Lead melts at 327 degrees C, and copper at 1084 degrees C. Alloying the two is therefore not as simple as mixing metals with similar melting points. This is the same issue that arises when alloying...
Type: Posts; User: grumpy one
Forum: Classics & Stickies
Lead melts at 327 degrees C, and copper at 1084 degrees C. Alloying the two is therefore not as simple as mixing metals with similar melting points. This is the same issue that arises when alloying...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
The roofing lead that I am familiar with, is dead soft, rather high purity. You can verify that yours is the same by seeing how it behaves if you fold it or hammer it, if you don't have a hardness...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
The stick-ons I've smelted had around a couple of percent of tin, much more than clip-ons have (about 0.5 percent), but virtually no antimony, and they have been quite a bit softer than clip-ons....
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
The stick-ons I've handled have mostly had a tin content of about 1.5%, with very little antimony (about 0.5%). They are considerably softer than clip-ons, but quite noticeably harder than pure lead....
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I've read on internet sources that stick-ons are usually (not always) about 1.5% tin. This might be to make them stay shiny. The ones I've melted acted as if they were high tin compared with...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
What is best depends on what you are going to do with the alloy, and the amount of emphasis you place on cost. Good bullets, with a lot of heat treatment potential, can be made from straight WW,...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I've never wanted to mix an alloy in the same melt as I smelted WW, mainly because it always seems there is too much risk of making a mess. The smelting process is focused on getting the melt clean...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
The 1980 Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook says that WW are 4% antimony, and that you can make No. 2 Alloy by using 9 lb WW and 1 lb 50/50 solder. Obviously that formula did not really produced No. 2, it...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
When you get above a certain level of antimony, the hardness increase you get in response to heat treatment decreases. Linotype hardly responds to heat treatment at all. After quite a lot of...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
A little antimony helps hardness considerably, and increases toughness as well, but as others have said, you can get by without it at the pressures you are currently using. The issue is that...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
You haven't said what your base alloy is. If it is wheelweights, it already contains close to the optimum amount of antimony, but is rather low on tin for bullet casting. It can be used as-is, but...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
Unless you have an exceptionally good barrel, that sounds like mission impossible. Most people working with a velocity that high would be wanting 25 BHN or higher, and straight linotype is only 22...
Forum: Classics & Stickies
Dannix, my whole process here has been put on permanent hold because of problems getting analysis done at a sensible price. A local scrap metal business had agreed to run an XRay Fluorescence scanner...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
There are two issues here that are possibly having separate effects. However they can be solved one at a time. The issues are getting the right alloy hardness, and getting the right bullet fit in the...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I think using 5/5 alloy for such a low pressure load is a waste of money, and it is not quite optimum metallurgically (3/3 will give better toughness, the same castability, and slightly lower...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I have not experimented below 0.7% tin, 2% antimony. A maximum heat treatment brought that alloy to 23.5 BHN. You can certainly get substantial hardening at 1% antimony; perhaps about 17 BHN with a...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
What matters most is what kind of shooting you will do. Some jobs benefit from one kind of alloy, and some from another kind. At one extreme you might want to muzzle load, and at the other, maximize...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
A sudden increase like that is cause for concern, because you are doing something wrong. You might consider two possibilities for a start: lead is getting into places other than your casting area;...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
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...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
In in a lead-tin-antimony alloy, if you have more tin than antimony you may get nasty results - there is an article by Dennis Marshall in the RCBS Cast Bullet Manual explaining the problem. However...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
You could make the bullet somewhat lighter by adding tin and antimony, but this is likely to make the bullets harder (as cast, air-cooled) which is usually not a good idea unless you need more...
Forum: Lead and Lead Alloys
I think of bullet hardness for autoloading cast bullets in terms of two main issues: how hard does it need to be to make it up the feed ramp without marking the bullet; and how hard does it need to...
Forum: Boolit Lube !
The mica that is used for various cast bullet purposes is 'motor mica', and you can buy it in various ways under that name. I bought a pound of it as a barrel lubricant for shot-cups for shotshells....
Forum: Special Projects
I may be missing something, but I have not seen any reference to one of the design issues for your jig. A thread has a lead, so the cutting tool's edge must not have a vertical shape, it has to be...
Forum: Special Projects
In my limited experience, the only 5 hp milling machines I have seen are full-sized toolroom machines. The one-ton-plus tilt-head 3-phase knee mills I've seen so far have been 2 hp. Your mill looks...
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 |