I have to work with.

[turbo1889]

I've noticed recently that sources of WW have dried up to the point where it now seems easier to get pure-ish soft lead then it is to get WW alloy for a reasonable price.

Thus I am in the same boat as you are. RotoMetals Super-Hard is what I have been using. It's 30% Antimony and is specifically intended as a safe way to add Antimony to your mix (pure antimony is very dangerous to work with). Mixing 1-lb. of RM-SH to 5-lbs. of pure-ish soft scrap lead paying $4 a lb. for the RM-SH and picking up the pure-ish soft scrap for about a $1 a pound gives me something that is about as hard as WW alloy made from the big tractor trailer clip on WWs and runs me a total cost of $1.50 a pound which is a tolerable price point in my world and is a good alloy to start with and I can add tin to it and/or more pure-ish lead to adjust it to what I want for specific applications.

[quilbilly]

If your velocities are under 950 fps you may not have to add anything except a little tin to make it pour better. If over that by much and you have some hard shotgun pellets around, you might ad about 15% to get that little bit of arsenic and antimony to slightly harden your boolit along with the tin. It all depends on what your weapon likes. It is a little like midevil alchemy except you aren't turning lead into gold. Of course, the perfect alloy for your weapon is golden.