Would appreciate some "recipes" for mixing monotype and wheel weight/range lead

[fortrenokid]

Howdy Pards

Hope someone out there has some quick 'n' handy recipes for combining monotype and soft lead or ww or range lead.

Recently bot a batch of pieces of what were advertised as linotype (84-12-4) but have found it's actually monotype (72-19-9). I'm delighted with the harder alloy. I use lino by itself for casting hard rifle bullets and hard pistol bullets for mag loads and as a "sweetener" to improve the hardness and casting capabilities of soft lead, ww, and range lead.

Don't think I'll cast bullets directly from the monotype as I've read reports of them actually being too hard. There's lots of formulas available for mixing various alloys to achieve the desired brinel hardness. Hope some of you good pards have a computer or smart phone program that will get me more specifically to where I want to go.

I cast my alloys into the Lee ingot mould which turns out ingots of approx 1 lb and of 1/2 lb.

Specific questions:

(1) how many ingots of monotype and soft lead to get to approx linotype hardness?
(2) how many ingots of monotype and wheel weight to get approx linotype hardness?
(3) how many ingots of monotype and range lead (in my experience a bit softer than ww) to get approx linotype hardness?

A recent article in "The Fouling Shot" (magazine published by the Cast Bullet Association) indicated that adding 1 ingot of lino to 9 ingots of wheel weight/range lead gave measurable improvement to bullet composition and pouring/casting capability. From there, additional inputs of lino did not greatly improve the mixture until substantially larger amounts of lino were used.

I suspect, and please disabuse me of my assumption if you differ, that the monotype will be an excellent substitute for lino in the 1-to-9 mixture of ingots for everyday use ... in my case Cowboy Action Shooting and Cowboy pistol-caliber lever action silhouette matches. I do like lino for high-speed rifle loads and mag pistol load.

Sorry for being so long winded. Hope the seemingly superfluous info may have added some perspective to my questions.

Many thanks

Fort Reno Kid

[lightman]

There is a free alloy calculator on here that you can download that would be a big help. But, anywhere from 5 to 1 up to 10 to 1, lead to mono, should make a good alloy. Theres really not a wrong answer except that straight mono would be too hard. The bullets would be purdy though!

[OS OK]

(1) how many ingots of monotype and soft lead to get to approx linotype hardness?

Attachment 203995

Soft Pb varies in BHN but this would be a starting point....BUMPOS calculator is available on this page....http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=105952

[fortrenokid]

Thanks for the calculator. Contains an great amount of data on different alloys and their metal content. Sadly, I'm definitely in the slow class, I can't figure out how to use the chart to blend various types of alloys to get to the point you want. More simply: I've got a mess of monotype and can't figure what amounts of other alloys to add to it to come up with a brinel hardness of linotype.

I fully agree that a 1-to-10 or 1-to-5 mix of monotype-to-wheel weight or range lead would make an alloy suitable for a vast amount of bullet-casting uses. Now ... if I can just figure out the mono-to-wheel weight or mono-to-SOWW or mono-to-range lead to essentially duplicate linotype.

[fortrenokid]

Slowly, slowly, slowly it's coming to me. Even a blind squirrel eventually finds an acorn. The problem reminds of some courses in b-school where one searched for the optimal blend of various components to come up with the most economical mix that met the specifications.

So far, looks like 4 parts range lead plus 6 parts monotype is going to get me to the brinell of linotype. Likewise 3.5 parts SOWW (thanks, Lee Precision, for the ingot mould that casts 1 lb and .5 lb ingots -- kinda sorta) plus 6.5 parts monotype is going to get me there even closer.

Okay, barring any comments from you Pards that relegate me to the dunce chair, think I can work with it.

Side note: in one course we were presented a problem in mixing cattle feed. One had several choices of grains, their respective protein content, and their cost per lb. We were supposed to calculate the cheapest mixture that could meet the minimum protein requirement (and hope the cattle liked it - LOL). Most of us were city boys and really struggled with it. The couple of farm boys in the class nailed it right away; heck, they could almost do it in their heads.

Thanks again for the calculator.

Fort Reno Kid

[runfiverun]

add the percentages and divide by the total.
0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0+9 divided by 9 parts equals 1 that is how much of 'whatever' you got is in there. [or 1%]

[OS OK]

What is the reason you want to duplicate linotype?

Is all the mix going towards rifle casts?

[PBaholic]

Initial BHN = 24 hours
Aged BHN = 1 week or so
Est BHN is the Rotometals calculator, but It is not correct under BHN 10, so I have a modified version I use.

I have made many of the alloys that have inital BHN numbers. I have never had Monotype, but do use Linotype a lot.

You can determine BHN mixes using simple math. 1 pound of pure lead BHN 5 mixed with 1 pound of BHN 25 alloy will yield 2 pounds of BHN 15 alloy. (5+25=30, 30/2 = 15).

You can measure BHN if you have a drill press, bathroom scale and a micrometer:



P.S. This is how Brinell measured hardness, except he used a ball bearing.

[RGrosz]

Side note: in one course we were presented a problem in mixing cattle feed. One had several choices of grains, their respective protein content, and their cost per lb. We were supposed to calculate the cheapest mixture that could meet the minimum protein requirement (and hope the cattle liked it - LOL). Most of us were city boys and really struggled with it. The couple of farm boys in the class nailed it right away; heck, they could almost do it in their heads.
.

Fort Reno Kid

Shoot they were doing that before they went to school in their heads. If they couldn't they lost money. Is not much different to cal percent's of any mix if you have the info.
Rob

[fortrenokid]

RGrosz

Right you are, Pard. Some of the city slickers suggested simply feeding the cows the cheapest, lowest cost ingredient to reduce costs to a minimum (b-school thinking taken to the lowest common denominator). Others, softer hearted, suggested using just the most expensive feed to make the cattle happy while they put on weight. The country boys gave us a better lesson in economics than was taught in several courses. They said feedlot management is a business with very narrow margins and not much room for error. Some feedlots buy cattle on spec with the intent of bringing up their weight and selling at a profit. Others take cattle on a contract basis for the owner with strict instructions and a strict budget to bring 'em up to weight in a minimum amount of time. Why not use he cheapest feed? The cattle would put weight on very slowly, if at all ... and you are up the proverbial creek. The most expensive? Might be too rich and even if not, well before the cattle gained the requisite weight, you'd be deeply in the red ... and up that proverbial creek as well.

Like I said, a far more practical lesson in economics than learned from textbooks.

And, if it seems I drifted too far off point, the same lessons would apply to blending alloys whether for individual use or, particularly if doing it as a business, trying to produce economical alloy blends at a profit.

Another side note: many, many thanks to all those that contributed to my inquiry. Far, far better info than available from "text book learnin'.

[Grmps]

fortrenokid, spend a few hours and browse this website. there is a wealth of information there.
http://www.lasc.us/

[bumpo628]

That looks like some good data you've collected in that chart.
I'd like to use it to update my alloy calculator someday, if that is ok with you.

Would you mind sharing the modified rotometals hardness calculator that you mentioned?
Many people have mentioned the inaccuracy of the original formula, so that would be great if you've got it figured out.

Cheers

[fortrenokid]

Hey Grmps

Thanks for the tip. Took a look at the Los Angeles Silhouette Club's site. Truly a wealth of information.

Fort Reno Kid