Hunting alloy from 20:1

[T-Bird]

I have a 14LB pot of 20:1 that I made up a while back and never really used. I cast some 311041 and tested the hardness and got 8.2 with my Lee tester. These deform when I try to size them in my Lyman. I was thinking of adding COWW to harden it up a but for 30/30 that will be run about 1850 from a 336CB with trad. rifling for hunting. Was shooting for something close to 50/50 alloy in hardness since that is what a lot of people here use for 30/30 hunting bullets. I intended to treat the 20;1 like "slightly hard pure" lead and maybe add not quite as many COWW as I have the 20:1- like maybe 7lb. Or should I just add 14lb COWW and just forget the extra tin. I want a boolit slightly softer that than ww/tin alloy I use for everything else which is a hardness 12ish with the same tester.

[USSR]

Adding 7# of COWW to your 7# of 20:1 will take your tin content down from 5% down to 2.75% and add 1.5% antimony to your alloy. In MHO, this would be a good place to be. Good luck.

Don

[T-Bird]

Thanks USSR, but I don't have any antimony

[USSR]

T-Bird,

Yes you do. The antimony is in your COWW's.

Don

[T-Bird]

I have 14lbs 20:1 solidified in the pot.So I need to add 7# COWW then more COWW to get more antimony- I get that. What my original question was, how many COWW should I add to approximate the hardness of 50/50 lead and ww.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

basically 14lbs

[Ateam]

Add 7lbs, test, dont like it, add 7 more. Adding is easy, getting it back out, not so much.

[T-Bird]

I had about decided that's what I'll do Ateam!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

lol good luck and let us know how iit goes. it should cast well with the extra tin. I have about 100lbs of a similar alloy, 20:1 with 1.9% antimony. I use that for my 38spl, used to use it for my 45-70, and am keeping it for when I get my super Blackhawk in either .480 ruger or .44 mag. talk to you later!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

oh, definetly do what Ateam said, don't add it all at once, try 7lbs first.

[T-Bird]

Chickened out- just added 5# to start.

[USSR]

Chickened out- just added 5# to start.

Okay, so what you have now is an alloy consisting of: 3.8% tin, 0.8% antimony, and 95.3% lead with a BHN of about 10.

Don

[T-Bird]

Thanks, USSR. I cast up a few LY311041will test them for hardness in a few days. My typical COWW/tin that I use for about everything is usually 11-12 bhn with my Lee tester. The 20:1 was 8.2bhn. I may be doing this with no real gain, but I want the softest bullet that I can shoot straight that won't deform when I size.