Whats next....

[Dadswickedammo]

New to casting and am really excited to get started but want a good foundation. Have been reloading for years so I have that down.
Going to be casting 45 lc cowboy loads 300AAC 303British to start got lead lube sizer lube gas checks punch dies lee 20lb bottom pour on back order.
Want to better understand BNH how to tell what my lead is and how to make it what i want. Also safety i mean i pretty safe but with all things new to us things we just have not thought of.
Son is taking me out to dinner gotta run.
Thanx

[runfiverun]

well I couldn't tell you what 90% of the lead I have has in it.
the other 10% is lino-type pigs from the foundry and some 1.5% antimony bricks I picked up as over runs for a nuclear plant build.
other than that I got no clue.
I just make boolits for my pistols with the clip on and stick on ww alloy and air cool them.
I use the same alloy for my rifles.
but I drop them from the mold into a little pail of water.

I think my bhn is about a 10 maybe an 11 I dunno.
I quit checking, and it wouldn't tell me anything about what's in there anyway.

I do know I need to add a pound of linotype to every 8 lbs of my alloy for my 9mm boolits.
and I mix 3 parts of it to 1 part lino-type and add more tin for my 223 and 30 cal target boolits.
I don't know it's bhn either [14-15 ish I'd say] and I can kind of guess at it's make-up too[shrug]
all I really know is the big pile under the bench is all the same alloy and it works.
and I'm good with that.

[Scharfschuetze]

Welcome to the addiction. Hope your dinner with the boy went well.

A friend of mine had access to an X-ray reader and I've got my stash of lead sorted to like alloys. When I want a specific alloy, I can mix and match as well as add tin to get pretty close to what the foundry sells for soft, mid range or hard alloys.

I think that a lot of guys probably use too hard an alloy for most applications, but hard is better than too soft, although a soft alloy will often obturate to some extent and fill the bore and thus cut down on leading in mid range loads. It's counter-intuitive, but often a softer alloy will fix a load that is leading, particularly in hand guns.

There is a PDF somewhere on the site here by a Mr. Frexel (as I recall) that does a good job in explaining BHN and other arcane topics with cast boolits. It's well worth the read. If you can't find it, PM me and I'll send you a copy via E-mail.

For safety, common sense applies. Never cast with a chance of a drop of water getting into the pot. Wear the usual safety glasses, leather shoes and heavy apron. I cast mostly in the garage with all the doors open for ventilation and in the summer keep a fan blowing on me. Wash before smoking or eating as both of those activities with lead on your hands provide a great chance for lead poisoning.

Additionally, I recommend reading up on proper sizing of your boolits to your bore as well as investigating the various lubes that are available to you. I'd also buy the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, which is now in its fourth edition.

Good luck!

[Yodogsandman]

Don't get too hung up on BHN. Figure on soft, medium and hard, it's easy.

Soft Lead-BHN 5 to 8- Usually for muzzle loaders- almost pure lead, use lead flashing or stick on wheel weights.

Medium Lead- BHN 9-15- for most rifle and pistol/revolver rounds- clip on wheel weights, isotope containers+tin, Lyman#2, scrap range lead

Hard lead- BHN 16 and up- for high velocity, specialized for long range or competition shooting- linotype, monotype, foundry type, super hard, normally alloys are mixed to use these to harden other lead.

Any alloy with any antimony in it can be heat treated to a higher BHN by quick quenching when hot. Water dropped is when the boolits are dropped right from the mold into a pail of water. Oven heat treating heats the boolits up in say a toaster oven for at least an hour and then the boolits are quickly quenched all at once in a bucket of water.

As far as lead safety goes, ingestion is the way 99% get poisoned. Use good hygiene. Wash up after touching any lead. I wash my hands whenever I leave my casting pot. Clean up your work space. Wipe down surfaces. Be aware that the whitish coating on old lead is lead oxide. It will be in scrap range lead before melting, too. Don't breath lead oxides.

For better info read these...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?110213-From-Ingot-to-Target-A-Cast-Bullet-Guide-for-Handgunners

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletAlloy.htm

http://www.lasc.us/HeatTreat.htm

[JohnH]

well I couldn't tell you what 90% of the lead I have has in it.
the other 10% is lino-type pigs from the foundry and some 1.5% antimony bricks I picked up as over runs for a nuclear plant build.
other than that I got no clue.
I just make boolits for my pistols with the clip on and stick on ww alloy and air cool them.
I use the same alloy for my rifles.
but I drop them from the mold into a little pail of water.

I think my bhn is about a 10 maybe an 11 I dunno.
I quit checking, and it wouldn't tell me anything about what's in there anyway.

I do know I need to add a pound of linotype to every 8 lbs of my alloy for my 9mm boolits.
and I mix 3 parts of it to 1 part lino-type and add more tin for my 223 and 30 cal target boolits.
I don't know it's bhn either [14-15 ish I'd say] and I can kind of guess at it's make-up too[shrug]
all I really know is the big pile under the bench is all the same alloy and it works.
and I'm good with that.

This describes prolly 98% of your needs for cast boolits. It really ain't rocket science and it really is very forgiving. If it weren't, most folks wouldn't have such good success with it. Yes, it can be over thought. Yes it can be over complicated. And yes, it can be as simle as a small pot over a single eye electric or gas fired stove, a dipping ladle, a mould, a Lee push through sizer die, gas checks and some liquid alox or similar product. That system and some plain old wheel weights will get you into 1800 fps rifle shooting easy peezy. If you want to go faster heat treating the boolits cast from wheel weight's and a higher end beeswax carrier lube applied with a lubrisizer will get you into 2000-2200 fps territory if that's your desire. The bulk of my rifle shooting is in the 1650 fps range. As to handguns the same wheel weight alloy and liquid alox will cover a shocking large range of calibers and chamberings. I use that combo in 45 ACP and 45 Colt with Lee's 230gr round nose boolit, their 230 grain truncated cone boolit, and Lymans 200 grain wadcutter (452460) In 44 Magnum I shoot the Lee 200 RFN at 900 fps and in 38 Special Lee's 158 RFN in a Rossi 24" barrel Model 92. Enjoy you new hobby, it has brought me lots of pleasure over thirty years now

[Walter Laich]

for years my lead was from wheel weights and I just cast, lubed and fired them by the thousands. No leading, good accuracy and all is right with the world.
wasn't pushing them to max, just middle of the road loads that did what they should.

Still pretty much buy lead off this site and cast, powder coat and shoot (like PC over traditional lube these days)

And welcome to the forum. Spend as much time here as possible--a lot of knowledge is contained in these 'pages'

[dtknowles]

Where did you get your lead and in what forms? How you going to explore BHN, you don't have a hardness tester? You don't need one if you have clues about what you have for lead. Not all lubes are for all applications, what did you pick for a lube?

Tim