Alloying?

[armoredman]

Me dumb bunny...what percentage would you mix magnum shot,(antimony), ingots with 20-1 ingots for hardball hardness. The 20-1 is a brinell 10, and Midway states 16 is hardball hard. All I want is plinking boolits for 9mm and 38 spc, and 303 whenever I get a 303 174-175 gr mold.
Or, would it be better to mix the magum shot ingots with pure lead, at what approximate ratio? Add 50/50 solder?
I need to get that smelting setup, this academic right now.

[454PB]

If you don't know the antimony content of the magnum shot, and you don't own a hardness tester, then you are just going to have to experiment. Plinkers for the .38 and 9mm don't need to be "hardball" hard. If you feel you need more hardness, you can always water drop the boolits. Solder (tin) will add very little hardness, but it will improve the castability.

[armoredman]

OK, I guess a hardness tester is on the Christmas list. Thank you, that is what i kinda thought. Leo Frankowski called it "bucket chemistry." :)

[454PB]

I've been casting for 36 years, and I didn't own a hardness tester or a casting thermometer for 35 of those. It can be done perfectly fine without those items, they are just fun to play with.

[leftiye]

Used ta be that Lawrence brand manglum shot was 5% antimony IIRC. As such, it won't affect your hardness much. I'd go half and half. You won't actually get to a BHN 16 with this though. But if you want harder, maybe heat treat it, (much harder). Those magnum shot ingots unalloyed (5% antimony, 1/2% tin) will heat treat to (believe it or not) a BHN of 42! High arsenic content, low tin.