Strictly Linotype

[6mm win lee]

Do any of you fellas shoot bullets that are all lino? How does performance compare to other alloys? I have linotype to burn once I get back to the west atlantic side of the world.

Would lino make good 1000 -1200 yard match bullets? Can lino be pushed to 2800 fps?

[upnorthwis]

I made some lino SAECO #429 bullets for the scoped S&W 629DX, 44 Mag. Was not impressed.

[454PB]

It depends on the particular firearm's measurements and characteristics. Straight linotype cast beautiful boolits with fewer rejects, but they are quite brittle, larger in diameter, and lighter than the same boolits with less antimony and tin. I doubt you could push them to 2800 fps. with any accuracy, but I haven't tried.

[colchester]

I shot some 310g 429dia and some 325 458 cal in my contender Both shot very well, I would add I did this because at the time I could get linotype cheap and in endless supply. The bullets cast large in dia and are more difficult to size. I recovered some from the berm and they looked almost perfect except for the engraving of the rifling. No answer on max velocity

[nueces5]

What you say is a pending issue for me. Years ago, at the range, I was talking to a marksman who had tried it with varying results. He told me that the boolits had been very fragile, in some cases, so he preferred to add soft lead to the alloy.
Maybe I'll try as soon as it's a little colder, here in the southern hemisphere.

[fredj338]

I used to get lino for 25c a # so I made all my bullets from lino. Today I wish I would have kept 300-400# for alloying. You just dont need lino for handgun bullets imo.

[bowfin]

You just dont need lino for handgun bullets imo.

I will second that. If that is all you have, trade it for whatever you need. If one can't do that, then I guess use what you have and be thankful.

[bangerjim]

Sell it on here and buy pure to mix with what you keep. Total waste of $$ to cast straight lino.

And it will not perform as well standard alloy boolits, as stated in post #3.

I too have lots of it......but NEVER cast it straight. A total waste of precious resources! I mix it with pure to get a perfect 10 hardness ( +PC) for 95% of what I shoot

[fredj338]

Sell it on here and buy pure to mix with what you keep. Total waste of $$ to cast straight lino.

And it will not perform as well standard alloy boolits, as stated in post #3.

I too have lots of it......but NEVER cast it straight. A total waste of precious resources! I mix it with pure to get a perfect 10 hardness ( +PC) for 95% of what I shoot

Yeah but when I got it for 25c / #, it was a joy to cast with.

[bangerjim]

Yeah but when I got it for 25c / #, it was a joy to cast with.

Now it can make you MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mfraser264]

A couple of comments:

Many folks at the Cast Bullet Association shoot straight lino for 200 yard competition.

Have had great success with Lino in high power hand guns, ..308 and 30-06, .30 Carbine. Also know the folks who designed the .30 XCB 165 grain via Night Owl molds (NOE) have driven them to 2,800 with very good results.

Mike Venturino who writes for Handloader magazine says he has cast several hundreds of thousand of bullets and mainly uses Lino for handgun and rifle but not to jacket rifle bullet velocities.

By the way, Mike regularly publishes article on bullet casting and is a wealth of excellent information.

[dale2242]

First let me say I have a lot of linotype.
I`m not bragging, I am justifying using this much lino.
I cast 22 cal bullets with straight lino.
All other rifle bullets are cast of 50/50 WW/Lino.

[762sultan]

I haven't yet but I plan to make some when the weather warms up. Just bought a NEI SSK mold for the 44 mag and want to try it with lino. Hope it won't be too hard to size and lube...any suggestions?

[David2011]

Several years ago I cast some 44-250-KT from Linotype because lots of people here said that they would shatter. I shot a freshly killed 250 lb feral sow with one. It went in one shoulder and out the opposite ham with the exit hole looking just like the entrance wound. I didn’t find the boolit but clearly it didn’t break up nor did it expand after going diagonally through a good sized hog. The gun was a Contender with the 14” barrel, 1600 fps.

[Butzbach]

I had good accuracy using straight Linotype in 240 gr jacketed SWC with GCs over Unique through a 4” Model 29. I loaded to .44 Special specs as they were more enjoyable to shoot. Ah to have the eyes I did 40 years ago! They were never Hawkeyes but no cataracts and floaters as now. I can remember guys cursing their scoped mini 14s after looking at my off hand 100 yard targets.

[Alstep]

Sell it on here and buy pure to mix with what you keep. Total waste of $$ to cast straight lino.

And it will not perform as well standard alloy boolits, as stated in post #3.

I too have lots of it......but NEVER cast it straight. A total waste of precious resources! I mix it with pure to get a perfect 10 hardness ( +PC) for 95% of what I shoot

What proportion of lino to pure do you mix to get 10 BHN?

[bishopgrandpa]

1# lino @ 20 bhn=20
2# lead @ 6 bhn=12
gives you 32 divided by 3 = 10.6 BHN

Close enough for casual shooting

[Goofy]

Opinion only, but lino could be used for long range if softened up a bit. I’d be inclined to add enough lead to bring it down to the 12-14 BHN range pour it into a mould w/o grease grooves, at bore diameter. Wrap it in paper of proper thickness to bring it up to groove or a hair more and lube it with a wipe of beeswax/Vaseline. No twist tail, just enough to fold it over the base. Load ‘em up and shoot gnats at long range. You might be able to run them faster than 2800 FPS.

[Goofy]

300 grains of pure lead, 1600 fps with the 77/44 and a red dot sight. Patches are 9# onionskin with 25%+ rag content.
They work just dandy on critters.

[Charlie Horse]

A couple of comments:

Many folks at the Cast Bullet Association shoot straight lino for 200 yard competition.

Have had great success with Lino in high power hand guns, ..308 and 30-06, .30 Carbine. Also know the folks who designed the .30 XCB 165 grain via Night Owl molds (NOE) have driven them to 2,800 with very good results.

Mike Venturino who writes for Handloader magazine says he has cast several hundreds of thousand of bullets and mainly uses Lino for handgun and rifle but not to jacket rifle bullet velocities.

By the way, Mike regularly publishes article on bullet casting and is a wealth of excellent information.

I used straight lino in a 30-06, gas checked, in CBA matches. It worked well. Now I try to alloy it, but it's getting harder to find stuff to mix in. Been using range scrap, but that stuff is hard, too. My ingots ring like bells.