What's a fair price

[angus6]

looks like I 've got a line on some 2/6/92 , i've been told to make an offer . What would be a fair price per pound ? Midway is around $2.80 a pound is it really that high ?

[mtgrs737]

If you are talking about 2% tin, 6% antimony, and 92% lead then what you are looking at is very close to wheel weight alloy with a tad more tin. I pay 25 cents a pound for wheel weights right now and that might be considered high as the salvage price has dropped in the last few weeks. Wheel weight alloy in ingot form on ebay sells for around $1 a pound plus shipping, I have noticed that here it sells for a bit less normally. Now if the numbers are backward and the 92% is tin then $2.80 lb. is not so bad.

[Blammer]

yea, 25¢ per pound is good.

[grumpy one]

2/6 alloy was formerly called Electrotype in British-based systems, and is often called Taracorp Magnum alloy in the US. Clip-on WW typically has about 0.25% tin and either 2% or 4% antimony. Lead-based stick-on WWs tend to be of two types: the dead-soft ones which are pretty much pure lead, and the slightly harder ones which seem to have more than 1% tin. If you do what I do and use 25% of tin-containing stick-ons to 75% clip-ons, you end up with a mix that has something vaguely like 1% tin and 2% or more of antimony.

2/6 alloy is (IMO) not a good bullet alloy for reasons I have explained in another thread:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40767
The problem is that it has so much antimony that toughness is considerably compromised. It can be used as an additive to mix up specific alloys though, and naturally has a market value slightly higher than WW simply because it is more highly alloyed and is a specific alloy, which realistically WW is not.

Some people use 2/6 as a bullet alloy because its air-cooled hardness is higher than WW (16 BHN versus 10.5 BHN) and for shooting at a rifle range bullet toughness may not matter all that much, especially if bullet fit and barrel quality are both pretty good. However I think a growing proportion of bullet casters tend to heat treat their bullets to get the hardness they want without having to sacrifice toughness and ductility.

The short summary of all this is that if you want the 2/6 buy it by all means. I personally would value it a lot closer to WW ($0.25 per pound) than linotype ($1.00 per pound), but what people pay for alloy is a function of local market conditions.

[GLL]

If 2% tin, 6% antimony, and 92% lead in clean INGOT form I would by a half-ton @ $0.50/lb and blend it to suit my needs ! :) :)

Jerry

[Shiloh]

looks like I 've got a line on some 2/6/92 , i've been told to make an offer . What would be a fair price per pound ? Midway is around $2.80 a pound is it really that high ?

That alloy is between wheel weights and Lyman #2

Yes that is excessive. Plus they will nick you for the shipping. Now it becomes exhorbitant !! :(

Shiloh

[mtgrs737]

I just got a email with a link to a place called Mid-states cast bullets from a friend and they offer 2-6-92 bullet alloy for 1.39 a pound if anyone is interested. I will try to post the link:


http://www.carrollsweb.com/gunshop/html/midstates_cast_bullets.html

[clodhopper]

I just checked that link and it says prices as of 3-5-05 what a wild couple of years. How long will it be before the lower prices hit the retail market?

[mtgrs737]

I just put a call into Mid-states to see about their pricing, a friend sent me the link and I didn't notice the date. I will post when I get a call back. They did have an answering machine so maybe they are still in business.

[mtgrs737]

I just got a call back from the guy at Mid-states cast bullets, the webb site I posted as sent to me by a friend is out of date alright. Their new webb site is WWW.bulletsdirect.com

They no longer sell alloy, just finished bullets and reloaded ammo. Their prices don't seem to be too high as they include shipping to your door. Sorry for the bad info! :groner:


Merry Christmas !

[angus6]

Got a chance to check out a bit more , he wants what his replacement cost would be with is 78¢ a pound So now not sure which way I'm going. How would this work mixing 50/50 with lead for 9mm.

grumpy one what ratio would you suggest ? sounds like I can get quite a few differnt mixes

[grumpy one]

Got a chance to check out a bit more , he wants what his replacement cost would be with is 78¢ a pound So now not sure which way I'm going. How would this work mixing 50/50 with lead for 9mm.

grumpy one what ratio would you suggest ? sounds like I can get quite a few differnt mixes

You've psyched me out somewhat with your reference to 9mm. My view is that the key issue with pistols is to get those bullets up the feedramp reliably; sometimes, a person's life depends on that. For purely range work, it is fairly straightforward: pure clip-on WWs, air-cooled, are probably a slight overkill in every respect except castability, which would be improved by a little more tin. For a revolver that alloy would contain a bit more antimony than you'd need, unless you were using quite high pressures.

If you were to mix one part 2/6 to two parts pure lead, the result would be 0.67% tin, and 2% antimony. That happens to be a very nice alloy for castability, ductility and toughness. Air-cooled after casting and loaded in a 357 revolver with moderate magnum loads I suspect it would be outstanding: some expandability in game, some capacity to obturate, and 10 BHN or just over. If it makes it up the feedramp I suspect it would be equally outstanding in a 9mm pistol. There will be people on this board who have a great deal of 9mm experience and can tell you how likely you are to have success with this, as a range or hunting load. I decline to endorse any soft bullet in a pistol as a defensive load, though.