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Thread: Lost newbie

  1. #1
    Boolit Mold
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    Lost newbie

    Hi guys. Im just trying to get into casting and had a few questions. Im sure these have been answered somewhere on this forum but after browsing for an hour or so it seems it may be easier to just ask. So I recently found a fairly reliable source of lead but im pretty sure its pure lead which from what I understand is not ideal for casting. So my question is how do I take my pure lead and turn it into a useful alloy? From my understanding I need to find tin and antimony.

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
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    To get the lead to cast well with good mould fillout you need to add 1-2 % tin (sn).

    Regarding hardness add antimonny (sb). About 3-4% is good for most revolver boolits. Little more more for magnum loads.

    If you could get printers lead it is a good source for antimonny and tin. If not, I understand that rotometals is a good place to buy rich alkoys.

    Sent fra min SM-G930F via Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Boolit Master

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    Starting out, don't try to mess with raw antimony. Just buy hardball/layman #2 from Roto to sweeten and harden what you have. If you are on a budget, clip on wheel weights have a fair amount of antimony if you can find them, and 50/50 with pure lead and clip-on is a good place to start for general purpose handgun/reduced rifle. Sweeten with tin to make it cast easier(also makes a prettier boolit)
    "In God we trust, in all others, check the manual!"

  4. #4
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    RogerDat's Avatar
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    A member offers a free alloy calculator for download. Neatest thing since pull tab beer cans. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...oy-calculators

    This calculator is an Excel spread sheet that will help you in two ways.

    1. It lists many if not most common lead alloys such as wheel weights, different types of printers lead, solders, pewter, etc. This will tell you what you might use.
    2. You enter pounds of each type of lead and at the bottom it lists what the mix will yield as an alloy and approx. BHN hardness the mix will have.


    This will let you know what you get in terms of alloy percentages and hardness from 10# of plain + 10# of wheel weight + 1# of 40% tin solder. Or what you would have from 15# of plain lead to 5# of Linotype.

    If you don't have Microsoft Excel you can download the free open source Apache Open Office (totally free, programmers contribute time to the project) Just download and you have a free suite that handles MS Office Excel files just fine. https://www.openoffice.org/ So free software to run free alloy calculator. Can't beat that!

    You might want to check out swapping and selling forum here. I saw a vendor member, The Captain who was running a sale on her lead. Right around $1 per pound. That COWW (Clip On Wheel Weight) lead is a good place to start. Maybe look in swapping and selling, or post in wanted to buy for a little pewter or solder for tin to add to the mix. There are several members that will sell lead or tin sources in S&S forum. Printers lead is hard because it has lots of antimony and tin, more than you will generally need for a bullet but great for mixing into plain.

    Processing wheel weights into ingots is not super difficult but it is an entire process in itself, separate from casting, own equipment, and learning curve. It might be better to focus on making bullets than scrounging different lead. So buy some from a member or two here, plug weights of that and your plain into the alloy calculator and melt it in your casting pot. Off you go!

    Good to get into scrounging and processing eventually since cheap lead is good, but for my money buying some COWW's and locating some tin to go with your plain lead would allow you to be set to do a whole lot of cast bullets (the fun part) rather than spending a whole lot of effort on finding, evaluating, and processing scrap lead.

    The revolver bullets I think are most forgiving to cast and shoot, followed by 45 ACP. Rifle that shoot revolver cartridges are likewise easier than say a AR or SKS to cast for. Bolt action rifles at modest power loads are pretty easy, and can be a good way to make an older military surplus bolt action shoot better, you can cast bullet to fit your own rifle rather than the generic size, can make a big difference in an old worn bore to give a good fitting bullet. These different bullets will lead you to cast in different alloys. So pick one firearm or cartridge to try and your questions will get more specific.

    Good luck, have a blast.
    Last edited by RogerDat; 04-28-2017 at 08:04 AM.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  5. #5
    Boolit Master 6622729's Avatar
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    If you are completely new, just order lead from Rotometals to get started. You'll have so many variables to deal with, you can start by not having lead alloying issues in the mix in the beginning. I'd concentrate on telling us what caliber you want to try to cast for and we will help you with choosing an alloy and technique and equipment. THEN you can walk into using non commercial, non certified materials.

    You can in the meantime download the lead calculator and begin familiarizing yourself with how it works. It will go a long way towards explaining how you get from a number of scrap materials to a usable final alloy.



    Quote Originally Posted by RogerDat View Post
    A member offers a free alloy calculator for download. Neatest thing since pull tab beer cans. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...oy-calculators

    This is an Excel spread sheet that will help you in two ways.
    It lists many if not most common lead alloys such as wheel weights, different types of printers lead, solders, pewter, etc. This will tell you what you might use.
    You enter pounds of each type of lead and at the bottom it lists what the mix will yield as an alloy and approx. BHN hardness the mix will have.

  6. #6
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    Rotometals has a link in the ads at the top of the page. They are a site sponsor. Foundry pure does eliminate all questions of what you are using for an alloy. It costs more but can be a good starting point that lets you focus on casting questions Can also be a source of "sweetener", those high tin or high antimony alloys you can buy in smaller quantities to make your other available lead useful or a better alloy for a specific use.

    You can also split the difference, buy some wheel weight lead here and the sweetener alloys at Rotometals.

    Specific questions such as what alloy is good for casting a 45 colt 255 grain bullet for plinking from a revolver. Or What alloy recipe would work for .357 magnum at 1200 fps? Any bullet mold suggestions to go with that? BINGO. People will give you a specific answers based on their experience.

    Get better results asking what ingredients and recipe do I need to bake a blueberry muffin then you will asking what ingredients do I need to do baking.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have a bunch of hardball alloy 6% antimony 2% tin and 92% lead. It would be good for rifle rounds used as is or water it down 2lbs pure to 1lb HB to make 2% antimony .67% tin which will be good for almost every handgun out there. message me if you decide you want some.

  8. #8
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    get all of that lead you can, and keep on getting it for as long as you can get it.

    one continuous source of same lead alloy is a godsend.
    it simplifies everything because you can then figure out what you need to make your house blend.
    a good all around alloy is whatever is easiest and cheapest for you to get and make.
    it will probably have 1% ish tin and 2-3% antimony.
    close is good enough.

  9. #9
    Boolit Mold
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    Thanks everyone. I melted some of the lead down today and cleaned it up and it does seem to be very soft. Im planning on loading for 9mm cz75 sp-01 running 125 to 147gr bullets anywhere from 850 to 1000fps. I also plan on using hytek coating on them but im not sure if that has any effect on the hardness requirements.

  10. #10
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    nope it's just a coating.
    I shoot a CZ-75b and use the alloy I mentioned above.
    I size to 358.
    get a good lube groove design or a slick sided boolit and skip the LEE T/L designs.

  11. #11
    Boolit Mold
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    Again thanks for all the information guys. Im gonna start looking around at some local scrapyards to see what I can find and also order some supplies from roto metals. Ive been doing some more researching and it seems like lead used for radiological stuff is pretty good stuff so hopefully I can find some of that as I work on nuclear reactors for a living lol

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    look here for ISO lead.good stuff http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...For-Sale-gt-gt

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    If you are going to look for isotope generators at scrap yards, you need to review the photos at the following site. Otherwise you may not recognize it when you see it.

    http://www.fellingfamily.net/isolead/

  14. #14
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    or how to separate it.
    I got a bunch of the small vial lids and threw them in with a bucket of old school tape on weights.
    pretty much ruining the real soft alloy I wanted.
    not totally I still had a use for it, but I didn't get what I wanted at the time and had to re-do the work twice.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by Johrichal View Post
    Thanks everyone. I melted some of the lead down today and cleaned it up and it does seem to be very soft. Im planning on loading for 9mm cz75 sp-01 running 125 to 147gr bullets anywhere from 850 to 1000fps. I also plan on using hytek coating on them but im not sure if that has any effect on the hardness requirements.
    I know with Smoke's powder (check the vendors' section) I can shoot softer lead and still have a clean barrel...or powder coating PC does allow a softer lead.

    check the vendors here plus swapping and selling section towards the bottom--I've resorted to that for most of my lead now. I know http://www.thegreatalaskanleadco.com sells hard lead that used to be weights off fishing nets.

    I have a hardness tester so I just mix hard and soft till I'm happy and as time has passed I find I'm happy with a wider range of BHN numbers; the PC keeps the leading away and I don't have to worry about messy lubes down here in our Texas summers

    Now I'm shooting cowboy loads which aren't known for being at the top of the pressure curve.
    NRA Life
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  16. #16
    Boolit Mold
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    Ok so I bought some linotype and mixed it with the lead softer lead that I have and finally tried to cast some boolits last night. They came out looking pretty decent and they are hard enough that I can no longer scratch them with my fingernail so hopefully theyll work. The bottom of them didnt come out as clean and crisp as id like but im sure that has to do with trying to pour them with a spoon because the lyman furnace I ordered hasnt arrived yet

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    I used plumber lead free solder on a roll as its mostly tin ,a couple of yards in my 10 lb Lee pot and job done.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master


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    But...but..pure lead is idea for casting-for muzzle loaders. Give us an idea of where you are starting. Caliber, gun, etc. We need details.
    Micah 6:8
    He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

    "I don't have hobbies - I'm developing a robust post-apocalyptic skill set"
    I may be discharged and retired but I'm sure I did not renounce the oath that I solemnly swore!

  19. #19
    Boolit Mold
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    Im only casting for 9mm at the momemt between 850-900fps

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    Regards
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

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
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