alamogunr
12-11-2009, 10:36 AM
I spent some time last night re-reading some articles I had copied and filed in a binder at least 10-15 years ago. Some were from the Handloader Cast Bullet Annual and some from the NRA Cast Bullets book. At the time I expected to be referring to them frequently and didn't want to wear out my copies of an out of print publication.
The more in depth articles were from the NRA book.
It is interesting to note that most of these articles content is heavy with references to the various type metals, especially linotype. Some of the writers did emphasize that type metals were beginning to be hard to find and their best use is to alloy with WW or soft lead, but several advocated casting with linotype without qualifying as to purpose.
One writer stated that an alloy with less than 2% tin would have excessive rejects due to improper fill out. He also stated that less than 2% tin could result in frosted bullets. He did qualify the statement by saying that the frosted condition would probably only occur on one side and subsequent discussion continued to refer to frosting "due to low tin content". He recommended 3-5% tin for eliminating frosting. He also mentioned frosting inside the bullet body. This mystified me as I'm not sure how he knew this occurs.
The best reading for me was a collection of articles by Norman Johnson. He had some good information on case head separation and sizing when using once fired military brass. This discussion was limited to rifle brass. One of his articles covered the use of Lyman M dies. I have seen some of the same information here but not all in one place. I don't see him posting here at all. I used to see his posts frequently on the cast bullet elist. Not so much any more. I hope he is OK.
I resolved a while back to read through the "Classics and Stickies". I'm going to add these older articles and books to that resolution.
John
W.TN
The more in depth articles were from the NRA book.
It is interesting to note that most of these articles content is heavy with references to the various type metals, especially linotype. Some of the writers did emphasize that type metals were beginning to be hard to find and their best use is to alloy with WW or soft lead, but several advocated casting with linotype without qualifying as to purpose.
One writer stated that an alloy with less than 2% tin would have excessive rejects due to improper fill out. He also stated that less than 2% tin could result in frosted bullets. He did qualify the statement by saying that the frosted condition would probably only occur on one side and subsequent discussion continued to refer to frosting "due to low tin content". He recommended 3-5% tin for eliminating frosting. He also mentioned frosting inside the bullet body. This mystified me as I'm not sure how he knew this occurs.
The best reading for me was a collection of articles by Norman Johnson. He had some good information on case head separation and sizing when using once fired military brass. This discussion was limited to rifle brass. One of his articles covered the use of Lyman M dies. I have seen some of the same information here but not all in one place. I don't see him posting here at all. I used to see his posts frequently on the cast bullet elist. Not so much any more. I hope he is OK.
I resolved a while back to read through the "Classics and Stickies". I'm going to add these older articles and books to that resolution.
John
W.TN