Casting lead shot into bullets

[RogerDat]

COWW at $1 a pound will do most anything you want. The small amount of tin just makes the alloy a bit better and easier to work with. Roll of lead free solder pull off a foot and add to the pot. Maybe two foot. Some will be good, a bit more will be better. Any greater percentage of tin than the 2 or 3 percent antimony is just wasted.

I make home mixed Lyman #2 for use in 8mm Mauser or 303 British as alloys go it is nice to cast with and makes a good rifle bullet for those uses. Not required to use that rich of an alloy but it will certainly give good results. Another option is buy some COWW at $1 a pound in S&S forum then pick up some Lyman #2 at Rotometals. Mix the two in equal amounts to make a small 50/50 batch. Cast with it and if it works ok then you have the option to save money by using the inexpensive COWW's to cut the expense of the Lyman #2 in half. Pretty sure you can run a good load for punching paper at 50 to 100 yards using that 50/50 or plain COWW's + 2% tin from solder. Equally sure you will be good with straight Lyman #2 alloy from Rotometals.

Main thing is to start so you can make specific mistakes. Then you can post question about why is this specific thing happening. Get some suggestions, then re-melt the mistakes and try the suggestions. Can't make progress until you begin. Like learning to ski, just plan on doing some face plants and start down the hill.

[WRideout]

Roger is correct. COWW will generally always work. Any more, I like my boolits to be a little softer than COWW, so I generally use 50/50 COWW and reclaimed range lead from the backstop. I generally add a little tin for good fillout, but that is optional. If I were you, I would buy or trade for some COWW ingots from members here, and use that to start. You could also trade for some boolits that are already done, and see how they work in your carbine.

I used to have an Argentine Mod 91 sporter that was fun to shoot, but traded it for a Savage 99. The mod. 91 did well with bullets that were relatively heavy for diameter.

Wayne

[rsrocket1]

I've been using almost exclusively reclaimed shot for my handgun and rifle bullet casting. I get the shot for $25/bag which is $1/#. Better than just about any price I can find locally unless someone is demolishing a doctor's office and removing lead sheets from the walls of the X-ray room. No, I haven't run across that gold mine either.

I melt the shot in my Lee 4-20 casting pot immediately before casting. The only downside is having to stir and scoop the graphite off the surface of the melted lead.

The handgun bullet work fine for my target shooting at 10 yards and can get me ~1" at 100 yards with my 788 in 0.308

I tend to cast at 675-700F which gives me good fill out and keeps the bottom pour spout from freezing.







top targets are 0.308. Bottom are .223 and 22LR

[bpimwheel]

Again thank you all very much for all of the information.
For now I believe I will go the purchase of COWW ingots or Lyman#2 alloy and start casting.
Want to get some experience doing this. Im sure actual working experience will bring more questions of which I will need answers to.
Again Thank you all very much.