Casting alloy for 9mm and 45acp

[hickfu]

Hey guys, I just got my molds for 9mm and 45acp and wanted to know what alloy people out there find best for these 2 calibers. I have 1100lbs of WW lead, 250lbs of pure lead and around 65lbs of Pewter to mix for my alloy.

Would 50/50 WW/Pure with 1 to 2 % pewter work good or does a harder alloy work best for pistol calibers? Do I want these to mushroom or should I try for a hard cast like my 45-70 boolits?


Doc

[rexherring]

I haven't found a need to make real hard ones for my .45, 9mm is a faster round. My .45 is a 50/50 mix with no problems up to 850 fps. Pure WW with a little pewter should be good for the 9mm when shooting over 1000 fps.

[runfiverun]

I go to the soft side of ww's for my 45's and to the harder side for my 9m's.
I don't water-drop my handgun boolits, so I add soft lead to the 45's, and some lino-type to the 9m alloy.
you might be able to just throw a bit of tin in the ww alloy and go with it, certainly to get started I'd do that and observe what the guns told me.

[MtGun44]

I manage fine with straight WW alloy for both, but if I have some softer range
lead, I'll mix it in with WW about 50-50 for .45 ACP - or even straight range lead
will work fine. But heck, I have gotten full power .357 Mag to work just great
with 8 BHN range lead - which "everybody knows" is impossible. . . . . . . for some
folks in some guns, apparently.

Haven't actually tried softer for 9mm, never really seemed like it was necessary
to go "pick a fight" with that particular cartridge. WWts (air cooled) works well
and so many others have issues that I haven't (yet) bothered to try softer.

Bill

[Hickok]

50/50 ww/pb in my .45 and ww in 9mm, both aircooled. Just me, but with any of my cast loads I don't even think of bullet expansion, just want a nice flat meplat, good penetration, and shot placement.

Shooting varmits and groudhogs, etc with .44 Colt cap and ball with pure lead balls, if I find a shot ball, there is never any expansion to speak of, just rifling marks, and they kill nicely, so I gave up on thinking about expansion. I let the meplat do the damage.

It is my belief that penetration is paramount with handgun boolits, as they have a poor sectional density to start with.

[Dave C.]

Doc:

For the 45 acp.

If you are using them for plinking you can use almost any alloy that you get full mould fill out as long as they fit the gun.

If you want the best accuracy possible use about 18bhn alloy. I use 2-6-92. I have found that out of a custom built match gun you will get better accuracy at 50 yds with the harder alloy.
As always "fit is king".

This is just IMO worth what you paid for it.

Dave C.

[CRA]

Just use your clip on wheel weights and water cool them. The wheel weights give an inconsistent bhn so I've found that the water cooling evens them out. Plus when you're casting it's just easier to do all the same motions. Less chance of a screw up. Save the pewter and other lead for when your ww run out. Not that that will be any time soon with 1100lbs. I'm jealous!!!

[trixter]

I have been using range lead for my 45's after smelting it, I get a reading of about 8 on my Lee hardness tester, when I make ingots for my .309 rifle boolits, I add some lead free solder. That gets it up to about 10 1/2 to 11. Just right for what I am doing.

[Shiloh]

I have fired many thousands of rounds of .45 ACP from range scrap. Some that you can dig your nail into. No issues with leading, cycling or accuracy.

Shiloh

[websterz]

Ditto here on range scrap. I use it in 9mm, .40S&W and .45acp with excellent results.

[histed]

I don't shoot .45, but all my 9mms work fine with strait COWW. As has been said, if I have range scrap or soft lead I'll mix it about 50/50 and it still runs fine in both my 9s and the .38 Spl. If I push those too hard in the .357 it starts to lead. Mtgun44 - I don't want to hijack htis, so if you don't mind, PM me with how you push a boolit that soft that fast in .357 w/o lead.

[MtGun44]

histed - no particular magic, good fit, good designs, good lube, slow powders. PM sent.

Bill

[fredj338]

For 45acp. I just use range scrap. If the mold is not filling out well, I will add 1% tin. For 9mm, depends. If it's 1050fps or so & slower, range scrap works fine. Faster, then clip ww seems to be about right.

[williamwaco]

i manage fine with straight ww alloy for both, but if i have some softer range
lead, i'll mix it in with ww about 50-50 for .45 acp - or even straight range lead
will work fine. But heck, i have gotten full power .357 mag to work just great
with 8 bhn range lead - which "everybody knows" is impossible. . . . . . . For some
folks in some guns, apparently.

haven't actually tried softer for 9mm, never really seemed like it was necessary
to go "pick a fight" with that particular cartridge. Wwts (air cooled) works well
and so many others have issues that i haven't (yet) bothered to try softer.

Bill

ditto!

[Cherokee]

I use straight clip on wheel weight for 45 ACP and add 2% for 9mm boolits, all air cooled. I found that in my guns, the 9 requires a little harder boolit for accuracy.

[Rugerman]

.45 I use 2/3 WW 1/3 lead and 12 inches 95/5 solder but there are people on here with way more expertise than me. Oh, and I water drop.

[retread]

Looks like I am the odd man out. I use 50-50-2 for both. My 9mm was having leading problems with straight COWW+2. Problem went away when I softened them up. I do load a fairly light load however, 3.8 grs BE over 124 gr TC.