Not another pure lead question!!

[Andrew Quigley]

You bet ya!!:mrgreen:

I have a lot of pure lead and I want to start casting for my Enfield SMLE in 308 Winchester and my SKS. I've added old 50/50 solder to my mix before to make 20-1 for my Sharps but it's hard to find now days.
I don't have access to any wheel weights and figure to have to buy what I need. I plan on water quincing but not sure what to add for 1800 to 2000 fps without leading.

[runfiverun]

antimony.
you can't w/q without it.
you can pick up ww's from the swapin and buying/sellin section frequently here.

[Ole]

There was a guy selling 40lbs of Linotype for around $60 shipped on ebaY a few weeks ago.

You don't need all that much antimony to make WQ effective. I think Linotype is 12% Sb. That means you could cut it 1/6 with pure lead and still have an alloy with 2% Sb. Shoot for 1-2% antimony and check for leading.

I'm working on diluting my WW's with pure lead for my SKS. Going by a friend's advice, I made a couple different lots (one with 25%/75% PB/WW and another with 50/50 PB/WW). If you have good tempo in your water quenching I think you can get a bullet in the 16-18BHN range with 50/50. If your casting tempo sucks, you can always oven treat the bullets. :)

Will report back if my rifle tells me different.

[shooterchris]

With those velocities and in that caliber you are going to have to bite the boolit and buy yourself some linotype. I'm assuming that you are using a gas check mould also right? I may be wrong, and I'm sure if I am someone on here will correct me, but one or both of your rifles may need to be throated to shoot lead. I'm just getting into casting boolits for necked rifle cartridges myself and am thinking of starting with a Marlin or Winchester 30-30. From what I've read that is about the easiest to start with. I am a beginner to rifle boolits, but I work in the shop about 3 times a week with a CBA member who is also the club champ in the unlimited class in lead benchrest shooting at my club. I'm sure that most people are going to tell you to use linotype that is pre-made. I have posted some threads about this subject on a couple of different websites and the concensus is usually the same on this subject. You CAN make linotype yourself, BUT everyone that I have consulted has told me that it is pretty tough to do because the antimony is pretty touchy when it comes to mixing with the lead and tin, its not real easy to come by, and if you do it wrong the alloy that you make is terrible. There is plenty of premade lino around......it is sold on line, but the price is rediculous. I am lucky enough to have a mentor who has been casting rifle boolits since before I was a glimmer in my father's eye. He sold me some that he had for next to nothing. My advice is get a digital scale that will weigh up to 10lb., and mix lino to lead 1:4 or 1:5 make a few boolits and try em. If you have a local gunsmith or cast boolit expert be sure and ask him about throating your rifle to shoot lead, I'm not sure exactly how it's done, but I know it needs to be done. If you are really hardheaded (like me) and want to try to make some lino I know the formula and will give it to you. I never tried, if you do I would do some serious research on how. If the temperature of the antimony in the alloy is not EXACTLY right or it cools just a little too fast when adding the lead and tin, the antimony will crystalize and instead of having a nice even alloy......well you get the picture. Good luck in your rifle boolit venture. The rest of yall out there if I'm leading him wrong please let us both know, I've gotten THE best advice on casting boolits on this site.

[shooterchris]

There was a guy selling 40lbs of Linotype for around $60 shipped on ebaY a few weeks ago.

You don't need all that much antimony to make WQ effective. I think Linotype is 12% Sb. That means you could cut it 1/6 with pure lead and still have an alloy with 2% Sb. Shoot for 1-2% antimony and check for leading.

I'm working on diluting my WW's with pure lead for my SKS. Going by a friend's advice, I made a couple different lots (one with 25%/75% PB/WW and another with 50/50 PB/WW). If you have good tempo in your water quenching I think you can get a bullet in the 16-18BHN range with 50/50. If your casting tempo sucks, you can always oven treat the bullets. :)

Will report back if my rifle tells me different.

I have bought some great ingots on EBAY, but I have bought some that I know had zinc in them, I recently bought some that was supposed to be 97/3 lead/tin. It pours terrible. Personally I will not buy on EBAY again, I would try to work out something with someone on here or with someone you know, but it is up to you.

[shooterchris]

Look at this link, I dont want you to to waste your time and money.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=49992

[Echo]

I won't buy alloy in ingots on eBay. I WILL buy type metal, as long it is in type format and not rendered into ingots. And there is NO reason to buy WW's on eBay, for me anyway.