What do I have?

[philthephlier]

I took a chance on 30 lbs. of ebay "linotype". I cast about 50 RCBS 45 Colt bullets.
They weigh almost exactly 20 grains less than a 10 part lead-1 part tin alloy that RCBS recommends for their molds. Thats 265 grains vs. 245 grains. The "linotype" bullets are as hard as any bullet I have ever cast, probably way to hard to shoot I'm guessing since I don't have a hardness tester. Anybody venture a guess what this alloy really is and is it useful for alloying into something softer?

[Kskybroom]

Ill Guess, I Have poured Boolits form my rcbs 300gr swc gc mold with Lyman #2, the wieght was 302gr. The same mold poured a 281gr Boolit with linotype...

[snuffy]

Most likely what you have is linotype letters in sticks that were mixed with the spacers from a printing job, then melted together. It results in an alloy approximately at 18-20 BHN. The spacers are nearly pure lead, so they modify the virgin linotype to a slightly softer metal. I got some from a local source that is the same stuff. Nice to work with, but not nearly as hard as virgin linotype.

If you want a harder than wheel weights alloy, just mix it with pure lead, or WW, it won't take much softer lead to lower the BHN.

[Shiloh]

Depending what your specific needs are, you could stretch this a long way with your 10:1
alloy. Do you need a really hard boolit??

Shiloh

[philthephlier]

Depending what your specific needs are, you could stretch this a long way with your 10:1
alloy. Do you need a really hard boolit??

Shiloh

I want a bullet that can go up to 1000 FPS without leading in a .357 and a 45 Colt. What ratio of soft lead to the lino should get me there or close.

Thanks for the replies.

[mag44uk]

Save the lino for fast stuff!
Its a waste for what you are trying to achieve.
WW will do just fine.
HTH
Tony

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

If you want to avoid leading in a pistol or revolver, wheel weights is fine. What you need to do to avoid leading is cast and size a boolit that is about .002" larger than your groove diameter. This will resolve the leading for you.

Most leading folks get using commercial handgun bullets is due to gas cutting because the bullet isn't large enough in diameter to seal the bore adequately. Has nothing to do with hardness of the bullet, though many commercial outfits use "hardness" to sell their bullets because most reloaders do not know this.

Regards,

Dave

[sqlbullet]

Phil, with the right bullet fit and lube, you might get pure lead to 1000 fps without leading. Be right on the edge though.

You could probably run 8:1 or 10:1 lead:lino and get an alloy that is perfectly acceptable for that velocity.

[stubert]

I am shooting a 429421 cast from #2 lyman alloy in a 44 mag. full power, 22 grains ww 296. No leading and accurate.

[runfiverun]

3 lead to one lino will be close to ww's.
for 1k and under i'd try 4-1 for about 20 rounds,then determine what you are seeing and either increase the hardness to the 3-1 or try going a bit softer, with a mix of ww's and some more soft lead like 50 -50 and then 1-19 with the lino.
alloy mixing is nothing more than using what you have.
but 3-1 is nice and 4-1 is better if you got soft lead and not much lino.

[lwknight]

1000 fps in a 357 mag is plinking. Plain old dead soft lead with a very little tin (like 2%) is all you need. A good lube and boolit fit is what counts.
Save that lino. its getting harder to come by. strech it out with wheelweights or lead or something.

[yodar]

I took a chance on 30 lbs. of ebay "linotype". I cast about 50 RCBS 45 Colt bullets.
They weigh almost exactly 20 grains less than a 10 part lead-1 part tin alloy that RCBS recommends for their molds. Thats 265 grains vs. 245 grains. The "linotype" bullets are as hard as any bullet I have ever cast, probably way to hard to shoot I'm guessing since I don't have a hardness tester. Anybody venture a guess what this alloy really is and is it useful for alloying into something softer?

linotype varies depending on whether it has been enriched with added tin.

Lino in the printing industry periodically gets an ingot of enrichment alloy added when it starts to go "off" on performance.

You never know where in that cycle the Lino was poured into ingots


yodar