Problem getting the right cast bullet weight.

[TC66]

Hello All. I am new to casting old at reloading. I have a bunch of casting material. 150 LBS of type metal from printing shops and about 150 lbs of WW's.

I have a Lyman 20 LBS melting pot and a 4 cavity Lyman 158 Grain SWC mold and a Lee 6 cavity RNFP 158 grain mold. I am in dire need of suggestions of how to mix the metals to get the right weight. Lee Mold I am getting 136 grain weight bullets supposed to be 158 grain. Lyman mold I am getting 154 grain bullets. I am close on the lyman but the Lee has me baffled. The bullet is 3/16 " shorter than the ones from the lyman mold. Any and all help would be greatly accepted and appreciated.

Tom C.

[44man]

I would not worry about the actual weight. I have never seen a mould that would throw one right at what it is supposed to be. What you want is what will shoot good. I would use WW metal and just add a little linotype and see how they shoot. Keep making small batches with varying mixes until you find the perfect alloy that gives no leading and good accuracy. Then mix a bunch and stay away from the scale.
Mould makers use one alloy to come up with the weight. A harder alloy will give a lighter boolit and a softer alloy makes them heavier.
Just forget about it and BURN POWDER!

[Cherokee]

Unless you are loading heavy loads, save the Linotype and use the wheel weights with just a sweetner of Linotype for casting qualities. I am surprised the Lee cast out so much less but as 44man says, try them. If they shoot to your satisfaction, do not worry.

[JohnH]

I've never had a Lee mold throuw a bullet 15% underweight. Since you say the bullet is shorter than the Lyman by 3/16", I would suggest you contact Lee and find out if the mold you have was misnumbered or mismachined. As the others have said, if the bullet shoots, it matters little, most especially if they shoot good. But it sounds to me as though you ahve a faulty mold, not a poor alloy.

[John Boy]

I have never seen a mould that would throw one right at what it is supposed to be.
44: I got one - a Lyman 457661 -510 ... that drops them at 510.2 - 510.5 gr about 99% of the time :smile: The mold was made for Dixie Arms as the RL6307 Bore Rider

As a general rule, you are right - they don't [smilie=b:
Regards
John

[swheeler]

TC66;a 17 BHN alloy in my Lee 158RNFP drops a bullet @ about 156 grs, same alloy in the C158SWC Lee drops 162 grs. The SWC bullet is .678 long and the RNFP is .625, less than 1/16 differance in length. It is possible you got the 125RNFP mold by mistake, for me the diameter and roundness(should say out-of-roundness), they drop at is the most important, not the weight. An 8/2 ww-lino will give you a 14-16 BHN bullet, when air cooled ,if your printers lead is linotype and your WW are the same as mine, everything can be different. The printers lead I have tested ran from just under 21 to 22 BHN on Lee tester, all showed 22 on Saeco tester. The printers lead I get are in the long pointed ingots, about 25 lbs each.
Scooter