Whats your HP Alloy....

[41mag]

Well I guess I have the bug s I simply can't seem to leave well enough alone. I somehow managed to throw down on a couple of more molds and now have a couple of HP's to play with. Nothing fancy like some of you have, just some basic Lyman's.

I blended up some this past weekend using a recipe I found in the Fryxell notes, that uses 9#-WW, 1# Pb and a couple of ounces of tin, for which I used 3oz's of 95% Tin solder. Mine actually ended up being 10# WW, 1.5#Pb, and the 3oz of solder.

I do have to say it looks a bit more purdy than the standard WW ingots sitting there along side it.

So what is your recipe for a good HP alloy?

[Ole]

25/1 works good for .380 boolits:

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh280/Ole1830/Bullet%20making/HPranchdogbullet.jpg

:mrgreen:

[williamwaco]

Based on my experience, I would say your recipe is way too hard.

Using your ingredients I would say maybe 25% WW and 75% PB with maybe a touch of solder.

Ole, has a great result there. I have never used 25/1 but I have used 20/1 and find it very effective.

[Shooter6br]

20/1 at 900 - 1200fps and 25-1 at sub 900 fps. Use in 41 mag and 45 acp

[MtJerry]

You left out the most important fact .. what caliber?

Rifle?

Handgun?

[runfiverun]

if i were doing it for a defense load then 25-1 or 30-1 and a gas check is where i'd start my testing.

[41mag]

Ok so there ya have it, I was reading through the the articles on the Cast Hollow Point at the LASC site. After reading through the following, Cast Hollow Points (http://www.lasc.us/FryxellCastHollowPoints.htm) I figured that for a starting point this one was pretty easy to blend together and not a huge amount that I would be wasting ingredients. It seemed to cover quite a few calibers and a range of velocities.

For my own use, I will be pouring it for the Lyman #452374 180gr .452, and for the Lyman #287346U .284 130gr.

Since this is my first venture into anything HP I simply went with what appeared to be an all around alloy listed. As for velocities, well not looking to set an records or push any limits. The 45,s will be used in my 1911 with Unique, and the 7mm's will be used in a TC 14" chambered in 7x30 Waters. Neither are for anything critical, just something more to occupy my time. If they don't lead, expand well, and hold together, I will be happy. I figured I would give it a try, and also see what folks here are using. When you refer to 25/1 or 16/1, is this straight lead to tin, or WW to Tin?

The original owner of the 287346U said he used 1/2 lino and 1/2 wheel weights. Well I don't have any lino at all so that was out. So while looking up the notes I figured this one was quick, easy, and if all else failed I have some .357 WFP, and 41 SWC, molds to pour it into and se how they shoot. Worst case, I know just what I put together so I can easily remix if necessary to soften it up a bit.

I appreciate the input so far as it simply shows that there really isn't a base formula, which is what I figured and why I asked. As I get more into this I am sure I will acquire more HP molds, but one has to start off crawling, before one can sprint, and trip on the hurdles. :mrgreen:

[fecmech]

My personal experience is that any antimony tends to make the HP fracture and shed the mushroom. I tested some Keith HP's of a 50/50 mix of WW and pure lead at 1200 fps in a .357. They were fired into water jugs at about 25 yds. Every one shed the mushroom in pieces in the first jug and the slug base continued on ala old Nosler design. IMO HP's operate best with binary lead/tin alloys, the antimony makes the alloy brittle and less ductile.

Depending on the HP size and velocity I just vary lead tin mix. In the .357 and .44 mag with Lyman HP molds for 358439 and 429421 I have used 20/1 lead tin in the 1200 FPS range with violent expansion on woodchucks and accuracy in the 3" range at 50 yds. For a .38 spl or .44 spl in the 800-900 fps range I would go with 30-40/1 lead/tin with those same bullets.

[runfiverun]

numbers like 20-1 or 10-1 are always lead to tin perts, numbers like 2/6/92 or 4/6/90 or just 2/6 or 4/6 are tin to antimony to lead [if mentioned]

[fryboy]

being a po'boy a buddy of mine and i went in on a 452-374 DV HP mold , i named the alloy i made for it after him "KB alloy" for keith's bullet alloy ( yeah i know not very original or anything but ... ) 40# Pb, 7# WW, 2# lead shot, 1# Sn , it's pretty soft and malleable and i suppose heat treatable if desired , yet even if quenched it should still be malleable at least during impact ( i havent tested it quenched as of yet ), no foto's but it did pretty good in the water test as well as the dirt of the back stop , it works well enough that i'm on my 4th batch of it , sadly a couple buddies i gave a few for for testing/samples seems to think they be too purty to shoot or something lolz i keep telling them that there's more and more could be made ....

[part_timer]

I shoot the 50/50 mix with a bit of solder and havent had any problems loosing the mushroom off the top. I'm shooting it out of 357 Maximum and a 256 win mag with great results.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=90805 Here is the thread for the 256.


That 25/1 is very impressive in the 380!!!!!

[L1A1Rocker]

25/1 works good for .380 boolits:

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh280/Ole1830/Bullet%20making/HPranchdogbullet.jpg

:mrgreen:

That's impressive!

[41mag]

Well i was hoping to get some poured up in my 45 mold this weekend but it will have to wait until next week sometime. That won't kill me though as my second HP mold should be here by then and I will be able to throw some of them as well.

For the time being however it looks like I am going to have to squirrel away some extra funds to pick me up some decent straight lead to mix in with my tin solder. Luckily I scored big on that with a coworker bringing me in close to a dozen rolls of 4% Silver 95% Tin. He said he had no use for it and if I could use it to get-r-done. How can one argue with that.

So I am set on tin for a while, and once I get a decent stash of straight lead I will be set to start saving up for one of those fancy Hp molds like some of you all have. Questions now is what caliber to get it or them in.

Geeze this mold thingy's multiply like rabbits don't they

[williamwaco]

My personal experience is that any antimony tends to make the HP fracture and shed the mushroom.





1++.

This fact can be useful for varmit hunting. I used to cast .357 hollow points from very hard wheel weights with no added tin. They had a VERY deep cavity - down to about 1/4 inch from the base.

These things exploded like little bombs. From a 6" revolver, they would make varmits hit at 75 yards look like they had been hit by a .220 Swift.

[AnthonyB]

I use WW and vary the diameter of the HP cavity based on expected velocity. I do not consider the nose shearing off to be a failure at all - my tests in soaking newspaper showed performance much like a Nosler Partition - the bullet open up, petals shear off and make secondary wound cavities, and the base of the bullet continues to penetrate. I consider that much better than a bullet that sticks together but fails to give adequate penetration.
Tony

[USSR]

As mentioned several times before, 25-1 alloy is great for hollowpoints. If you use WW's or anything else with antimony in it, dilute it down with a lot of pure or nearly pure lead. I have found that 1% or less of antimony with 4% of tin and the rest lead works fine.

Don

[fredj338]

The HP design has a lot to do with it, but I have good resulte w/ 25/1 lead/tin to 1200fps or so.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/45-215gr.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/452-251.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/44-272.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/9mm-136-1200.jpg