Suggested alloys using these ingredients?

[kingstrider]

Can anyone recommend a simple recipe I can use for .44 magnum and 45/70 boolits using nothing but wheel weights, pure lead and 63/37 bar solder? All will be used for plinking/hunting and I have found that linotype is difficult/expensive to get so would like to stick to what I have on hand. Also, what kind of velocities can I expect to get with using just these materials?

[Old Ironsights]

I don't have anything but WW & pure lead. My last batch of 457122s were cast in 3/1 WW/Pb. Pretty soft, but no leading at my velocities.

[cbrick]

WW is all I use anymore for everything. Stick-on weights are about 6 BHN and to keep things simple I just consider them to be straight lead. Clip-on weights run about 11 BHN and can be heat treated or quenched for any BHN range up to about 30. By either HT or blending the clip-ons with the stick-ons I can have about any BHN range I need from 6 to 30, all with WW.

What velocity you can get could depend on things like the condition of your bore, loads etc but with the WW's you can certainly attain full power loads in both of these calibers. May take a bit of experimenting to get the final BHN but you are good to go with the WW.

For a recipe I'd suggest the clip-on weights with about 3% (by weight) of the solder and for full power loads simply quench from the mould and allow a few days to age harden.

Rick

[Larry Gibson]

I use a lot of WWs plus 2-3% tin for such bullets. Assuming you are using plain base bullets in the .44 and 45-70 you can expect very good accuracy up through 1500 or so fps. With GC bullets excellent accuracy can be had above that velocity.

Mix 4% by weight of the bar solder with WWs. This will give you a good alloy that is very comparable to what I use. If you want to soften it just add some of the lead until it suits your use.

Larry Gibson

[runfiverun]

there you go the 1-2% tin is plenty with the ww's and pure +ww's 50-50 with a bit-o-tin
will get you 900+fps.
boolit design and lube capacity will play a part here also.

[John Boy]

Can anyone recommend a simple recipe I can use for .44 magnum and 45/70 boolits using nothing but wheel weights, pure lead and 63/37 bar solder?
King - What alloy ratio do you want to cast these bullets? Example: 1:10 or 1:20, etc


Also, what kind of velocities can I expect to get with using just these materials?

Velocity is determined by the type and amount of powder used for the reload and the weight of the bullet ... NOT the alloy used to make the bullets

I strongly suggest that you buy some reloading and casting books to increase your knowledge. Another source are the online loading data published by the likes of Hodgdon or Accurate powder companies.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Hodgdon%20Basic%20Manual.pdf

http://www.accuratepowder.com/reloading.htm

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lymanproducts/images/Bullet%20Guide.pdf

[grouch]

With what you have, you can make ww + 1 or 2% tin which can be water dropped or heat treated to hard enough for most rifle applications. You can also make simple lead - tin alloys like 20 : 1 which although soft often do better in my 45 - 70 than the ww alloys. With these two there aren't many things you can't do with cast bullets.