Foundry type?

[selmerfan]

A couple of years ago I bought about 80 lbs. of an alloy mixture that the seller "Doug" said was 61/12/27. He didn't have a name for it, but it's awfully close to foundry type listed in Reloader's Reference - 62/15/23. I bought it with the intention to add in small portions to wheelweights or pure lead. It's still in type form so that I can weigh precise amounts of it to add to a pot for alloying. So, that being said, what would you guys do with it? As of right now, my primary casting is for a .260 Remington for trigger time and busting targets, a .30-06 for the same, plus I plan on hunting whitetails with an HP'd 311299 this fall, and loading for a .357 Magnum. I'm not sure I need more than a standard wheelweight alloy for any of it, but I'm not an alloy expert, and the only hunting I've done with boolits are from a .454 Casull and a .357 Maximum, neither of which needed expansion. I was just thinking about it this morning and thought I'd get some other input.

[bumpo628]

That is enough lead to turn over 1000 lbs of pure lead into a nice WW-like alloy! [smilie=w:

A ratio of 12.5 to 1 (Pure Lead / Foundry Type) yields:
0.89% Tin, 2.00% Antimony, 97.1% Lead, est. hardness 10.7

A ratio of 15 to 1 (Pure Lead / Foundry Type) yields:
0.75% Tin, 1.69% Antimony, 97.6% Lead, est. hardness 10.4

A ratio of 17.5 to 1 (Pure Lead / Foundry Type) yields:
0.65% Tin, 1.46% Antimony, 97.9% Lead, est. hardness 10.1

A ratio of 20 to 1 (Pure Lead / Foundry Type) yields:
0.57% Tin, 1.29% Antimony, 98.1% Lead, est. hardness 9.9

Those are all very nice and castable mixes. All depends on what you're looking for in a boolit. Nice score!

You can download a copy of my alloy calculator here (2/14/11 revision):
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=105952

[white eagle]

If you are referring to linotype
you can mix with pure and come up with a hardball alloy
rite around 16 bhn
for just plinking with rifle loads should be.......... smooth :)

[bumpo628]

By the way, according to the Rotometals hardness estimation formula that I'm using your Foundry Lead should have a hardness around 37 right now.

[selmerfan]

How about alloying with WW's for an HP boolit that will expand for hunting?

[selmerfan]

Never mind, I saved an alloy calculator sheet put together by jhitchman. Works perfect for what I need to play with various metals to get what I want.

[lwknight]

By the way, according to the Rotometals hardness estimation formula that I'm using your Foundry Lead should have a hardness around 37 right now.

Thjat formula does not work once you get high tin amounts. High tin can actually soften a very hard alloy.
I mix 9-27-64 and its a lot softer than the 0-30-70.
The 9-27-64 is ductile while the 0-30-70 is extremely brittle.