What would I do with 130 lbs of linotype?

[Just Duke]

Someone wants to give me 130 lbs of Linotype. Most of my cartridges are 45 Long Colt, 45-70, 45 ACP, 500 S&W which work OK with just straight WW's.

Maybe for the proposed 416 Rigby, 458 Lott, 405 Winchester purchase.

(please refrain from the "send it to me posts". ;) [smilie=1:)

[fishhawk]

well you could always alloy it with pure lead that would sure streach it out

[RayinNH]

Duke, if you have no immediate needs just save it. Linotype is mighty hard to come by these days, and you know full well that someday you'll be buying a firearm that will require harder alloy. You will be buying more firearms won't you? :-)...Ray

[garandsrus]

Duke,

The linotype is probably only useful for the 500 S&W in the first set of calibers you mentioned.

You can mix linotype in with other lead and tin to make Taracorp (92% pb - 6% antimony - 2% tin) which is considered to be a very good "all around" hard alloy. It probably isn't appropriate for BPCR though as it would be too hard.

The other option is always to get another rifle in a 30 or similar caliber :)

John

[Blammer]

take it, and swap it 2:1 for some WW's.

I sent out 60lbs of WW's to get 30 lbs of lino. Each pay shipping, not a bad deal.

[HeavyMetal]

How do you know it's Lino?

Please understand I'm not trying to cast a shadow here just wanting to make sure you have a real good idea of what your getting.

For example 10 or 15 years ago I bought a 300 lb lot of Lino type. This was still in type form, letters and all, so I figured it was what I was told it was and payed the asking price.

It turned out to be a real good buy as it was way to hard to be Lino and, with the use of a freinds LBT hardness tester, figured it was about 32 on the BHN scale which was foundry type!

Much sweeter in tin than Lino.

With the same tester in tow my bud and I checked out a Lino buy 5 or 6 years ago. This had been melted and cast into the little Lyman ingots. Guy selling it swore it was Lino. A quick test proved it was wheel weight at 12.5 bhn. We spent 35 minutes explaning to this guy how the LBT unit worked, let him see the instructions and test the ingots himself and I still don't think he believed us when we told him it was WW metal.

Needless to say no purchase was made at the price he insisted the "Lino" was worth!

So How sure are you it's Lino? Please bear in mind the price is right even if it is WW metal so don't stress about it but I will suggest a good going over with a hardness tester might give you a better idea of what you have.

This is all pretty much guess work as you won't want to go to the expense of having it analyzed for such a small batch.

I'd go for it and worry about what I might do with it later. But sooner or later your going to have to attempt to figure out what it is, I figure the sooner the better.

And I refrained from asking you to send it to me!

[Jon K]

You can mix Linotype/WW for all the calibers you shoot.
I use 12% lino/WW alloy. Just my choice, I like the way it fills out and the hardness I wind up with. Like a Ford & Chevy thing.........

Jon

[Larry Gibson]

I shall not "refrain"...send it to me as I know exactly what I'd do with it!

However, to answer your question; it makes great bullets for HV loads in CF rifles although the mix of 50/50 with lead is also good for up through 2000 fps as is a mix of 60/40 WW/lino.

Larry Gibson

[Bigjohn]

One thing everyone else has failed to mention; It does not have a useby date!

So, if you can stack & store it, it WILL come in handy (and it don't eat nothin'). :bigsmyl2:

And like the other responses have said; you can harden your alloys with it.

I should know; I have about 400 pounds of it in boxes sitting on the shed floor.

Oh! I almost forgot; don't cast it into ingots, it's just wasting time & energy to do that for what end, when you can add it to the pot as is.

John

[Just Duke]

So would I need it for these? 416 Rigby, 458 Lott, 405 Winchester.

[Echo]

I WILL refrain from asking for you to send it to me - of course, if you voluteered...

Another reason not to cast into ingots is that you will always know what it is - casting into ingots, then stacking away for 10 years, might lead one to wonder.

I do 50/50 WW/Lino - makes an alloy with ~ 2+% of tin and casts very nicely.

Do you need it for the .416, or the others? Doubt it, but it IS a great source of tin for alloying.

[Bigjohn]

So would I need it for these? 416 Rigby, 458 Lott, 405 Winchester.

I believe those calibres would benefit from hard cast boolits and on some occasions boolits of prue Lino are called for. If it is on offer; grab it with BOTH hands; it is getting harder to find and its better to have it than be lookin' for some when you need it.

Besides; I'm too far away to ask you to send me some. [smilie=1:

John.

[Lloyd Smale]

a good alloy for top loads in big bore rifles is 5050 ww/lyno. I dont think straight linotype is needed in them. When you get down to the .30s and smaller or get velocitys over 2000 fps straight lineotype has a place. I wouldnt sell it though as you can make the 5050 i mentioned out of it or make a #2 alloy using wws. Both are great for handgun hunting loads.

[Down South]

I would just hang onto it. Some day you’ll find a need for it. I remember several years back before I started casting boolits a distant cousin of mine who was in the printing business gave me 50 lbs of lino and offered me more. He even told me that it was good boolit making material but since I didn’t cast boolits nor did I know anything about casting boolits I gave it away. I’m still kicking myself for doing that. The cousin is long dead now and I don’t have a clue what happened to the rest of his lino.

[runfiverun]

you can also add it to your ww's with some tin and get a 4/6/mix
similar to lyman #2 in hardness.
which can be w dropped or used as is in those rifles you mentioned.
or your 500 or 454.
there is always something you can do with lead or it's alloys you just gotta know whats in them.

[Wayne Smith]

Duke, you could always send it to me! Seriously, you don't actually need it for those calibers. It will come in handy if you want harder boolits and don't want to heat treat. You have lots of info here on just how to do it, my post is the why. You can, of course, accomplish the same thing by heat treating wws to any degree of hardness you want. The other thing is to save it to alloy with plumbers/roofers lead when you come into that.

[HeavyMetal]

Duke:
If your gonna run "full House" loads in the 416 and the 458 Lott yes you will need the lino!

405 Win. not so much, lots less pressure and veloicity although that will vary depending on the rifle you have.

As I said earlier Price is right go for it.

[crowbeaner]

I just ran a bunch of shot with 50/50 lino letters and pure lead. It will break your teeth so it sure beats the $50 a bag for Lawrence that Gander wants; and that's not even Magnum shot. SAVE IT AND SMILE!

[Just Duke]

Duke:
If your gonna run "full House" loads in the 416 and the 458 Lott yes you will need the lino!

405 Win. not so much, lots less pressure and veloicity although that will vary depending on the rifle you have.

As I said earlier Price is right go for it.

Thanks all! :-D With that it's on the way.

[corvette8n]

you could also use it to make up some .223 for the AR's

[AzShooter]

I'm not ashamed to say I'll take it. :-D

I just bought 40 lbs of Linotype so I could add it to my wheel weights. 1 lb to ten pounds of wheel weights should equal Lyman #2 allo or come close enough that it won't make any difference.

If you load anything for hot shooting, over 1900 fps I'd use this mix. It will last you a long time. Try it and see if your groups tighten up.

[Sven]

So what is the going price for lino? I talked to a print shop owner yesterday and he said he had "metal" he's be willing to get rid of. I bought some lino from him years ago. I stopped by the scrap yard and they want 45 cents a lb for scrap lead -- they had what looks like pure lead and one bucket of ww. I also stopped by a tire store and got 5 gallons (100#?) of ww for nothing. :-D

[bobk]

DUKE,
I've thought about this. I have a pig of Lino that I've had laying around for 30+ years, never used it for anything. I think in the future it will be a source of antimony and tin after wheelweights get scarce. Lino all by itself would be useless for hunting, due to it's fracturing upon impact. If you're wanting to do the "3000 FPS!" game, it might be useful, but that never interested me. However, with the Lino, and the lead-free solder I picked up, I can make some nice, malleable boolits that fill out well, I'm thinking ".30-30" here. For the big stuff, I think I can get by with a softer mix.

It also might be useful for poured lead bearings; I gave some to a co-worker for that purpose.
Bob K

[AzShooter]

Sven you did fantastic. They want $.75 per pound of scrap lead here. I haven't been able to find anyone that will sell me wheel weights at any auto shop I've gone to in town.

I've been buying ingots of wheel weights off of e-bay for $1 a lb.

Lino is about the same. $1 a lb. I just picked up 40 lbs to add to my wheel weight mix. The bullets are coming out much better now. Only 2 lbs of Lino to 20 18 lbs of wheel weights in my 20 lb pot.

I wish I had a bigger pot.

[sagamore-one]

Beleive it or not... there are different lino-type alloys available. Our print shop discontinued hot lead printing and I purchased all available lead alloy. Our basic lino came in "pig" form, 26lb bars. Bhn around 22 plus. As this was used and re - used the bnh came down , sometimes dramatically 12.5 to 13 being not too unusual as the tin, nickel content went away.. we generally freshened up the alloy as needed. We also got mono type bnh 28plus. These were in the form of single letters for the letterpress. Dang hard. Repeat dang hard.
It all melts good, casts well and is very stable. Generally the pigs were marked as lino, lino plus, nickel lino, or mono. Mixing alloy is a dying art in the commercial world.
If someone offered me lbs of any lino alloy I would drive half way to Afganistan to get it. I would suggest that you get the lino, give the doner a 12 pack and a hearty thank you.

[lead_her_fly]

Duke,
The Linotype isn't good for anything YOU MUST SEND IT TO ME!

All kidding aside, if you are going to drive your own cast bullets without gas checks to the 1800fps range it will come in handy. I alloy mine with wheel weights to get a BHN of 19 or so. I use that in my Handi-Rifle in 44mag. No leading with my homemade lube. I figure it is a win/win when it comes to that. I use it to make my wheel weight bullets harder for use in pistol caliber rifles like the Handi and some Marlin 1894s we have around here.

(If you do feel the need to get rid of it, remember my offer!) :)

[Lloyd Smale]

bob that is not true. Ive killed alot of animals and done alot of penetration testing with straight lino bullets and have yet to see one fracture. the only bullets ive observed fracturing at handgun velocitys are water dropped ww bullets.
DUKE,
I've thought about this. I have a pig of Lino that I've had laying around for 30+ years, never used it for anything. I think in the future it will be a source of antimony and tin after wheelweights get scarce. Lino all by itself would be useless for hunting, due to it's fracturing upon impact. If you're wanting to do the "3000 FPS!" game, it might be useful, but that never interested me. However, with the Lino, and the lead-free solder I picked up, I can make some nice, malleable boolits that fill out well, I'm thinking ".30-30" here. For the big stuff, I think I can get by with a softer mix.

It also might be useful for poured lead bearings; I gave some to a co-worker for that purpose.
Bob K

[bobk]

Lloyd,
To be honest, I was just repeating what I have read. I have never shot anything living with a lino bullet. I have a lack of faith in non-expanding boolits in small calibers, .357 for example. Oh, I want a nice meplat, but also some expansion. That's why I will probably never use straight lino.

Bob K

[deltaenterprizes]

I like a mix of 50/50 lead /lino makes nice bullets or 20% lino/ww,10% lino/range lead.

[Just Duke]

I'm not ashamed to say I'll take it. :-D
.

For shame for shame. tsk tsk. lol

Anyway thanks a bunch gents. With all that is is being shipped as we speak.
Thanks again.
Duke