Hunting alloy questions

[brewer12345]

Dopey question: how would, say, 20-1 compare to the 1-2% each of antimony and tin that is the favorite here?

[Rally]

Brewer12345,
Maybe try using the pewter with coww alone if your looking for a tougher bullet. If you add 5 oz of Pewter (.3125) to 17 lbs of coww it gets you 94.5 lead, 3.05 Sb, 2.16 Sn, and .03 copper with a BHN of 12.

[Larry Gibson]

Dopey question: how would, say, 20-1 compare to the 1-2% each of antimony and tin that is the favorite here?

Depends on the load, GC or not and velocity. The 1-2% ternary alloy will give better results accuracy wise above 1200 - 1400 fps because it is a "harder" alloy and can also be HT'd. On the terminal end the binary 20-1 will probably give better more uniform expansion at lower impact velocities.

[brewer12345]

Brewer12345,
Maybe try using the pewter with coww alone if your looking for a tougher bullet. If you add 5 oz of Pewter (.3125) to 17 lbs of coww it gets you 94.5 lead, 3.05 Sb, 2.16 Sn, and .03 copper with a BHN of 12.

Currently my standard alloy for gc rifle and pistol boolits is coww plus about 3% pewter. Seems to produce a strong alloy, just not sure about terminal performance.

[pls1911]

Many years ago I also toiled at alloy mix precison. At this point, my practice has evolved more toward using what's at hand for whatever I cast, using one roughly approximate alloy (+/- ish) for pistols, rifles, fishing weights, shotgun shot, counterweights, cast lead whatever... I call it a what ya got... what ya got in the pot, ya use.
This is a relatively low tin/low antimony mix which air cools to 10-11 bhn, and easily heat treats anywhere up to 23-28 bhn without a lot of fuss.
Don't over think the precision alloy mix. Spend your time shooting.

Lifted from a note I posted earlier this morning:
Lyman handbook #3 has a great discussion on velocity vs weight retention & penetration.
For the alloys evaluated, (linotype and Lyman #2) around 1700-1800 was about optimized for both conditions.
Higher velocities with Lyman #2 caused over expansion, shedding mushroomed petals, and lower penetration.
Higher velocities with the brittle Linotype caused bullet fracturing and break up, and lower penetration.

I address the issue with an alloy much softer than Lyman #2 (BHN 10-11) heat treated at 450 degrees for 45 minutes and quenched in ice water. This alloy is at a nominal 25+ BHN, which easily allows 1900-2000 FPS, but retains malleability to preclude break up at impact.
These slugs are gas checked with ancient lyman slip-ons, sized to .309 or .310, and lubed with whatever happens to be in the sizer/luber.

Through old Marlin 30/30s, my high shoulder/spine junction shots ALWAYS have full penetration and leave a smoking hole in a DRT hog.
Heat treating is worth the effort.

Each of us develop our own hopefully successful methodologies over the years, but at the end of the day, listen to Larry Gibson.