Bad Ass Wallace
08-13-2013, 05:12 AM
Here is the easiest way to duplicate an alloy that works in your rifle!
Step 1: Start the casting process by melting the first pot with pure lead, mould at least 10 perfect projectiles and weigh them to arrive at an average. This weight will be a base figure of 1.00
Step 2: Now that you have used some lead, start adding solder or WW and notice that the average weight of projectiles will now be lighter than those cast with pure. This projectile may be only 0.96 the weight of the pure lead one.
Step 3: Size and lube and test fire them. If you find they are too soft add a little more solder or WW and again the projectiles will be even lighter than before. This projectile may be only .93 the weight of a pure lead one.
Step 4: now you have a boolet that works, is accurate and it's weight on average will be the composition that works in your rifle with regard to alloy and hardness.
For all future loads, start with melting pure lead and keep adding any sort of hardening alloy until it's weight in reference to the pure lead of 1.00 is 0.93. If the bullet is below 0.93 simply add some pure lead to make it heavier!
As an example my 303 mould in pure lead weighs 204.6gns and in the alloy that works 194.2gns. (Divide 204.6 by 194.2 = 0.949169) Now and forever, I just add range scrap, solder, monotype or WW to a part filled pot of pure lead until my bullet weighs 194.2. The resulting alloy will very nearly duplicate the alloy with which you first obtained good accuracy!
If you use digital or electronic scales the accuracy of the process is much better. If weighing to 2 decimal places (1/70,000th of a pound) the variance in the alloy will be very minimal as well as variance in hardness
The key is making the first batch from pure lead to set a bench mark, and only do it once. I have a draw full of base projectiles, marked with the date and weight!
Here are some approx. compositions from the 303 boolet example;
Factor = L-T-A
1.00 = 100-0-0
0.961376 = 90-5-5
0.960776 = 90-4-6 (calculating the ratio to 6 decimals)
0.960176 = 90-3-7
0.931029 = 83-3-14
0.930411 = 83-2-15
0.929829 = 83-1-16
So my projectile (194.2gn alloy) = 0.949169 weight of the base projectile and from calculations gives an approx. composition of 87-6-7 which is almost the old Lyman No. 2 alloy!
Step 1: Start the casting process by melting the first pot with pure lead, mould at least 10 perfect projectiles and weigh them to arrive at an average. This weight will be a base figure of 1.00
Step 2: Now that you have used some lead, start adding solder or WW and notice that the average weight of projectiles will now be lighter than those cast with pure. This projectile may be only 0.96 the weight of the pure lead one.
Step 3: Size and lube and test fire them. If you find they are too soft add a little more solder or WW and again the projectiles will be even lighter than before. This projectile may be only .93 the weight of a pure lead one.
Step 4: now you have a boolet that works, is accurate and it's weight on average will be the composition that works in your rifle with regard to alloy and hardness.
For all future loads, start with melting pure lead and keep adding any sort of hardening alloy until it's weight in reference to the pure lead of 1.00 is 0.93. If the bullet is below 0.93 simply add some pure lead to make it heavier!
As an example my 303 mould in pure lead weighs 204.6gns and in the alloy that works 194.2gns. (Divide 204.6 by 194.2 = 0.949169) Now and forever, I just add range scrap, solder, monotype or WW to a part filled pot of pure lead until my bullet weighs 194.2. The resulting alloy will very nearly duplicate the alloy with which you first obtained good accuracy!
If you use digital or electronic scales the accuracy of the process is much better. If weighing to 2 decimal places (1/70,000th of a pound) the variance in the alloy will be very minimal as well as variance in hardness
The key is making the first batch from pure lead to set a bench mark, and only do it once. I have a draw full of base projectiles, marked with the date and weight!
Here are some approx. compositions from the 303 boolet example;
Factor = L-T-A
1.00 = 100-0-0
0.961376 = 90-5-5
0.960776 = 90-4-6 (calculating the ratio to 6 decimals)
0.960176 = 90-3-7
0.931029 = 83-3-14
0.930411 = 83-2-15
0.929829 = 83-1-16
So my projectile (194.2gn alloy) = 0.949169 weight of the base projectile and from calculations gives an approx. composition of 87-6-7 which is almost the old Lyman No. 2 alloy!