Smelting plan.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

So I have about 300# of nice clean lead cable sheathing to turn into ingots. I also have a good supply of pewter, about 30#. Was thinking of making ingots of 30:1 (lead/tin) because this is about right for moderate loads in my .357 and .44 revolvers. When I want to cast for moderate loads in my 30-30 and .308 I can add lino type to theses 30:1 ingots. Is this a good plan? I know some prefer to make ingots of pure lead and adjust hardness when they cast.

[Dusty Bannister]

My personal preference is to leave the metals in their original content. Keep the cable sheathing ingots separate to be used as desired to make up other alloys. Then if you like, make a large batch of your preferred 30:1 so you have a consistent mix for pistol bullet casting. Without knowing what your preferred blend might be for 30-30 or 308, you might be making poor use of the pewter when you add the Lino. At least with pure soft lead and lino, you are pretty well assured what is actually in your alloy. Once blended, you live with your decision. Dusty

[MrWolf]

I agree with keeping them seperate. Can't change your mind once combined. Good luck

[RED BEAR]

I to keep them seperate. But only because i would get them mixed up and not know what i had. I do lead in one pound ingots ww in 1/2 lb and tin in .6 round balls. Then mix as needed.

[Hossfly]

I think it best to keep separate, at least most of it. For future mixes, and mark good as to what you have.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Thanks fellas, separate it is then.

[RogerDat]

Best to keep ingredients separate until making a larger batch of an alloy with a purpose. The large batch gives you a consistent alloy for the entire batch.

One thing that might work out is to make a supply of the richest alloy you will use, then calculate how much to cut that with soft lead for purposes that don't require as rich of an alloy.

Example: Lyman #2 is 5/5/90 so really good for rifle on up into the 2k fps uses. You can cut that down to 3/3/94 with some plain to use for a lot of rifle or magnum pistol loads. Many would consider 3/3/94 an alloy that can do it all. Or cut it to 1.5/1.5/97 for a good casting fairly soft alloy. About like COWW cut 50/50 with plain with 1.5% added tin.

I do some specific alloys, such as Sn/Pb alloy for hollow base wad cutters, or some big slow revolver bullets. The rest are generally either Hardball or Lyman #2 that I can cut with either plain lead or COWW's to make a softer alloy. With powder coating a little softer alloy can work as well or better than the harder stuff.