What is your favorite alloy for 9mm?

[olaf455]

I'm sure this has been asked before, however the search function is not forthcoming...

[captaint]

Anymore I use straight WW's and a little tin. The 50/50 lead & WW's did not prevent leading, although there were size problems then. With the size issues fixed and the straight WW's working - I'm gonna leave it alone. enjoy Mike

[Shepherd2]

Straight wheel weights work for me.

[Three44s]

WW with a little tin here as well!!


Three 44s

[zomby woof]

Air cooled or WQ WW's?

[MtGun44]

Air cooled wwts, sometimes with a touch of tin added if fill out isn't going well.

Hardening by water quench is not needed IME. Some report barrels with extremely
shallow rifling that do better with harder, but I have not run into it - many different 9mms,
too. Several SIGs, Brn HP, Beretta, Astra, Kel-Tek all shoot accurately and do not lead
with AC WWts.

Bill

[AlabamaEd]

Air cooled WW with a little tin to help with fill out, sometimes run the leads little hot to help with casting. Water drop is counter productive and may add to leading.

[Larry Gibson]

If mixing an alloy just for the 9mm I like to have an alloy with a BHN in the 11 - 12 range with a good proportion of lead, antimony and tin.

COWWs + 2% tin with about 15 -20% lead added to that works very well for me with 9mm and 45 ACP bullets.

Linotype with 50 - 70% lead added also works.

Also, as mentioned, WWs (can be a mix of COs and SOs) +2% tin also works very well.

I've never found a need in 9mm handguns, subguns or carbines to WQ or otherwise harden the bullets thus mine are all AC'd.

Larry Gibson

[Cherokee]

I use a 3/3/94 alloy. My testing with my loads in my guns indicated the 2/3/95 (WW+2% tin) leaded some but the 3/3/94 did not and seemed a little more accurate. I use WW+2% for nearly all other cartridges.

[fcvan]

Range lead sized at .358 and lubed with javalina, rooster red, BAC, home brew loob. I've used wheel weights, 50/50 wheelweights, and range lead. I haven't had anything not work in 9mm. I've used the Lee 358-105 SWC, 356-125 2R, and the 356-120 TC which actually casts 358 and weighs 125 grains. I ignored 9mm for a bunch of years but am back to having fun with it. Frank

[HDS]

the current batches I have of 9mm are probably close to WW+tin mixed with 50% pure lead. I have considered water dropping them.

I shot a few in my glock recently at .369", with LLA it did lead the barrel quite a lot in just 10 rounds. Streaks all the way along the barrel.

It's a factory glock barrel and the cases where squeezing the bullets base down to .354-355" so I am not willing to blame the alloy just yet. I hope to have more luck with an aftermarket barrel, conventionally lubed bullets and an enlarged expander.

[captaint]

I should have mentioned - I don't water drop any of my pistol boolits. Just haven't found it to be necessary. enjoy Mike

[GunFun]

Update to this.

I have been having a hard time finding WW. Obviously that will continue. What would be a good formula for good loads if WW is unavailable. I am thinking my likely sources of lead will be leadline from gillnets, and range pickup. As far as I know, the leadline type I will get most is fairly pure. I plan to do a brief write up after testing by Molly's Staedtler Hardness scale.

[Ed_Shot]

Have given up on trying to find zinc-free ww's. Have a good supply of scrap lead (certainly not pure but not contaminated with anything that I can tell) which I alloy with RotoMetal's SuperHard to add 3% antimony and then add 2% tin. Don't know the BHN but casts nice and leaves no lead in the barrel.

[MT Gianni]

Update to this.

I have been having a hard time finding WW. Obviously that will continue. What would be a good formula for good loads if WW is unavailable. I am thinking my likely sources of lead will be leadline from gillnets, and range pickup. As far as I know, the leadline type I will get most is fairly pure. I plan to do a brief write up after testing by Molly's Staedtler Hardness scale.

I think you will need to buy some harder metals and enrich your alloy. I use acww in my CZ75. They worked well in a previous Taurus and fair in a Ruber P-89. In fairness the trigger was the real problem with the P-89. Get a good hardness tester, I like Cabintree, and make your alloy about the same as acww.

[GunFun]

I've read about using pewter as a source of tin, but haven't found any so far.

I plan to be firing this load primarily through a Taurus pt99 AF and a little through a hi-point carbine I got as a teen.
I'd like it to run well in other people's guns too though.

Do you guys just buy from a supplier like roto-metals or is there some other common source of things like tin, antimony and harder metals?

Also, how do you decide how much to add?

Side question: Can I achieve similar hardness by water dropping purer lead or maybe 50-50 CLWW and Lead?

My preference is to water drop anyway.

I am sure these are dumb questions, and I have been reading around here for months to years, but I don't know the answers yet.

Thanks.

[Jamezius Maximus]

ww water dropped, makes them much harder on the hardness scale. By the way very little leading!

[GunFun]

What about water dropping "pure" Pb, or a 50/50 pb/CLWW mix?

[Ole]

50:50 water dropped is what I use for most of my cast bullets, including 9mm. Runs around 16-18BHN. :)

[truckboss]

You are going to need antimony for your lead to make them harder when water quenching.COWW have some,how much?:Fire:

[truckboss]

You are going to need antimony for your lead to make them harder when water quenching.COWW have some,how much?

[MT Gianni]

Aresenic is the real need for wd boolits. A trace is all that is needed generally supplied with ww.

[GunFun]

what is a convenient and safe source of that?

[williamwaco]

Air cooled wwts, sometimes with a touch of tin added if fill out isn't going well.

Hardening by water quench is not needed IME. Some report barrels with extremely
shallow rifling that do better with harder, but I have not run into it - many different 9mms,
too. Several SIGs, Brn HP, Beretta, Astra, Kel-Tek all shoot accurately and do not lead
with AC WWts.

Bill

+1 on every word.
Except:

My stable includes SIG, Smith, Kimber (2), Browning HP.

[GunFun]

That's dandy and all, but with no source of WWTs, it isn't helpful. The point of the question is what to do when we can't get Wheel Weights...

Is there an easy to find and inexpensive source of material that can be added to fairly pure lead to an alloy comparable to WWT?

I appreciate that Ole answered in a way that at least gives a way to stretch the WWT lead I did manage to get.

[MtGun44]

Rotometals. Check their link at the top of the page on the right. Mix their alloys with pure
lead to get WWt equiv. They sell a 30% antimony 70% lead bar that you could mix 9:1
with pure to get 3% antimony alloy. Add 1-2% tin and you should be good.

Bill

[frkelly74]

I like free alloy the best. I am a firm believer in range scrap as salvaged ( if it worked once as a boolit, it will probably work again) or sweetened with a small amount of wheel weight that I have hoarded. Water quench to increase hardness if you really think it's necessary.

[GunFun]

Thanks guys. I'll be doing some prospecting at the range when weather allows and probably putting in an order to rotometals if a potential WW source doesn't pan out.

[captain-03]

Range lead for ALL my handgun applications EXCEPT for the 500S&W .... have air cooled them and WD'd them ... does not seem to make much difference ....