How do you alloy many different types of lead?

[FISH4BUGS]

I am starting to use up my stash, mainly because I shoot cast in my machine guns and use a fair amount.
I use a 5 lb ww to 1lb linotype mixture (supposedly it is the Lyman #2 alloy).
I can look down the road a few years and can see that some day I will run out of wheel weights and linotype. Probably later for linotype but it will get used up eventually too.
How can I figure out how to alloy different kinds of lead? I can get range scrap, pure, wheel weights, linotype, scrap yard deals, etc.
I want to get to the Lyman #2 which I have been using my whole life. So far, it has been easy. 5 lb ww : 1 lb lino.
I need to learn how to do this for the future.
Has there been a thread on this?
Any suggestions where to learn how to alloy the lead?
Thanks.

[John Boy]

http://www.frfrogspad.com/miscellm.htm#mix

[popper]

That's NOT #2 but is 4.5% Sb. Get Bumbo's lead calculator.

[bumpo628]

You can download the calculator from the link in my signature.
Let me know if you have any questions.

[GhostHawk]

You can do it, it is not rocket science.

For me it somewhat depends on what I am doing with it.

Pistol bullets range scrap and either some COWW or some Lino/tin added for good casting is good enough.

For rifle I prefer 50/50 COWW and range scrap and 1-2% tin.

Shotgun both slugs and buckshot I run as soft as I can.

Mix up a small batch, pour it into ingots, label it, and make notes on how it does at the range, leading, etc.

You can do this stuff, just needs some research, some time learning the finer points.
Alloy calculator makes it simple if you know what you have.

[FISH4BUGS]

Alloy calculator makes it simple if you know what you have.

Ah....and that is kind of the basis of my question. If you really don't know what you have, but it IS lead, and you don't really know the hardness of it, how do you go about making a hard cast?
Am I hearing that you need to know the BHN of the lead before you start?
Thanks

[farmerjim]

I have a Lee hardness tester. Cumbersome, but repeatable. I check and mark every smelt or purchase. This is used as a guide to mix up 200 pounds of alloy at a time. I test and mark the ingots for later use.

[GhostHawk]

You make some educated guesses.

For me it all comes down to the thumbnail scratch.
Did it touch it? Did it leave a polished streak?
Or did it leave a groove?

What is the worst that can happen?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The LASC link at the bottom of the page,
http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm
it's a great reference for what is what, and offers simple recipes to blend known alloys into boolit metal.

Now, if you scrounge some complete mystery alloy, a hardness tester will help a lot. I have bought some unique shaped ingots/boat anchors/tractor weights over the years, they were made from unknown alloy, as far as I was concerned, as I received no history from the sellers. After I smelted them, I tested the alloy by casting some boolits, to be sure the alloy is cast-able, as well as getting a accurate BHN measurement, because measuring ingots of random scrap may not measure true. Once I know the BHN, I will add soft alloy til I get a BHN in the neighborhood of 9 to 11 ...and use that for low pressure loads. For casting High pressure (Mag pistol and rifle), I prefer to know the alloy...or at least a good idea of what it is.

[myg30]

Drop test also. If it has a ring sound= hard alloy. If it makes a thud= soft alloy.
My smelted ww's have some ring and I mix 50/50 with smelted stick- on's to get 9-12bnh which is mostly what I shoot in pistol and rifle. The only harder boolits I cast are the .22's and some 25-20.
The gas checks make up fer the 50/50 mix in my faster pistol/rifle loads. I never shoot max loads but some are mid range magnums.

Mike

[MaryB]

For unknown lead alloy there is a member here who will do an XRF test in exchange for a small amount of the lead. Brain dead tonight and can't remember his name.

[fredj338]

You can always get a hardness tester that allows testing on other than a bullet, like the Cabin Tree. Sort your scrap that way. Water dropping goes along way to making up some surface hardness. Start shooting powder coated.

[RogerDat]

Some scrap yards will test your alloy using their XRF tester which will tell you exact composition. Thing costs $40,000 or more so not all will have it. You can buy known alloys from Rotometals (site sponsor with advertisement at top of every page)

If you have a "known good" mix and hardness test that alloy, you can use the alloy calculator to figure out what will yield close to the same hardness. I mix Lyman #2 and using WW's and Lino I'm pretty sure I had to add tin and maybe even some plain to hit #2 alloy.

Working with mystery lead big batches and testing are your friends. Much better to have 150# batch that you tweak a little after testing so you end up with 155 lbs. of "just right" than it is to tweak and have 50# that when it is gone you have to do it all again. COWW's are somewhat mystery lead IMO you know what they are but not really exact composition. Same for most anything not from a foundry or in foundry ingots. Soft sheet may have small amount of antimony, pipe may have a little tin from solder joints or antimony, linotype typed strips can be degraded from re-use and spacer range from plain lead to foundry type alloy. I scrounge but I try to always do large batches and get a sample tested.

+1 on powder coating, some folks have reported good success with just a shake, dump and bake approach to bulk PC. Claiming after sizing any irregularities in PC surface are pretty much removed.