HP alloy's

[AaronJ]

I got a new 440 gr .502 HP mold recently for my 500 S&W. When I tried my standard 50/50 ww to pb HP alloy I got leading mid barrel and the recovered boolit weighted only 210 gr. What alloy would the experts recomend? boolits where sized .500 and lubed with thompsons blue angel mold is plain base.

[45 2.1]

Water drop some of the same and try another lube other than the one you used with both air cooled and water dropped.

[USSR]

AaronJ,

When casting HP's, you've got to look at the antimony/tin relationship. If you look only at BHN, you will get bullets that fracture and don't mushroom. My rule for a HP alloy is: % of antimony < 2%, and 3 - 4% tin. Your 50/50 ww to pb alloy is good, but you need to add atleast 3% tin to it.

Don

[white eagle]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/search.php?searchid=3004920,
check out some of these

[Lloyd Smale]

try staight ww air cooled with 2-4 percent tin added.

[clintsfolly]

i shoot the 457122 hp out of my 450 marlin at 2100 with great results. the alloy i use is lyman #2. Clint

[cbrick]

I got a new 440 gr .502 HP mold recently for my 500 S&W. When I tried my standard 50/50 ww to pb HP alloy I got leading mid barrel and the recovered boolit weighted only 210 gr. What alloy would the experts recomend? boolits where sized .500 and lubed with thompsons blue angel mold is plain base.

There is no correct alloy answer with the info you provided.

What do the throats measure? Slugged and measured with a micrometer! Not calipers!
What is the groove diameter? Slugged and measured with a micrometer! Not calipers!
What does the bullet measure after using the .500 die using a micrometer? Not calipers!
What is the velocity?
What powder? Slow? Fast?

The odds are great that with that alloy the final sized bullet diameter will be "under" the marked die diameter. This is the alloy, not a fault of the die. My experience with S&W revolvers is that throats run a bit large and I would be willing to bet your bullet is small.

You need a mild snug fit in the "throats" and your throats "must" be at or slightly larger than groove diameter. Unless you get accurate measurements your shooting in the dark so to speak. To be assured that the groove diameter is at or less than throat diameter is the only reason for measuring a revolver bore, proper bullet fit is to the throats.

The alloy your using could/should work well unless your trying to drive them ridiculous fast/hard. Bullet fit is king, don't blame your alloy for something it did not cause.

That your recovered bullet weighed 210 grains doesn't tell us much, how fast was it going? What did it hit? What was the range at impact? What is the size of the HP cavity? Don't blame the alloy for something it probably didn't cause. Any cast HP will come apart on impact if impact velocity is too high regardless of alloy or impact medium.

Poor/improper bullet fit is the cause of leading far more often than is either alloy or lube.

Get good measurements of both the gun and the sized bullet, make the bullet fit correctly and other than an incorrectly dimensioned revolver your leading problems will disappear.

Rick

[fredj338]

I'm w/ CB here, not enough info. HP design has a lot to do with the end result. A deep/wide HP won't hold up at higher vel, it will fragment. Cast it harder to prevent that & it still blows the nose off. I like a cup point design, expands well using 20-1 or 25-1 alloy to 1250fps or so w/ little to no leading, YMMV. You can try 50/50 w/ 1% or so tin & water drop, the tin may help it be toughr, more ductile. If you are sizing 0.500", that sound small & a likely culprit to leading.