What have I got?

[jaysouth]

I bought some linotype off craigslist locally. It came in muffin tin ingots and was very shiny and hard.

It melts in simular fashion to lead, however .310 bullets cast from it are too hard to go through my Lee .309 sizer. I have used Alox and STP oil treatment to lube the bullets but I wind up beating them out of the die with a long punch.

Any thoughts? if someone has proper hardness testing eqipment, I could mail you a bullet.

Thanks

[Defcon-One]

I only buy my metals in virgin, factory forms. (ie. Solder in bars or rolls, Linotype in strips, etc.) That way I know that I am probably getting what I purchased.

It sounds like Linotype to me. It is a very hard alloy, so it is hard to size! If it was something else, I'd expect it to be softer, not harder. Harder alloys tend to be worth more, excluding Zinc of course, and if it had Zinc in it you would not have good bullets to size because it casts poorly.

At what temp did it melt? It should be 464 degree Farenheit! Very low for a lead alloy.

Buying home poured ingots of any alloy is a gamble at best. You really can't tell what you are getting unless you test it! And that is too expensive unless you have access to someones XRF tester.

[jaysouth]

If melted at three pounds soft lead to one pound of this "lino", the resultant alloy makes great cast pistol bullets and rifle bullets which are easy to size.

I will melt down the pure lino bullets and mix them with lead.

Thanks for the response

[williamwaco]

Lino is very hard.
Usually around BNH 22.

If you water drop it it can exceed BNH 30

I suspect you are water dropping it.

I would be happy to test a bullet for you.
If you want to send two or three.
One will not give a fair test,

PM me if you want to do this.


.

[salvadore]

Also, I believe linotype bullets cast larger than softer alloys.

[sqlbullet]

Linotype also won't have a slush stage. It will melt like a cube of ice on a warm plate. Solid phase directly to liquid phase.

And, pure linotype won't heat treat. The matrix is satisfied fully and quenching doesn't change the lattice structure of the alloy. Change the ratios a little and it will slush and it will heat treat.