Possible alloy?

[steve817]

I have about 22 pounds of bullets in various calibers that I don't shoot and was considering melting them down to cast new ones. They are in a box marked Houston Cartridge Company. I tried to find some information on this company but it looks like they have gotten out of the business. I have other sources of lead to work with as well, about 70 pounds of clean range scrap poured into ingots, 46 pounds of COWW poured into ingots, 15 pounds of Rotometals superhard alloy, three pounds of pure tin and 10+ pounds of old school pewter.

So my question is, with the smaller scale manufacturers, what alloy do they tend to use? Lyman #2? 96:2:2? 94:3:3?

[dbosman]

Based on some of the negative online comments about the company, I say your guess would be as good as any.

[steve817]

Most of the comments I had seen were referring to their reloaded ammo. Yeah it's no wonder they went out of business.

I'm gonna call it 96:2:2 and go from there.

[bumpo628]

I think most companies use Hardball - which is 2% tin, 6% antimony, 92% lead.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I think most companies use Hardball - which is 2% tin, 6% antimony, 92% lead.

I'm with bumpo...
BUT whatever it is, and whatever caliber you plan on casting, you should be OK to use it straight...or if it really is as hard as bumpo and I think, I'd consider blending it 50-50 with your range scrap.

Since you have a few alloys to compare it to and if you don't have a hardness tester, a large ball bearing and your vise will tell you quite a bit.
Good Luck,
Jon

[bangerjim]

I'm with bumpo...
BUT whatever it is, and whatever caliber you plan on casting, you should be OK to use it straight...or if it really is as hard as bumpo and I think, I'd consider blending it 50-50 with your range scrap.

Since you have a few alloys to compare it to and if you don't have a hardness tester, a large ball bearing and your vise will tell you quite a bit.
Good Luck,
Jon

Or spend $12 or so on a set of Mars artist pencils and follow the hardness testing chart in the thread on here about using pencils for hardness testing.

banger