First BOOLITS!

[cowboy777]

Hey guys so I casted my first boolits on thursday and shot them on Saturday. I was very pleased. I used lead that I got from work that was 5% antimonial lead. I casted 100 .45acp. I lubed them with vaseline & white lithium grease. The boolits were very accurate and did not lead the barrel. My friends agreed that the accuracy seemed better than the new factory bullets we were also shooting.
Now I'm looking for suggestions I can't always get the same lead from work but have acquired a good source of wheel weights. I've read that they are about 3% antimonial. How much tin should I add to harden my alloy. Most of my boolits were weighing in at 234 grains and would like to use a harder boolit. I will also find a better lube recipe I just had gotten all my equipment and was in a hurry and excited to use it.
Thanks

[*Paladin*]

Welcome and congrats! I'm pretty new here as well. Casting is great fun! If you're casting for .45 ACP, you won't need to add anything to your WW alloy. In fact, a lot of folks around here recommend 50/50 WW to pure lead. I've casted a bunch of 50/50 and so far I'm happy. The only issue I've seen is I have to cast with my alloy a bit hotter than straight WW's to get a good fill-out. Once the mold gets good and hot the 50/50 fills-out good too. It's just cool to experiment with this new hobby. I've been using Lee Liquid Alox for lube, and it's been good so far. It's cheap, too.

[clodhopper]

Welcome to the forum Cowboy!
In the intrest of getting the most mileage from the lead on hand,
I just use range scrap for 45auto, and save the wheel weights for rifle loads.
That Lee liquid alox works for me.

[lwknight]

I've read that they are about 3% antimonial. How much tin should I add to harden my alloy
Tin is a very minor player in hardening alloy. Antimony is the major player.
A little tin just helps make the antimony behave and cast prettier boolits.
You don't need more that 2% tin just for casting purposes. Higher tin costs more and is mainly used for higher performance needs like hunting and SD ammo.

The 3% or less antimony is plenty for 45acp or any other subsonic load.
Excessive tin can in some cases actually soften the alloy. A little tin will definitely harden pure lead somewhat.

[lylejb]

Cowboy, Welcome aboard!

Glad to hear your first boolits went well. I agree the improved accuracy was something I immediatly noticed with my first boolits, too.

As far as the wheel weights, they are fine as is. MANY people use straight WW for many calibers, and 45 ACP is a more forgiving caliber to cast for.

As paladin said, some go as soft as 50% WW / 50% pure lead. Straight WW is popular, and some add 1% to 2% tin to WW to aid in mould fill out, if needed.

Actually, your 5% antimony is harder than needed for the 45 ACP, but should still work fine.

One note on wheel weights, however. Lead wheel weights are being replaced with iron and zinc wheel weights. Several states have or will soon ban the installation of new lead weights, and the manufactures are in the process of phasing out lead.

Iron, of course, is of no use to us. Zinc melts at a slightly higher temp than lead, but doesn't mix well with lead. It will contaminate a pot of lead.

I'm not saying to be paranoid over zinc, just be aware that some will be in every bucket of wheel weights that has been taken off cars in the last year or two. Sadly, the percentage will be getting worse.

Search for threads on zinc, you'll find many. Learn how to check for it and avoid it.

And congrats on finding a good source for WW, your one up on me!!

AS far as lube, you'll find MANY opinions and home brew recipes here. At some time or another, someone has tried almost anything....and everything!

If you enjoy the "hombrew" aspect, by all means, go for it. But if you want buy a good lube, check out Lar45 's "white label lubes" He's a fellow member here, makes excellent products, and at a price thats as low as making it yourself.

Also consider "speed green" from bullshop, another fellow member. Bullshop also makes "bullplate", a mould sprue plate lube that many people like.

both lar45 and bullshop can be contacted from the vendor sponsors section

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Great news Cowboy777. Grab any and all lead you can. You can always sell or trade it for the stuff you want. I haven't casted that long but I find it quite rewarding. I am in the process of creating different alloys and it is interesting and fun. Weights and diameters of boolits can change as you change your alloy. You can create the boolit you want with your equipment. It just seems to take some trial and error. This site keeps the error from being too big. Have Fun!

[cowboy777]

Thanks guys for all the input. So it looks like ww will be sufficient. I will be expanding on the different calibers .357/38, .45lc/454 and .380. Ww should be ok for all if these as well? Also sounds like 5% antimonial lead I get from work might be excessive for handguns should I just save these for when I start casting for rifles? Thanks again everyone for all the help.

[jbelder]

Thanks guys for all the input. So it looks like ww will be sufficient. I will be expanding on the different calibers .357/38, .45lc/454 and .380. Ww should be ok for all if these as well? Also sounds like 5% antimonial lead I get from work might be excessive for handguns should I just save these for when I start casting for rifles? Thanks again everyone for all the help.

Yes Sir! thats about the alloy I use for my 30-06 seems to perform well, air cooled of course not water quenched. I think my alloy is about 92/5/3 it tests out at around 14-15 BNH.