Alloy Question

[Ballard]

My standard alloy is WW + 2% tin. Has worked well for me for years. I recently came into a large batch of virgin Linotype. What amount of lead do I have to add to the Lino to equal my standard WW+2% tin?
Thanks.

[grumpy one]

As the Irish farmer explained to the tourist seeking directions, "You can't get there from here." Since linotype has three times as much antimony as tin, you can't increase tin without increasing antimony more than you do tin.

Use some lead-free solder, or 60/40 solder.

[Ballard]

grumpy,
Don't I need to cut the Lino with lead? I think lino has more of both antimony and tin, then my regular alloy has.

[Murphy]

Ballard,

Give a try at 5 Lbs of WW to 2 Lbs of Lino. Makes a great boolit and is very close to Lyman #2 alloy. I know this is not an answer to your direct question, but something you may wish to try given the price of lead vs the price of WW's.

Murphy

[jhalcott]

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm
Read this page. It says you can mix WW and Lino to get a NEARLY Lyman #2 alloy .You can also add tin if you desire.

[GLL]

Trade a neighbor 100 pounds of your linotype for 200 pounds of his WW ingots ! :) :)

Until recently I traded at 100 pounds linotype for 300 WW ingots.

Jerry

[HeavyMetal]

way to much antimony in the Lino alloy for you to ever match your ww + 2% alloy!

I belive mixing with WW to apoximate Lyman # 2 is you first option and the second is to swap it off for something you can use.

Your use of boolit alloy is also going to come into play. What are you shooting cast in?

I have three basic alloys I work with and Blend a large batch of each as I run low.

I have plain WW with 1% tin, I have an approximate Lyman # 2 and then for rifle and hot magnum contender loads I have a high antimony alloy that hits 24BHN.

I mark each batch with a felt pen as to alloy and date made: #3 02-04-08 with the number three over the date.

This has worked well and keeps me busy some weekends. It might not be your cup of tea but I thought I should mention the option.

[leftiye]

Mix your 1 part linotype to three parts pure lead, and you'll have 3% antimony and 1.5% tin, that's still plenty hard (or you can heat treat it if you want harder) with plenty of tin. Could even go 4 to one. That should (adding in my head) be about 2.5%antimony, and 1 1/5% tin. Also a good enough amount of antimony, and tin, hard enough too. This is almost the same as 50/50 WW/pure which is about 2% antimony and less than 1% tin. Add a little tin to the 50/50 WW/pure and you've got a real good all around alloy.

[Lloyd Smale]

I agree i wouldnt waste it trying to make an ww equivelent alloy. Id save it for #2 and 5050 ww/lyno for higher velocitys.
Ballard,

Give a try at 5 Lbs of WW to 2 Lbs of Lino. Makes a great boolit and is very close to Lyman #2 alloy. I know this is not an answer to your direct question, but something you may wish to try given the price of lead vs the price of WW's.

Murphy

[grumpy one]

grumpy,
Don't I need to cut the Lino with lead? I think lino has more of both antimony and tin, then my regular alloy has.

If you mix lino (which is 4% tin, 12% antimony) with any proportion of pure lead, the result must by definition have just three times as much antimony as it does tin. You can't get there from here.

You can add 2% tin to any alloy by adding just one third of an ounce of leadless solder per pound of that alloy (a third of an ounce is about 2% of a pound).