Gold painted lead strikes me as more convincing (so long as some wise guy doesn’t test the density).
Type: Posts; User: kevin c
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
Gold painted lead strikes me as more convincing (so long as some wise guy doesn’t test the density).
Forum: Cast Boolits
At the moment I use just one alloy, so no need to empty the pots (one feeds the other).
That’s because at the moment I cast just one bullet.
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I cast ingots at my club. If I had a dollar for every time somebody said, “Too bad that’s not really gold”, I could buy the real thing!
ETA: It occurs to me that if I did have real Redneck Gold...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I went through the same learning curve.
Appalachian, kudos for researching manufacturers and production dates to maximize Sn and minimize Pb per dollar spent, but I think most hobbyist casters...
I got advice here to shoot for a mold temp around 400° (I actually use 420°). A K type thermocouple inside a cavity lets me know the blocks on my coil hot plate have done the job. The hot plate...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
No other markings on the ingot? Maybe a home mix rather than a commercial product?
XRF analysis would turn it from a hope into a certainty.
Forum: Our Town
I shot irons most of the time in action pistol, and my basic prescription contact lenses correct my dominant/aiming eye to front sight distance and the non dominant eye to distance (infinity). I can...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
Same here. Years ago I brought in some scrap cartridge brass, asked if they had any lead and was taken back to where that had old lead pipe and sheet. On the way I tripped over a pile of high tin...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
Bearing metal (a version of Babbitt?) seems a good bet, but what percentage of tin and lead i don’t know (some are 90+% tin and others around the same percentage of lead).
If you can’t find a...
Forum: Casting Equipment
I’ve read those instructions, three times I think. That’s what I started out following, and it’s all good advice.
I’ve also read the massive HiTek thread three times. That’s where Joe Ban, the...
Forum: Casting Equipment
Action pistol shooters can easily go through 30,000 rounds a year. That’s around 600# of alloy to make my 147 grainers, and I like them to all be made from the same alloy, preferably the same lot....
Forum: Casting Equipment
Runs directly contrary to the advice given by the inventor and producer of the HiTek coating, but then, what does he know…
Forum: Casting Equipment
Cartridge respirator works for me when I have really dirty lead. Impressive how the air goes from stinky and smoky to almost fresh smelling.
Forum: Casting Equipment
K type is what I use. It’s a pair of insulated wires ending in a small metal bead which is the business end of things.
I drill a small hole in the base of the bullet, insert the bead and wedge it...
Forum: Factory & Surplus Powder
Today at a grand opening (good luck to them!) a Turner’s Outdoorsman here in Northern California has Winchester and Federal pistol primers by the hundred running $86 to $90 (or Fiocchi’s by the 1500...
Forum: Coatings and Alternatives
I’ve done something similar to Trevor, only it was with twice the acetone as solvent and twice the amount per batch to deliver the same amount of HiTek. This was to get good coverage inside the lube...
Forum: Coatings and Alternatives
I do the 1/4” hardware cloth thing, square shape with bent up and doubled over sides that add a bit of rigidity, and the doubled mesh goes over a tab from the adjacent side to make the corners lock...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I have a variation on the theme: a stock of commercial cast bullets I got before I started casting, now a back up source of alloy.
I could use them as is in a pinch, but they’re hardball alloy, in...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I’ve never been sure how well that works. While there's no doubt that 90# of pure lead melted with 10# of pure tin gives 100# of 90/10 alloy, the exact density of the alloy depends on peculiar...
Forum: Coatings and Alternatives
I think what matters is, given a certain powder charge and priming, how internal case volume changes with different bullets of the same weight seated to the same COL, and that depends on the length...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
The only lead wheel weights I’ve ever melted down were new, given to me by a friend of a friend who owned an auto shop. He was getting rid of them because California law prohibited their use.
Forum: Casting Equipment
A few more thoughts.
The pressure of the lead at the spout is proportional to the height of the lead column above it, including the solid lead floating on top of the melt. I definitely have to...
Forum: Casting Equipment
If you have aluminum gang molds for pistol weight bullets, they can get hotter on one end from always starting the pour on the same cavity. I’ve actually gotten frosting differences one end vs the...
Forum: Our Town
I was a bookworm as a kid, but fell out of the habit over the years. I built a library, anticipating a sedentary retirement, but have been too busy to read all the books I stocked it with.
...
I also find the MP handles a bit much for small hands.
I’ve considered sanding the outsides where the hand actually grips them, but didn’t bother, having plenty of Lee handles to use.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |