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Monotype
Okay, gonna jump into it. I have read all over the place about: Monotype - linotype - pure lead - wheel weights etc.
To sum it down for this village idiot's understanding, should I buy the 50lbs of monotype available at the recycle center for 40 cents a pound? Would it, by itself, make good cast boolits for .30 cal. rifles? As in .308, .30-06, .30-30, .30 Carbine, 7.5X55 Swiss, ETC ETC? And is that a good price?
I have only shot .45-70 Lee Alox Tumble Lubed 500gr boolets cast in pure lead with absolutely -0- leading and excellent accuracy, so far.
Thanks for any input.
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WOW, grab it!
Pure lead is $.75 a pound here in southern Oregon! Do a little research here to decide how you wanty to alloy that stuff with pure lead for those rifle boolits. I am sure you will get many suggestions but I would go 80-20 monotype to pure lead up to around 2000FPS
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The only request that I have is don`t break the guys hand when slapping money into it!!! Yes, grab all that he has. Scrap wheel weights are going for .75 or so a pound around here. You can either mix this with pure lead for an alloy or sell it again to other casters that are looking for this gold.Robert
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That is a fantastic price if you are sure it is monotype. What shape/configuration is the material in?
Yes it will make boolits for the calibers you listed but they will be large, light and HARD. Monotype has a BHN close to 30. If I were going to mix it with lead I would start at a low ratio, maybe 5% Mono to 95% lead and see how it performs. Others will disagree but I am not an advocate of hard boolits. I shoot 308, 30-30, 35 Rem., and 8mm Mauser from 1800 to 2000 fps with a BHN of 10 to 12.
Larry
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Its a steal. It has $2.00 worth of tin and antimony in it. It would make entirely toooo hard boolits undiluted. You can resell it for about $1.25 per pound at the drop of a hat.
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NO, it will not make good bullets by itself. It's not so much that it's too hard (it is) but rather it's way too brittle. Mono is 9% tin, 19% antimony and 72% lead. 19% antimony is way past a lot and bullets cast with this much antimony are so brittle they can actually break in two by simply chambering a round or dropping one on the floor.
It is a valuable find though and buying it at 40 cents a pound is about like making a bank withdrawal with a gun and you should wear a mask when you pick it up.
As others have already said it is a perfect alloy for blending with lead, WW's and such. Congratulations on your find, grab it before it's gone or the guy realizes what he has and ups the price.
Rick
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WOW! Thank you guys. Did not realize monotype was that scarce or desireable. They also have wheel weights at 40 cents a pound.
I have bought about 150 lbs of pipe and shower stall sheathing lead there also. All clean & new stuff. Already have it all cast in .458 bullets, 3,000 total rounds.
Have another 300+ pounds of indoor range lead waiting to be smelted outside as weather permits. That cost 18 cents a pound.
Boolet casting is addictive. :bigsmyl2:
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My recommendation is 3:1 lead (or WW's) to Mono. Two/three percent tin is sufficient for mold fill-out, and the Sb will be about 5%, so you will have a good all-around alloy.
And +1 on the mask & gun...
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Picked it up today, Saturday, 27-Feb-10. 54 lbs of monotype and 10 lbs of wheel weights cost $22.00. Only the larger wheel weights were selected. They allowed me to 'pick & choose.'
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I suggest you dilute the monotype even more than Echo suggested. You can read something about the issues and the ideal alloy range in the "Toughness of Lead-Tin-Antimony Alloys" thread in Classics and Stickies on this site. I suggest 4 parts pure lead to 1 part monotype, to give you 1.8% tin and 3.8% antimony, or 5 parts pure to 1 part monotype to give you 1.5% tin and 3.2% antimony. Personally I'd prefer the latter alloy - it is closer to the optimum than the higher-antimony version is - but both are very good bullet alloys, and way better than most people are using.