Non-Lead cast bullets.

[Ted]

Not a serious question (yet) but given the state of affairs in the once Great State of Kalifornia I have to ask.

1) Who here has cast a solid babbitt bullet?
Something like Rotometals RotoNickel -.15% Monel Grade 2 0%Lead 88-90%Tin 7-8% Antimony 3-4%Copper

2) How did they cast.

3) How did it shoot?

Why do I ask this. Well they way trends are going we just might outlaw any hunting with ANY bullet containing lead. Even at $5 a pound that alloy or once priced about the same would be cheaper than almost any factory made jacketed bullet (still with lead) and about 4-5x cheaper then any factory 0% lead hunting bullet I've ever priced. By the alloy calculator they would run about $14.30 per hundred for a 200g bullet. Hell I can't find bulk Remington bullets for that price.


Ted

[Liberty'sSon]

I can't answer your question and I hate to say this, but I think it's time to give up on Komiefornia And move to help shore up a red state or flip a purple state.

[Ted]

Sorry about that. I blame the drugs (surgery today, I am not tracking 100% right now). Looking a little closer at the Rotometals site it seems that $18.99 a POUND is more like what it would sell for. That makes the per boolit cost more like $54 a hundred. Which still might be cheaper then then Barns X bullets. And that is for a 200g bullet. I'd be more tempted to shoot a 170-180g Ranch dog out of my 06 then the NOE311299. That would bring the cost down to the much more reasonable $48 and change per 100.

When you consider that Barns X bullets at Midway for my 06 would run $65 or more per hundred I guess my question is still valid, drugs or not.

Ted

[Ted]

Family and job. Not yet. But someday.

Ted

[cwheel]

I had quite a bit of bearing grade 4X Babbitt at one time, still have 100 lbs. or so. It casts a lite hard boolit by itself. Much to lite to be practical in most molds if the Babbitt is pure. Much better when mixed with any kind of lead to match lyman #2 weight a mold should deliver. These hard boolits cast well when mixed with lead this way, even better water dropped. The BS in Calif. is one of the many reasons I left that place as soon as I retired, taking my retirement money with me, and leaving their taxes. I almost never fired at a range, and if I still lived there, you could be sure I would be casting and shooting lead until I ran out or died first trying to. Politicians there won't be happy until even BB guns are banned. Any thing they can do to cause gun owners a problem they will do just because they can. My condolences to the good gun owning people still there, escape to a free state as soon as you can.
Chris

[madsenshooter]

It's just part of the ploy. The way to be rid of that environmental toxin lead. Oh, wait, that's part of the ploy too. Eventually, they'll get their fingers on most all the lead. You'll have to pay a hazmat fee to get it shipped to you, and your house, if found to contain lead will be boarded up like a meth-house. Then if you try casting lead free, or machining your own from proper sized copper rod, you'll be making body armor piercing bullets.

I use a lead based babbitt with some success, I just don't know about a full tin based babbitt. Find the biggest bullet you can for caliber, like the 230gr or heavier 30 caliber bullets. With the tin based babbitt the weight might turn out to be useful, likely around 200gr, maybe less. A 230gr mold drops a 220gr bullet with the lead based babbitt I use. I might just cast some myself to try out, just to have them.

The ammomakers aren't dumb, several years ago Remington was advertising for an exec. They wanted someone who knew more than a thing or two about lead alternatives.

[Magana559]

Rotometals had a bismuth and tin lead free casting material. I was going to buy some but Lead was cheaper

[madsenshooter]

PS, from what I've read any babbitt marked "Genuine" doesn't contain any lead. Best check that tidbit out yourself though, I may not have read enough.

[Ted]

I had quite a bit of bearing grade 4X Babbitt at one time, still have 100 lbs. or so. It casts a lite hard boolit by itself. Much to lite to be practical in most molds if the Babbitt is pure.
Chris

I had not considered the specific gravity of the Babbitt vs Lead. You are quite right about that. It would probably be best to go with a 200g+ bullet in the 30s or a 250g+ bullet in my Whelen and hope for something casting out at 180+ to 230+g. Other then that it should work. And still be cheaper then Barns bullets, as well as giving you/me/he the satisfaction of hunting with a cast boolit.

And "Leading becomes a thing of the past" Now we get "Babbitting".

[rbuck351]

I'm wondering about something like a 416Rem loaded with a zinc bullet cast from a mold that would weigh 400grs in lead. Also as I don't know much about zinc alloys, does anyone know if bismuth will mix with zinc in maybe 30/70 to get the cost down some and the weight up some. Even a 250/300gr boolit from a 416 at around 2800fps sholud kill stuff well whether it expands or not.

[btroj]

Without lead you get a much lighter bullet. It also will be fairly brittle and hard.

Lighter weight leads to less penetration and worse downrange ballistics.

Hard means little to no deformation on impact with game.

Some of this can be worked around by using a longer bullet.

I would also want to make dang sure I had a lab certify it as lead free in CA. Using a silver colored bullet in a lead free zone is going to be a red flag to the lead police. I don't think telling them it was lead free is going to suffice, I would want a certified lab assay for proof and even then I would plan on having the ammo confiscated.

[madsenshooter]

The burden of proof would supposedly be on them. But I know things don't work that way in the real system.

[runfiverun]

waaay ack in the 50's there was this company called jugular bullets.
they were making and hawking zink bullets.
there were even some write up in the gun magazines at the time where the author took some of these lightweight super bullets and loaded them up to amazingly fast velocity's then of course proceeded to shoot stuff with them.
his reasoning was that a 3-k fps lightweight bullet from a 2" snub nose would be the ticket for moose and stuff.
that or his editor asked if he liked working there.
along about 1970 sumthin duck hunters began blowing feathers off waterfowl with steel-shot
this has lead to the use of things like tungsten, nickel, iron, tin, and even some polymers being used as shot.
anyway the light bullet fast velocity thing really isn't all that good of an idea for gun stuff like hunting or shooting in the wind.

[bangerjim]

It is sad to see a great & historic state like CA be taken over by slobbering left wing liberal loons. If any of those owl huggers & tree kissers actually knew anything about guns & ammo, they would realize there IS lead in that jacketed slug and those DO split open on impact.

OMG........lead......exposed to condors! Hunting must be banned! Get your meat at Von's. Or better yet.... Liberal Whole Foods!!!!!

I feel for you and all our brothers & sisters in arms on the Left Coast.

bangerjim

[thxmrgarand]

I don't want to hijack this thread but because California is so often the indicator of where the entire US is going we all need to continue to be politically active. Yesterday there were many articles running in the news about how the Democrats could take over the US House next year. If they did so it would also certainly mean they would retain the Senate. That would be a disaster as the lame duck Obama would then be able to achieve many of his objectives in his remaining 2 years in office. Even if you don't support Republicans you have to admit that having Obama in the White House and the entire Congress Democrat would be terrible and costly for gun owners. Nation wide restrictions and impediments to using lead would be only one of many problems we would encounter.

If you live in a state or near a state where a House or Senate seat is in play then please work for the Republican candidate; go door to door, stuff envelopes, have a fundraiser at your house, write letters to newspaper editors, etc. In my state a race for a Senate seat that is considered very much up for grabs next year is already well under way.

[mdi]

I can't answer your question and I hate to say this, but I think it's time to give up on Komiefornia And move to help shore up a red state or flip a purple state.

I was a prisoner of CA for way too long (I had a real good job) before I escaped in '09. I was really frustrated and did what I could to help hunters/shooters/reloaders situation (I joined NRA and CA Rifle and Pistol Assn. and a local shooters group. Signed and circulated petitions, and wasted my time in a voting booth), but the big three; Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento ruled any election with the "real" folks being left out in the cold. Then there's the officials that don't need elections to do their will, aka CA Dept. of Fish and Game. Someone convinced (paid?) the DFG that lead bullets are killing the buzzards so lead bullets were banned in 1/3 of the state. I just couldn't fight it anymore and left. To celebrate my move to Oregon, 6 months later I walked into the local gun shop and bought a 1911 and walked out within an hour with my new gun! Freedom is great!

BTW; the "State of Jefferson Movement" is getting stronger with several large counties in northern CA moving to secede from the state.

Sorry for the rant and getting off the subject.

[Ted]

BTW; the "State of Jefferson Movement" is getting stronger with several large counties in northern CA moving to secede from the state.

Sorry for the rant and getting off the subject.

As long as they pull the southern border of the state of Jefferson down to include Calaveras County I'm good with it. I'm trapped here because of Job and family. Some day that will change and moving BACK to Oregon in in my thoughts. The wife might like a different state however.