Grain Refiners Inquirery and Scrap Question

[swheeler]

Reclaimed shot is like a box of chocolates.

[JMax]

I get scrap 60/40 solder from a company that I used to work for, I trade for plumbers lead and add shot to get my alloy and do not need to water drop. I cast rifle bullets only now and push my 30-06 to 1900 ft/sec w/o leading. I just do the math to get me close to Lyman #2 alloy and off to casting.

[fortrenokid]

Just a quick shout-out to Rotometals. Have seen their advert on the masthead of the CAST BOOLITS site and, as I was in need of some linotype. Use it in pure form for high-power rifle and mag pistol loads but mainly as a "sweetener for ww and range lead. Clicked on their advert and was pleasantly surprised at the variety of metals and alloys they offered .. definitely lots of good stuff there.

They had a batch of used linotype for sale at a good price and, "heck" of a deal, they threw in free shipping. Got it timely but strongly suspected that what I had was monotype instead of linotype. Now either would be just great. Mono has even higher antimony and tin levels than linotype but before using it in casting there was a need to be sure what I had. Sent a few of the pieces back to Rotometals and they quickly verified that it was monotype. They apologized -- absolutely no need for that -- and said the two are similar in appearance. They sent me a T-shirt and baseball hat ... very nice. Far as I'm concerned that was great, responsive customer service and I definitely believe I came out ahead on the deal.

Again, I'd be delighted with either and , to my simple mind, the mono is even better than the lino. Thanks to good Pards on the site there are formulas to blend mono with other types of lead alloys -- think ww and range lead -- to approximate lino for staight bullet casting. The higher antimony and tin content of mono means I need less of it to blend to ww and range lead to not only bring up the brinel hardness but to also improve the casting qualities of the alloy.

Rotometals gave me what would have been a good deal on linotype but turned out to be a great deal for monotype.

To the Pard inquiring on methods to harden ww (sadly going the way of the Dodo and Passenger Pidgeon) and range lead (seemingly inexhaustible), I'll second the motion made by others to check the Rotometals site. You can buy some tin ... it ain't cheap but then a little bit of it goes a long way ... or some other tin-heavy alloys that will give you confidence as you calculate the blends needed to get you to the alloy that will fit your needs.

[Walter Laich]

Since range scrap is an unknown mixture of everybody else's alloy I consider it a waste of time to try making it into anything else if you're trying to come up with the Perfect Boolit Metal.
I've mixed range scrap with other range scrap and come up with… clean range scrap. And it shoots just fine for most purposes. Are you shooting for fun, accuracy, performance on game animals or home defense?

very good point here. this type of metal goes into my cowboy low pressure loads. this + PC (powder coating) makes for nice shooting and minimal clean up afterwards.
Now when pushing the envelope . . . that's a whole different story about alloys

[RogerDat]

The brew really only matters as a means to an end. Proper size, and hardness of the cast bullet. Having a recipe and foundry ingredients helps with repeatability.

So if you heat treat and bullet is hard enough, you size through the same sizer for a good fit.... Just make big batches of your range mining, scrap yard, WW lead so repeatability is due to having 100# of ingots that are the same. And you can even cross mix with your next 100# batch because 5 ingots from each in the casting pot means the next 200# of bullets will be pretty consistent.

Don't forget our own swapping and selling forum, can buy COWW ingots there for $1 a pound and that should give you your trace of arsenic when mixed into your range scrap.

You do scrap and you will spend a whole lot less cash to build a stash, while foundry will give you a more precise control of your results. I generally encourage people who are just starting to cast to purchase from our swapping and selling. They can get good price on a pretty well known material, be that WW's, pewter, range lead, linotype, etc.

Sometimes a scrap yard can yield some real goodies. Keep an eye out for these linotype pigs and strips with printing, or the block metal letters used in a printing press. Good stuff. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&....0.08vF79OhxGM or solder bars (which may be black from age) https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&....0.YVLurw1_XeI

Have only found two Babbitt ingots in about 5 years, have found plenty of other goodies. With powder coat I have no problem going over the 2,000 fps velocity with small bore cast bullets. You might want to check out that powder coat shake and bake. Cheap and the coating prevents leading which may allow for a bit more wiggle room in the lead hardness. I know I'm pretty much sold on it for 357 magnum and I use the same 50/50 plain and WW lead with touch of tin that I do in 38 special.