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mattd
04-23-2013, 10:37 PM
My neighbor is a roofer and says he will give me all the lead he comes across. He has already brought me a couple lbs. I've never casted or made alloys so now what? I removed as much dirt as possible and will melt that down into ingots. But what can I mix in for bullets to hunt with in 44 mag? I enjoyed searching for the lead, so buying a bunch of high dollar stuff online isn't appealing. I was thinking searching for tin and making 10 to 1 or 20 to 1 for 10-13 bhn?
Atonic
04-23-2013, 11:42 PM
It is basically pure, soft lead. You'll need to add tin/antimony for hard bullets, if I understand it all right.
elginrunner
04-24-2013, 07:38 AM
Just about all of my lead is roof lead. I mainly shoot pistol calibers. I just smelt, and cast. No problems so far....
cbrick
04-24-2013, 08:16 AM
Welcome to CastBoolits MattD,

Tin is your expensive part unless you have a source for solder or pewter at a good price.

If you buy Super Hard (70% Pb - 30% Sb) from Roto Metals it comes in 5 pound ingots @ $23.00 each. Tin @ $20.00 per pound.

10/1 alloy would not be as good for the 44 mag and would cost much more, say 100 pounds of free lead and 10 pounds Sn = $200.00. 20/1 alloy would still be $100.00 and again not so good for the 44 mag. A Pb/Sn alloy cannot be quench hardened should you wish to do this in the future, a Pb/Sb alloy can be quench hardened.

Your correct that an alloy of 10-13 BHN would be good for the 44 mag but the 10/1 alloy would probably be about 9-10 BHN. Save this type of alloy for the front stuffers.

Hope this helps,

Rick
mattd
04-24-2013, 10:58 AM
If you buy Super Hard (70% Pb - 30% Sb) from Roto Metals it comes in 5 pound ingots @ $23.00 each. Tin @ $20.00 per pound.

Rick

What ratio would I mix the 70/30 at with my soft lead to get around 10-13 bhn?

Thanks,
cbrick
04-24-2013, 11:15 AM
Probably the best answer to that would be to use bumpo's lead alloy calculator, you'll find it in the stickies of this forum (top of this page). Just plug in the percentages of what alloy's you wish to use and it will give the results your looking for. You can play around with it and come up with any combination you wish. That's what I do and a much safer bet than relying on my meager math skills.

Rick