Many years ago, I bought from a friend 125 lbs of linotype pigs. 5 of them. They were my stash. Never to be used.
So while I kept them in reserve, I was casting and alloying with another 75 lbs or so of letters and spacers that i picked up here and there.
My cast bullets are all the same formula - 5 lbs of wheel weights to 1 lb of linotype. Hard cast Lyman #2 formula...supposedly.
I have been casting with that formula for 40 years and I have NEVER leaded a barrel....ever.
So now the letters and spacers are gone - time to dig into the secret stash of linotype pigs.
All these years I have read of casters that have freaked out over how to cut up the linotype pigs. Hatchets, torches, notching them and breaking them with a sledge hammer, etc.
I have a friend that that is a 40 year aerospace machinist, and is my go to guy for all things mechanical. I can barely boil water so he a fountain of knowledge to me. I asked him how he would do it knowing I could get the right answer. He thought for a moment and said to bring one over and he will do it on the table saw. I relayed my apprehension about doing it that way...he said let's just give it a shot.
He put a carbide blade on the table saw and laid the pig down. In 4 easy cuts he had the thing cut up into about 6 lb pieces....small enough to fit into the Lee 4-20.
The moral of the story is don't believe everything you read. I was convinced that the blade would heat the lead, the lead would clog the teeth, and it wouldn't work.
Silly me.....it cut as easily as a 2x4 gets cut.