10mmShooter
05-09-2012, 02:41 PM
Hi Guys question??
Its summer now time to get out and cast a few thousand rounds. Lyman #2 is nearly $3 a pound from Rotometals.
So I'm trying to dial back my alloy a bit to reduce my cost downward.
I have source for clip on wheel weight lead for roughly $1.30 a pound and I can get linotype to mix in for about $1.80 a pound.
I can mix up a batch of 150 lbs total and it will be at 93% Pb, <2% Sn, and 5% Sb for $1.47 per pound.
$1.47 is not bad but I'm at only 2% or less tin so fill out worries me, if I add additional tin back in at $17 a lb it really eats away quickly at the savings to get back to 5% tin in my mix I have to add 5 lbs of Sn and that would cost me $90 more in tin. So my "homemade" Lyman #2 would cost me right at $2.00 a lb vs $3 a lb from Rotometals.(already mixed of course)
30% or a buck a pound savings is not bad.......but my real question for the experts is how far can I dail back on the tin or antimony and not scarifice mold fill out for hardness for my application in my three calibers.
I shoot and cast ONLY these calibers and velocites 10mm @1000-1050fps, .357@800-1100 fps and .44@900-1050 fps.
Surely someone else has run the numbers too and figured this one out???[smilie=b:[smilie=b:
Its summer now time to get out and cast a few thousand rounds. Lyman #2 is nearly $3 a pound from Rotometals.
So I'm trying to dial back my alloy a bit to reduce my cost downward.
I have source for clip on wheel weight lead for roughly $1.30 a pound and I can get linotype to mix in for about $1.80 a pound.
I can mix up a batch of 150 lbs total and it will be at 93% Pb, <2% Sn, and 5% Sb for $1.47 per pound.
$1.47 is not bad but I'm at only 2% or less tin so fill out worries me, if I add additional tin back in at $17 a lb it really eats away quickly at the savings to get back to 5% tin in my mix I have to add 5 lbs of Sn and that would cost me $90 more in tin. So my "homemade" Lyman #2 would cost me right at $2.00 a lb vs $3 a lb from Rotometals.(already mixed of course)
30% or a buck a pound savings is not bad.......but my real question for the experts is how far can I dail back on the tin or antimony and not scarifice mold fill out for hardness for my application in my three calibers.
I shoot and cast ONLY these calibers and velocites 10mm @1000-1050fps, .357@800-1100 fps and .44@900-1050 fps.
Surely someone else has run the numbers too and figured this one out???[smilie=b:[smilie=b: