Smelting Lyman #2 Lead (RCBS ingot mould)

[detox]

Today I made some Lyman #2 alloy (90% Wheelweights, 5% Pure lead, 5% Tin). Picture shows 110 pounds of melted alloy in #8 cast iron pot. The silver Walmart muffin pan fell apart first try so i had to use my three RCBS cast iron ingot moulds. I made 111 RCBS one pound ingots. I use the Bayou Classic SP10 burner to smelt lead.

[dgill99]

How do you figure this is Lyman #2? you don't have 5% antimony

[detox]

I followed directions from Lymans #3 Cast Bullet Handbook. Wheelweights have enough antimony.

Lyman #2 alternate recipe:
9 pounds wheelweights
1 pound 50/50 bar solder (pure lead/tin)

or

90% Wheelweights
5% Pure lead
5% Pure tin

[shadowcaster]

As I understand it, WW's only have 2 to 3% antimony. Adding pure lead to the mix would only decrease this percentage. 5% tin is the correct amount of tin for lyman #2. I personally find that adding more than 1% tin to any alloy is a waste of good tin at todays prices. Just my 2 cents.

Shad

[detox]

As I understand it, WW's only have 2 to 3% antimony. Adding pure lead to the mix would only decrease this percentage. 5% tin is the correct amount of tin for lyman #2. I personally find that adding more than 1% tin to any alloy is a waste of good tin at todays prices. Just my 2 cents.

Shad

I believe you are correct. Pencil test indicates 11 BH (lyman#2 = 14-15 BH) . Should make good pistol boollits though.

BTW some of the scrap lead was not Wheelweight lead. I had 30 lbs of unknown lead ingot added (pig lead ingot). Atleast all my odd size ingots and alloys are all melted down and mixed into one alloy.

[detox]

I have decided to add more antimony to the mix. I just purchesed two 5 lb bars of Super Hard Alloy (30% antimony 70% lead) from Rotometals. This alloy was designed specifically for adding more antimony to alloys to make them harder.
http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/30_antimony_70_lead.htm

[RickinTN]

90% Wheelweights
5% Pure lead
5% Pure tin

Lyman #2 is
90% Lead
5% antimony
5% Tin

I'm thinkin' if you add about 3% antimony you should be pretty close.

[Defcon-One]

Your current alloy:

90% Wheelweights
5% Pure lead
5% Pure tin

is about 5.26% Tin, 2.70% Antimony, 0.13% Arsenic and 91.91% Lead. FYI: You never want to have more Tin than Antimony in a bullet alloy!

The Arsenic is from the wheel weights and it is mostly harmless at those levels. It helps if your heat treating and there is no way to get rid of it.

Unless I know how much of this alloy you actually have in pounds, I can't tell you how much to add, but it will take some RotoMetals Super hard and a bit more Tin to get to Lyman #2!

[detox]

Your current alloy:

90% Wheelweights
5% Pure lead
5% Pure tin

is about 5.26% Tin, 2.70% Antimony, 0.13% Arsenic and 91.91% Lead. FYI: You never want to have more Tin than Antimony in a bullet alloy!

The Arsenic is from the wheel weights and it is mostly harmless at those levels. It helps if your heat treating and there is no way to get rid of it.

Unless I know how much of this alloy you actually have in pounds, I can't tell you how much to add, but it will take some RotoMetals Super hard and a bit more Tin to get to Lyman #2!

I have 110 lbs of this alloy. I also have 10 lbs (two 5 lb bars) of Roto metals Super Hard Alloy (30/70 antimony lead) on the way. Would adding the two hard alloy bars make Lyman #2 ?

The only way i have to check hardness is with pencils. The 2B pencil will scatch alloy slightly. According to pencil hardness chart this alloy has a hardness of 11-12 BH (range scrap, Wheelweights)

I have read that adding 1% of antimony will increase lead hardness .92 BH. So by adding 10 lbs of 30/70 Super Hard inguts (10 lbs = 3 lbs antimony, 7 lbs lead) to 100 pounds, i would be increasing antimony 3% and lead 7%

[Defcon-One]

Use 108 pounds of your current alloy with the 10 pounds of Super Hard and add 0.4 pounds of 60/40 Solder. That will get you dead on Lyman #2 if everything else is as you stated. (Yield will be: 118.4 pounds at about 15 BHN!)

Actually, it should be: 5% tin, 5% Antimony, 0.12% Arsenic and 89.88% Lead! (Close as your gonna get with wheel weights in the mix!)

You might want to do a smaller batch using the same ratios, just to see. (ie. 54 pounds of your current alloy, 5 pounds of Super hard and 0.2 pounds of 60/40 Solder.)

Maybe even smaller? That is your call.

My data is good if yours is.


Also, If you don't have 60/40 Solder you can use 0.5 lbs. of 50/50 instead.

[detox]

Rule of thumb: By adding 1% antimony BH increases 0.92

My alloy has a BH of 10-11 using pencil test. So to reach a target BH of 15, I will have to add 4.34 % antimony. So i figured i will have to add 10 lbs of Super hard to 70 lbs of my alloy to reach target of 15 BH. My alloy allready has 5% tin added. Why is more tin needed? Isn't it best to have more antimony content than tin content?

10 pounds of Super hard alloy (30/70) is 3 lbs of antimony, 7 lbs of lead

I figure if alloy is too hard after adding 10 lbs of Super Hard to 70 lbs of my existing alloy. I can allways soften it up by adding remaining softer 11 BH inguts until BH reaches target of 15.

I really need to confirm Brinnell hardness of my current alloy before figuring how much antimony to add. I will check hardness again using the old ballbearing / vise method.

[Defcon-One]

Your alloy should be right around 13 BHN according to my caculator (theoretically). You need to understand that none of these hardness tests are 100% accurate. They are mostly used for comparing alloys and reproducing the same results.

You answered your own question: "10 pounds of Super hard alloy (30/70) is 3 lbs of antimony, 7 lbs of lead".

The 7 pounds of Lead in the Super Hard will reduce your Tin content enough that you need to add more Tin (Solder) to the mix to get true Lyman #2 values!

My numbers will work if you want to make Lyman #2, as exactly as you can from where you are. That was what you asked for.

If you just want a 15 BHN and don't care about what is in it, then go for it, but your gonna wind up with an alloy of unknown content that will hopefully shoot good. You will also be wasting a lot of Tin.

I use two alloys in all my casting/loading.

For pistols: (2% Sn, 3% Sb, 95% Pb) All plain based.

For rifles: (5% Sn, 5% Sb, 90% Pb) Which is real Lyman #2. Some get gas checks, some don't.

Both cast very well and since I don't use many rifle bullets, the Tin use/expense is not an issue for me.

[detox]

OK. I will take your advice.

BTW..... today i purchased 130 lbs of linotype lead. The Lyman manual suggests 10/1, #2, and Linotype for most all of their boollit alloys.

[Defcon-One]

Excellent buy! I never use it straight for casting.

I typically pay around $1.50 per pound for Linotype, delivered. It is getting much harder to find and I don't want to waste it by shooting it pure.

I usually use Linotype to make my alloys, that and Large Core Isotope Lead with some Solder and I can make almost anything that I need. Add in SOWW Lead and I can make 25:1 for hollow points or any ratio alloy as well.

These are what I keep on hand:

SOWW
COWW
Linotype
60/40 Solder
Isotope Lead (Large Cores)
and a bit of 50/50 Solder

With these, I can make just about anything you would ever need! And, I know exactly what each item contains (except for the WW and I have a pretty good guess on them).

[cbrick]

I followed directions from Lymans #3 Cast Bullet Handbook. Wheelweights have enough antimony.

Lyman #2 alternate recipe:
9 pounds wheelweights
1 pound 50/50 bar solder (pure lead/tin)

or

90% Wheelweights
5% Pure lead
5% Pure tin

The Lyman book is quite out of date and should have been updated 30 years ago. Pre-1980's it was common to find WW alloy with 5-6% Sb but not since then. Sb has been reduced considerably and today you are very lucky to find WW alloy with 3%, I assume 2% for mixing my alloys.

Keep in mind that brand new WW's are themselves made from scrap lead alloy. It is great boolit alloy but take nothing for granted.

Rick