old lyman #2

[686]

i have an old booklet that came with a lyman mold. today lyman list making #2 with 9 lb. ww and 1 lb. 50/50. this old booklet list 5 1/2 lb ww , 1 lb. 50/50, and 3 1/2 lb lead as #2 . this would be a lot softer than what they list today.

[RedneckAlbertan]

Have wheel weights changed in composition over the years? Is that what accounts for the different recipes?

[454PB]

Apparently they have changed the recipe. It originally was 5%Sn, 5% Sb, and 90% lead.

The recipe you quote would be sadly lacking in Sb, and much softer than the old formula.

[686]

i think this booklet is from 20-40s . i started casting in 74 and the books then were the 9lb ww 1 lb 50/50 the same as they are today.

[powderburnerr]

its cause you have to sort out the zinc ones, they are figuring loss..............Dean

[lwknight]

Wheel weight used to have about 9% antimony. Nowdays its more like 3 %
Also there must have been some tin in them because with that much antimony
they could not keep an even alloy with the antimony trying to float out without tin.

[FISH4BUGS]

5 lbs ww and 1 lb linotype. I don't know where I got that but it has been used by me for many years. Seems to work just fine.

[lwknight]

5 lb WW and 1 lb liontype will NOT make a #2 alloy , but it will be close enough for plinking or heat treating.
It will be 94.42% lead and 4.5% antimony and 1.08% tin. With a dab more tin it will be an awesome semihard mix.
The No.2 is 90-5-5

2 pounds Clip WWs to 1 pound lino will make very close to hardball 92-2-6

[sagacious]

As noted, the standard Lyman #2 alloy is Pb90/Sn5/Sb5. However, the published formulas given vary even within the same handbook, so one might perhaps suspect that Lyman doesn't feel that casters need adhere too rigidly to the exact #2 formula.

The formulas involing ww's could never give an alloy with a rigidly-defined BHN number (as ww's have likely always varied by region, by the vagaries of the metals market and manufacturer's whim, and of those casters who refine them), and this might help explain the lack of propriety that Lyman sometimes shows toward the exact #2 alloy formula.