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Thread: My alloy ok?

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    Oct 2013
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    My alloy ok?

    Been out of the game a while, last eve I cast again for the first time in maybe 4 years. I used the spreadsheet on here to calculate my lead. I had a mixture of COWW and SOWW, Lyman #2, Linotype, and solder. Not sure what the solder was as the labels have long since disappeared. I put it in as 40/60. What I came up with was 93.7% Lead, 4.21% antimony, 1.97% tin, and .10% Arsenic. BHN should be 13 or so. I am planning on powdercoating them, and pushing them to 2000 fps (358 win)I think i should get pretty good expansion down to 1400 fps which should be at 250-300 yards. I am thinking this should be a 300 yard deer load. The question I have is this, is this antimony content a bit on the high side? And I forget now, but doesn't too much antimony make the bullet more brittle? Or am I within the acceptable parameters here?

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master
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    You have created an alloy that is just slightly richer in Sb and around 3 times the amount of Sn of typical clip on wheel weight alloy. It should work fine, and you could water drop them for more hardness if desired. There should be no problems of brittleness.
    You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I hit a deer lengthwise with flat point 30 cal 2.5% antimony and 1.5% tin air cooled at about 1500 impact and it barely expanded at all, i only cought it because it hit the thigh bone.

    Are you planning on the deer being 300yds ? Or you saying i think it may be good to that far. If you wanna be picky id make it an even 3%-3%, lower antimony would give further expansion long range and 3% tin makes it able to mushroom very big without fragments so it would be better at close range too.

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    this is a 45cal 280gr solid with 2.21% tin and 6.01% antimony, hardness should be about 14.8bhn. this bullet expanded to over 1 inch at about 900fps when shot into 500 sheets of copy paper. considering how hard paper is, I'm sure it will just zip right through a deer unless it hits bone. If a hollow point and used on deer, I think the nose would fragment and the base would penetrate fully through.


    Grip one of you bullets with pliers on both ends and try bending it, if it snaps in half your bullet is to brittle. make sure you wait until the bullet has fully aged, or you will get false results.
    Last edited by Ramson222; 10-28-2019 at 05:53 PM.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    there should be no way 4.2% antimony alloy is too brittle as a bullet, id just worry about how it mushrooms, in my testing in paper mush or water, alloys with half as much tin as antimony will expand large but gets brittle as it stretches and the sides break off leaving a center core. if its 1-1 ratio its much more likely to stay in 1 piece,

    basically tin is good for mushrooms and antimony not so much, around 3-5% tin id call optimal. and then only have as much antimony as needed to get the hardness required for accuracy.

    if im going for best expansion and weight retention, starting from lower velocity id pick just lead tin alloy, then once you need harder than say 20-1 add antimony enough for accuracy, but if you reach a point where the antimony equals tin raise them togather like how lyman #2 is fairly hard but equal ratios.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check