What else can I be using?

[chris in va]

WW are getting...rare. I do however have access to those roof pipe flashing deals, but I understand those are pure lead and can't be used for something like 45 and 9mm?

I haven't checked with any radiator shops either, don't know where to begin with that.

So bottom line, what else could I be looking for?

[littlejack]

Chris:
Get the lead ( all of it you can haul off) and swap it to someone here on the Cast-Boolits for ww's. I'm sure you can find some swappers.
Never, EVER turn down any lead.
Jack

[chris in va]

I see. Shipping this stuff might be a problem, there's a lot of it and it's bulky.

Stock photo, guess it's called 'roofjack'. I think they're selling it for ~$1/lb.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Chris,

Smelt them into ingots and I'll swap ya pound for pound.

Sam

[geargnasher]

Chris, I gotta plug "Sam", he's a first-rate guy. If you have a sawzall or an axe maybe he'll swap for his large Isotope Cores, they will work fine for you just as they are if you can cut them up to fit in your pot. If you need harder for the 9mm, you can water-drop them to good effect.

Gear

[fryboy]

that's a purty roof flashing foto !! the joint has tin erm ...solder , other than that they are pretty soft , a pound or two of lino per 10-15 pounds would make a dandy 45 boolit not so much the 9 , quenching is possible tho u mite have to add some small shot to the puddle , shears/snips often cuts that stuff ( about easier than a hatchet too ) cut it 50/50 or so with ww would stretch ur precious alloy out and the best idea ? buy a muzzle loader !

[sagacious]

Think long term, and as advised above, never turn down any source of lead. You may suddenly find a stash of linotype at a flea market/garage sale/etc, and you can always buy a small amount of high-Sb lead to increase the hardness of soft lead. That's often more cost-effective than swapping for a harder alloy. Good luck.

[a.squibload]

Yep, what they said.

Also those jacks look thin, fold 'em over and pound flat with a hammer so they fit in a box.
Might almost could step on 'em to flatten 'em out.

[fredj338]

Think long term, and as advised above, never turn down any source of lead. You may suddenly find a stash of linotype at a flea market/garage sale/etc, and you can always buy a small amount of high-Sb lead to increase the hardness of soft lead. That's often more cost-effective than swapping for a harder alloy. Good luck.

So true. I don't actively scrounge much anymore, but if I am in a tire shop I'll ask. Roofing lead is great, just needs a little lino or ww alloy mixed w/ it for good bullets to 1200fps or so. Don't pass it up, melt it down & cast it into ingots. It takes up very little space.

[chris in va]

Let me ask this, can I cast a roofjack straight into 45acp without anything added? Any idea of the hardness?

[Muddy Creek Sam]

chris,

I haven't tried it yet, but I know several SASS Cowboys that have used 777 and 2F Goex with lead tin alloys in the 1911 platform. They say it works well, so I would think that you could use the roofjacks with the solder joints included in a 45acp.

Sam

[lwknight]

Chris , if you have to buy the roof jack anyway , you might as well buy Sams' isotope lead probably cheaper. He says that it is 2.5/2.5/95 . That would make awesome 45s

[fryboy]

Let me ask this, can I cast a roofjack straight into 45acp without anything added? Any idea of the hardness?

simply put ...yes mite have to hold the heat a little higher since it basically pure lead ( lead/tin alloy will melt at a lower temp than pure lead ) how hard will they be ? let's say softer than sin , work great in a muzzle loader !!!!!! they will also be small for diameter than any other alloy we use , i have a hollow point mold .... ( yup for 45 ) i thought as soft as i could get it would be sweet , not so [bummer] they say pure lead is about 5 on the brinnel hardness scale , those pretty well mangled up just feeding , even at around 7-8 they are still real soft but much better ( appox 30-40 to 1 ) with perhaps a occasional skid mark from the ramp vs. deep and sometimes sticking gouges , 25% ww to 75% pure lead is about as soft as i want to go or rather as soft as my eat anything 45 likes to go the main thing would be size and then velocity i wouldnt try to push it to max load myself ( i have a aversion to cleaning lead out of my barrel ) there's quite a few folks here who sell various lead , if u had 50 #'s of soft lead and added 50 #'s of ww and perhaps a pound of solder u'd have 100 #'s of great alloy !!!

[fecmech]

Pure lead will work just fine in .45 target loads. Some very accurate bullseye loads made were with swaged 185 and 200 gr swc's and run at 750-800fps. We are only talking 10-12k psi loads here, they run pure lead out of .22's all the time.

[badgeredd]

WW are getting...rare. I do however have access to those roof pipe flashing deals, but I understand those are pure lead...

I'd be happy to swap you pound for pound in ingot form. Truth is, I've been using 50/50 lead/WW mix water dropped for most of my rifle boolits and a vast majority of my pistol boolits. It makes a tough but maleable alloy that is great for hunting. Like several others have said, don't turn down the roof jacks 'cause you can always swap for WW or alloy other things with it to make dandy boolits with.

Seriously, if you're interested in some swapping of alloys, PM me as well as MuddyCreekSam. We'll get you going in no time.

Edd

[fredj338]

Let me ask this, can I cast a roofjack straight into 45acp without anything added? Any idea of the hardness?

If yo ucan get good mold fill out, keep them under 850fps & they should run fine. Adding 1% tin would help fill out & give a tiny bit of surface hardness.