Lead Mixture

[686]

This Is What I Am Using Any Thoughts? 10 Lb Ww -- 2 Lb Liontype -- 6 Oz. 60/40 Soider . Gives Me A 12 Hardness .i Am Only Casting For Target Pistol Loads Under 1000 Fps. I First Melt Down The Ww In A 40 Lb Pot With A Plumers Furnice And Pour It In 5 Lb Ingets. Then After 300-400 Lb I Mix It In The Pot And Pour In 5 Lb Ingets Again Now It Is Terad To Male Bullets. I Do Weigh All My Mixteres. Every Thing Seams To Stay The Same This Way.

[Maven]

686, For target loads <1,000fps do you need to add 2 lb. lino and 6 oz. 60/40 solder to the WW's? You can cut the Sn back to 1% and get perfectly filled out CB's. With a good lube and properly sized CB's, you shouldn't get much leading at all, particlularly at the modest velocity you are seeking.

[686]

just thought it would make the bullet a little harder and stay shinnier longer . i have never casted with just ww. i use a star luber sizer with a bullet feeder with the star heater , a must , and magma bullet lube.

[Bucks Owin]

I think WW are about 12 by themselves. With the 20% linotype (about 22) you should be harder than that, maybe a 16....

FWIW

Dennis
who needs a hardness tester...

[Vegas Vince]

686
I have been using WW but I WC all Boolits. I tumble lube and size within a couple of days. The last several batches of boolits have tested 14 to 16 BHN. I only use lino in hunting and rifle boolits. The WW are great for punching holes in paper or ?? Hope this will help!

Vince

[robertbank]

You didn't mention what caliber you are shooting but I have used WW - water quenched in the following calibers with little to no leading without gas checks. .38spl, 9MM, .45acp, .45LC, .455 Webley, .41LC and.38S&W.

I have pushed 9MM to 1,100 fps in 124 gr boolits with no leading using WW.

With that in mind I am not sure you would need to add Lino to your alloy. I do add about 4" of solder to my 10 lb melt to assist in mold fill out and have had good results.

Bob

[686]

a commercial caster said he used 4 lb of lionatype to 10 lb ww. he did say he made his hard because he never knew what fps some one would push his bullets. i did check some that had been casted about 60 days and they were 16. i thought the 60/40 and liontype would the bullets fill out and cast better. got the 60/40 free from a radior shop. it was fun meltind it out of all the dirt and crap. i wound up with about 100 lbs. liontype did cost 1.00 lb. ww from free to 20.00 per 5 gal. mosley free or at least a 6 pk. do any of you use a master caster? thinking about getting one. i am casting 9mm 147 gr 38 158 gr swc and 45 200 gr swc. about 30 yrs ago i was young and crazy , i had a side business reloading. i shot comp. and the fellows wanted to buy my ammo. i also casted bullets. sols every thing and now getting back in to shooting . i now am trying to do it the right way. not looking to sell any thing just trying to make good bullets. i did have to trade some bullets to a shooter for the 500 lbs of ww he had. that may be a problum because he is winning some be matches and wants more. thanks for every ones responce. my key board can not spell as good as i can type.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I suppose I'm ignorant, but exactly what do you ask for to get the 60/40 free from the radiator shop? Their leftover or used up solder?

[stocker]

Dave : Some guys may just buy new solder. I get the floor scrapings from a rad shop and smelt the spilled solder out of it. I get about 1 lb of solder for every 2 lbs. of dirt and crud discarded. Exactly how much the 60/40 portion I reclaim varies from the original solder I don't know. It takes about 1.5 lbs of the reclaimed stuff to a 20 lb. potful of WW metal to make a good alloy for my purposes. It holds up to about 1900-2200 fps depending on bullet design, barrel twist, etcetera. Oven hardening will let you reach a bit higher. A person could use 1/2 lb or 2 lbs of solder provided you get the results you want when you shoot.

You cast, test shoot, evaluate the target, evaluate bore condition and decide. It could be rocket science but I refuse to go that way. I can do a lot of shooting with this mix and a good lube and not think about scrubbing out the bore.

The mix originally referred to in this thread seems pretty rich for the purpose stated and I think the linotype could be saved for other purposes.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

stocker,

Thank you for the information. I just had no clue what to ask the guy when I went in. Solder drippings/leftover is what I want. That makes it pretty easy. Now to find all the local radiator shops.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got about 300 lbs of that radiator solder. LIke you said its a mess to smelt but its well worth because the price is right FREE! Most shops are glad to get rid of it but you better move fast the epa and osha are clamping down on lead disposal! The last time i got some he said he was glad i took it because it looks like he may start having to account for it and pay for disposal.

[WildmanJack]

I'm shooting cowboy and wondering if straight ww lead is ok. My 45 Cold rifle is shooting just at or below 1000FPS and my 38 is shooting pretty slow as well. I'm not new to casting but I used to get swaged boolits from the sheriffs armorer and melt them down to recast in and H&G 68 so I never worried about hardness. I'm open for any suggestions.. Thanks for all the info I find on this site..

[HORNET]

WildmanJack, Those WW will be just fine as is. You could probably go softer if you want to. If you really want harder than that, try water dropping out of the mold. That'll probably take you up past the limits of what you're going to get with that .45 Colt rifle.

[runfiverun]

ww with 1.5% tin has reached 1350 in my 45 colt rifle so far
am trying for 1500. no g/c no fuss.
same deal with 44 working these up together.

[Cherokee]

I'm with runfiverun - WW are just fine for even heavy 45 Colt loads in my guns. I use a 3/3/94 mix for 30/30 & such rifle bullets w/o leading, but I keep them below 1800 fps for sure. I've got about 300 pounds of 50% Tin and I don't think I'll run out before I expire because I use so little of it.

[WildmanJack]

Thanks for the info guys, I've been considering the water drop thing. But, I think I'm going to have to change my powder . I have 6 lbs. of Clays left over from shotgun loading and I've been using that. According to the Hodgdon website I can only use 5.7 grains as max load, and that's what is giving me the 950+ average Velocity. So if anyone has any suggestions on powder I'm all ears..

[runfiverun]

for c-boy i have used 5.0 clays for 10+ yrs in 44&45 250 gr &below
if you want versatility titegroup will do c-boy up pretty far
800-x got me 1350 with 24"bbl. am moving on to 2400 and maybe h-110
just trying to see what i can get with this mix
i think if i can get 1450-1500 i will stop and use this to hunt with,maybe do some
hollow point testing,
was geting some expansion at 1000 fps 8' from bbl
but have not needed any expansion so far
the 1350 is with 800-x which is not powder drop friendly
and has pretty stout recoil
sr-4756 has some potential as does long-shot have used these with horn 250-xtp
with good results, 4756 is nice to shoot and kills deer to 75-yds or so
long-shot has sharp recoil and fairly high pressure so have not done too much
work with it.

hope this gives you some ideas

[WildmanJack]

Runfiverun, thanks so much for the info. I get great groups at 50 yds. with the Clays but the boolits are all over the place at 100yds. I thought that maybe a heavier bullet and different powder might tighten up the holes at 100. Cause right now if a deer gets 100 yards away he's pretty safe..

[runfiverun]

jack the biggest problem i have at 100
is my front bead will cover a deer top to bottom
cannot get a consistent sight picture, my groups are 3-4" but cannot call a heart shot
etc..
tang site and different front site is the way to go, small aperture for targets
and just remove the insert for hunting