More stupid newbe questions

[mugsie]

Sorry guys but I'm trying to learn by picking your brains a little in addition to all the reading. I've started collecting wheel weights and tin. I have access to 100% bars of tin. This is a good thing yes? Can I add the tin to the WW when I'm making ingots? Do they have to be tested for hardness? Does the hardness matter when fired from pistols at non magnum speeds i.e. 44 mag, 357 mag etc. I've got a lot to learn haven't I?
Thanks for any info in advance.

[yodar]

START by investing in a copy (even used) of Lyman cast Bullet handbook. THE reference to start with

Your tin is a treasure. I add 4 oz of 67/33 solder to a 10 lb pot not for hardening but for improving flow, surface tension, etc of the alloy so it fills out the mould without wrinkles.

Get a copy of Richard lee modern Reloading as a second reference. People say it's is advertising schlock. I say it puts the whole reloading/casting picture into a historical context that newbies need to understand. Look hard enough and you will find an algorithm to convert the charge data in a reloading manual to get ANY selected bullet velocity you plug in. THAT is important with cast bullets, to find a velocity window to work witihn.

You possible are operating under the mythology that harder is better. It isnt,

Bullet FIT is better.

I can fire a dead soft lead bullet that IS PROPERLY FIT to my gun, and not get leading. Leading is not from hardnes, it is from gas getting around the outside of an ill-fitting bullet and melting it. If the bullet is soft enough to obturate and seal that union between bullet and barrell it is all you need. No Gas cutting

I hope the list has an archive, you could enjoy what you discover reading all the earlier posts.


Yodar

[mag_01]

:coffee: ---Yes Lee's book looks like a little chest pounding and advertising but holds a wealth of information that will aid you in your conquest of lead boolits and is priced as other Lee products easy on the wallet. And as stated above Lyman cast handbook would certainly help you on your way to successful cast boolits an A short cut to your end result----Mag

[TDB9901]

Good advise found here, just lurk, read, ask questions.

Whatever it is with cast boolits, somebody here seems to have done it, knows someone who has, or where to find info on it. They're glad to help.

In the mean time you can start small and slow, learn the techniques and work up.
You don't need a lot of expensive fancy stuff to start out. I began with a coleman stove, small pot, dipper and single cavity mold, using plain wheel weights. Made and shot thousands of .38's that way before I ever did anything else except get a double cavity mold...

[cbrick]

I've started collecting wheel weights and tin. I have access to 100% bars of tin. This is a good thing yes?

You are a wealthy man . . . Yes, this is a very good thing.


Can I add the tin to the WW when I'm making ingots?

You can, I don't. Its up to you. I add the tin as I add the ingots when casting. I weigh the ingot and the tin and add the correct amount of tin. Might want a different recipe later so my wheel weight ingots are just that, wheel weight ingots.


Do they have to be tested for hardness? Does the hardness matter when fired from pistols at non magnum speeds i.e. 44 mag, 357 mag etc.

No, they don't have to be tested. Wheel weight alloy with about 2% tin should run about 11 BHN air cooled and this is fine (about ideal actually) for non-magnum handgun velocities. If you should want to step up the loads to full power 357 & 44 mag just drop the bullets right out of the mould into a bucket of water. This will give you 16-19 BHN and is good for almost all or any magnum handgun.

Rick

[HORNET]

mugsie,
I usually start with straight WW and only add tin if absolutely necessary (I'm frugal- and cheap). For non-magnum pistol ( and lots of magnum) it's all the alloy you need. Heat treat is not usually required at pistola velocities and pressures.
I can usually get good fill by playing with temperatures or opening up the sprue holes if I've made a new sprue plate ( start with a small hole- it's easier to open it up than to shrink it :( ).
If any is left over at the end of the session. it gets re-ingoted and marked with the alloy. Separate piles for WW, 50/50 WW/lino, etc.[smilie=1:
Tin makes real good trading stock. Get all you can if the price is good. I believe I saw current prices listed around $7.50/lb on another thread.
There are no stupid newbe questions ( but we can probably come up with some real stupid answers if needed). The answers so far have been fairly reasonable, except this one.[smilie=w:

[No_1]

Mugsie,

I want to restate what was said in earlier post but in a more direct way. There are no stupid questions when it comes to melting lead, adding powder and setting it off with a primer. The problems begin when a person thinks the question is too stupid to ask and because they do not ask they could make a mistake that will change the rest of their life in a negative way...

That being said, it is amazing what can be learned here. There are 2500+ people here, many who have been shooting 40+ years. The collective knowledge base provided by that many years of shooting means that the question you ask more than likely has an answer here.

Ask away,
Robert

BTW, I am 43 and have been shooting since I was 6, reloading for ~15 years and casting for ~10 years. Do I know it all? H&LL NO! Will I ever? no...

[Castoff]

I have lost my old Lyman book, but I seem to remember their old formula of
9 lbs WW to one lb of 50/50 bar solder. This give a BHN of 15.
Bar solder is getting ......er has gotten ... expensive though . I can only find it at the local roofing supply house.
I am not sure I need to keep this up , and will probably go back to just WW when I use up what little bar solder I have.

Rick's suggestion of quenching in water is time honored and true.
I have used a old large tin can with a piece of carpet cut to fit in the bottom to "catch" the casting ( ?? necessary).
Castoff

[leftiye]

Castoff, many of the guys here only add maybe 2 oz of tin to help the metal to flow. This is one way of doing it, FWIW. Tin isn't a big hardening agent (not a big effect) after maybe 5% anyway. Toughens the alloy, and is good in softer boolits that you may want to have expand. Water dropped 50/50 WW/ LEAD are fairly hard, and I've heard they'll still expand.

[Bass Ackward]

Mugsie,

Yodar gave you good advise as did everyone else.

Notice how different some of the posts are? Why in just one year you will be answering another thread written by someone else with your own special mix and heat treating procedure.

5 years from then, you will swear by something else.

After 20 years, your interests in guns will have changed so much that you will have your own little boutique of mixes that you can rattle off.

Then when you get old enough, you will lose track of what you have learned and start the learning process all over again.

That's how this game works. Don't worry about it, start learning, and just enjoy the shooting along the way.