This works for me, but how hard?

I've lurked here forever but have never posted. I was curious to know how my preferred .30 cal. alloy stacks up against the alloy choices of others. I use 6 ingots of COWW to one ingot of linotype. Recovered bullets show no signs of failure. I shoot a lot of it through four Krag rifles and I have never had an incidence of leading. I should mention that I have never tried to speed things up beyond 1,700 fps and generally stay below 1,600 fps. I have no need to change things, but would like a good idea how hard this alloy is compared to others.

I have pushed my 25% range scrap to 75% cww mix pretty hard just to see what would happen. I started mixing 50/50 with just as good results . I loose accurracy in my riffles but havent had leading issues as the velocity goes up. Thats in .270, 6.5 and 30 cal. from speeds 1200 to 2100 fps. I have used lots of different powders.

9m Luger is another story, but those troubles are size issues, not hardness.

I am pretty certain i could even go softer. But my pure lead stash is limited so i havent tried.

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I am not a "hardcast" guy. I would add 4 more COWW ingots to that alloy.
I usually load between 1200 and 1600 fps.

PS:
Your statement

This works for me, but how hard?

Tells more than you realize.

If it works for you, it is a good alloy.

If you are doing something and it is working to your satisfaction don't let anyone tell you it "will not work". Something that works for you might or might not work for me. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Krag1902

. . . . I have no need to change things, but would like a good idea how hard this alloy is compared to others.

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Your alloy is 12.8 BHN if the ingots all weight the same in that 6:1 ratio...1% Sn, 4.29% Sb, .21% Arsenic & 94.5% Pb.

OS OK, That's precisely what I wanted to know for certain. I did have a pretty good idea it was close to that. In the end, nothing succeeds like success, and that is what I'm experiencing. Seems foolish to mess with it. Thank you.

We have a Pb calculator available at no charge through a member...'bumpo'...download it here on forum somewhere and works in Excell...it's a dilly, that's where your numbers came from.

I have been using straight up COWW's for 20 years and I never have a leading problem. Of course I water drop all my boolits into cold water and keep the velocities in the low to medium area. Sizing is critical for any cast boolit.

If you add 3% tin to that you'll have very close to #2 alloy which will not be quite as brittle. The BHN will increase to 14 - 16 also.

your about where ww's in the 70's-80's used to be.
IMO your probably running harder than necessary but I have shot tons of an alloy real close to yours so I got nuthin.
you could throw in some soft lead and not see a difference other than a slight diameter change.
or you might lose some accuracy.
I know my 165 gr silhouette bullet is about 25% more accurate with the harder alloy I use than it is with a softer one.

I'm getting very good accuracy as it stands right now. I won't venture a guess as to average, but five shot (receiver sighted) groups @ the standard 100 yards go as close as an inch and generally less than two with the predictable bullets - 308284, 311290, and 311299. I have had some surprisingly tight groups with 308280, 308274 and 311241. I won't use a bullet designed after about 1910. I admit to being a throwback.