Mixing lead

[Mooner]

So this may have been asked before but I'm new here so forgive me if it has been asked. I'd like to get a 50 pound lot of pure lead and mix in some alloys to make it so it has a hardness of about 15. I see on rotometals you can get a hard ball alloy. My question is how much would I need if I had a 50 pound lot of pure lead to reach a hardness of 15 if I were to mix in the hardball alloy??

[9.3X62AL]

Mooner--

Welcome to the board, sir! Whatta shame you're in MN, we could swap metal to both of our benefits! I'm in need of unalloyed lead to mix with a BUNCH of richer alloys I have on hand (Linotype, Monotype, and Foundry type).

Roto's "hardball alloy" is a 92% lead, 6% antimony, and 2% tin blend that is sort of my "default" casting alloy for autopistols, magnum revolvers, and rifles. Its Brinnell hardness number is about 14.5-15.0. In order to arrive at a blended alloy equalling Roto's Hardball, you'll need to blend your unalloyed lead with one of the richer blends I listed above--or with the correct percentages of the tin and antimony elements.

Lead and Linotype blended 50%/50% yields 92/6/2.

Lead and Monotype blended 3 parts lead/1 part Mono gets you very close to 92/6/2, maybe slightly rich.

Lead and Foundry type blended 5 parts lead/1 part Foundry gets you very close to 92/6/2, a little light on antimony and a little rich on tin--more like 92/5/3. BHn is very similar.

[Mooner]

Yes that's what I'm going for is basicly auto pistols and a 357 and in the near future I'd like to start to dabble in rifle casting for a 762x54r. The auto pistols I'm casting for currently are 9 and 40

[runfiverun]

mooner:
the amount of pure to hardball to get 15 bhn is zero.
hardball is 15 bhn.
it's also twice as much tin and antimony as needed.
i'd mix the soft and terracorp 1-1 to get 1/3/96 it's a good alloy.
read some more and see what others are doing.

[ShooterAZ]

If you are going to order from Rotometals, I would suggest ordering 60 lbs pure lead (to get your discount), and 20 lbs (or more) linotype. This is what I did. You then may mix it 1/1 to get hardball, or 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 etc. depending on how soft you want to go. For handgun, I have found that 1 Lino/3 Lead works well for me. If you order a mold for your 7.62x54R, and you order a gas check mold, you can cast pretty soft as well. The Lee C312-155-2R is a good mold for that one.

Regards...

Shooter

[gbrown]

Welcome Mooner! I would suggest you go to the Sticky at the beginning of this forum titled: The Definitive Answer page for Lead and Alloys! Excellent info and articles. I keep going back and back to it. Great thing about this entire forum--everybody helps one another. Great place to be.

[Mooner]

thanks for all the advice everyone!!

[bumpo628]

Here's another way to make your own:
3.625 lbs Superhard + 0.375 lbs Pure Tin + 14 lbs Pure Lead = 18 lbs of Hardball (2% tin, 6% antimony)