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I've got a pretty good reserve of linotype and have always cast my stuff out of it. Other than slightly lighter bullets, are there any down sides to this? I've never experienced leading in anything, up to my high-end 454 Casull loads. Any thoughts, Gentlemen?
I am kinda in the same boat, except that I haven't been casting my boolits out of pure Linotype. I use either straight WW or 50/50 Lino/pure lead.
My supply of pure is dwindling, so I am about to have to go on the hunt. I see it as a waste to use the pure Lino, because I am eventually going to get further into casting for rifles, and the Linotype will really come in handy then.
As someone who has a lot of pure and WW ingots stashed away with very little lino or tin on hand, I would be one to say that casting everything out of pure lino "hurts"!! I have always found it much easier to secure WWs or pure than lino .... there are probably several of us out there that would love to be in your place .... trade the lino for other stuff locally if you can - should come out pretty well on the exchange!! My thoughts!!
i had access to a lot of cheap or free lino back in the day & cast everything out of it, 38sp to 44mags. Now I am down to maybe 300# & use it pretty sparingly. Straight ww or 3-1 ww/lino for higher vel but I pretty much tap out around 1600fps.
I suggest you find someone to trade you two to one WW to Lino and double your casting stock. I would be willing to trade two 50 lb. flate rate boxes of WW ingots for one 50 lb. box of lino, with each paying their own shipping. PM me if your interested.
Using Linotype for handgun bullets works, like you already know, it's just the bullets are much harder than necessary. Such bullets are also brittle, but that doesn't matter unless you are hunting with them. It's kinda like lighting the fireplace with a dollar bill when a piece of newspaper will do the same job. Just my opinion. Trade 2 for 1 or cut that Linotype with pure lead.
For .38 Special and .45 Colt, I use straight WW. For .357 Mag, .44M, and "Ruger-Only" .45 Colt, I use a 50/50 Linotype/pure lead mixture. This system has worked really well for me. My "Magnum" load pressures are estimated at right about 27,000 PSI.
BTW, I've discovered that lead wheel weights are now also going way up. They're over $1.00/lb now!
We need to put to rest the old wives tail that linotype bullets are brittle and fracture at handgun speeds. Ive seen the fracture at rifle speeds but never have i seen a linotype bullet actually fracture at handgun speeds on anything softer then rocks or steal. Never once on an animals bone have they fractured. I have seen water dropped ww bullets fracture but only swc designs and they really lost there nose at the first driving band. theres absolutely nothing wrong with casting with linotype other then its getting about impossible to find to replace what your using. I rarely use it straight anymore but use it to alloy. Back when i had an unlimited supply of it i cast a ton of pistol bullets with it and used it in every load from 700 fps to 3000 fps. Some of the most accurate loads i ever worked up for cast guns were with lineotype. especially back when i used it in 1911s exclusively.