Michael J. Spangler
01-26-2014, 06:55 PM
i posted this in the lead alloy section but i don't think it got very many views. might be better suited here for more answers
i have a good 200+ pounds of pure lead right now. so this morning i figured i would hit the local scrap yard to see what they had to help make up some nice pistol alloy.
low and behold 3 or 4 - 55 gallon barrels of pewter and another 3 or 4 - 55 gallon barrels of various solders all the goodies you could want.
they had about 1/3 of a barrel of "linotype" after some digging around the attendant pulled out his trusty alloy analyzing gun (such a cool toy) and zapped some piece for me
some of the stuff was decent, and pretty much lino, some was a little lower alloy and some was much lower, barely anything but lead.
there was some nice little 1" cubes with hollow backs that tested roughly 77/16/5 lead/antimony/tin back to the bin! i spent the next 10 minutes pulling out all of the little cubes i could find. it was tough because my arms just barely reached to the bottom of the bucket. i brought $30 with me so i could get some samples to mess with. they told me it would be $2 a pound for that small of a quantity. After digging around i ended up without about #17 of these little beauties.
they said that was close enough for $30 worth of lino, just make sure next time i need lino to come back to them.
woohoo. i'll have to snap some pictures later. i can't wait to alloy this stuff up.
i'm looking to make roughly the equivalent of COWW alloy with half of the lead, and keep the other half pure. most of the shooting i do is pistol and can't be done at 50/50 COWW and Pure equivalent alloy, but i find that my lee 356-124 TL needs a little more hardness, not to get squished down in the case reducing its size. i guess i'll keep some for that or start using my 38/357 powder funnel/expander to leave a little less tension on the case.
now the questions
i have some random lead shot in a small quantity. maybe a total of 20#. is there a way to tell what the alloy is? i have a bunch of #9, a few cups of #4 and a few cups of #2. i was figuring this would help me get a little arsenic into the mix.
should i worry about the arsenic as i don't really plan on hardening this alloy? i would like to run some full house hot 357 loads (358156 GC) should i make a small batch of alloy with the shot added to that to help with the hardness?
right now i'm planning on the following
100 LB Pure (plumbing lead)
17LB Lino/Mono whatever it is (lets call it 78/16.5/5.5) lead/antimony/tin
1Lb Pewter
the cast alloy calculator says i should be at 96/2.43/1.58 roughly at a COWW alloy.
my thinking is that at this point i can fill the casting pot 50/50 with this alloy and pure or i can add some of the shot (if the alloy is good) to get something a little more worthy of a magnum pistol load? is my reasoning sound or did i breathe in too much lead oxide with my head in that barrel for 10 minutes?
given that alloy to work with, how much shot should i add to get to a good magnum alloy capable of heat treatment?
thanks guys!
i have a good 200+ pounds of pure lead right now. so this morning i figured i would hit the local scrap yard to see what they had to help make up some nice pistol alloy.
low and behold 3 or 4 - 55 gallon barrels of pewter and another 3 or 4 - 55 gallon barrels of various solders all the goodies you could want.
they had about 1/3 of a barrel of "linotype" after some digging around the attendant pulled out his trusty alloy analyzing gun (such a cool toy) and zapped some piece for me
some of the stuff was decent, and pretty much lino, some was a little lower alloy and some was much lower, barely anything but lead.
there was some nice little 1" cubes with hollow backs that tested roughly 77/16/5 lead/antimony/tin back to the bin! i spent the next 10 minutes pulling out all of the little cubes i could find. it was tough because my arms just barely reached to the bottom of the bucket. i brought $30 with me so i could get some samples to mess with. they told me it would be $2 a pound for that small of a quantity. After digging around i ended up without about #17 of these little beauties.
they said that was close enough for $30 worth of lino, just make sure next time i need lino to come back to them.
woohoo. i'll have to snap some pictures later. i can't wait to alloy this stuff up.
i'm looking to make roughly the equivalent of COWW alloy with half of the lead, and keep the other half pure. most of the shooting i do is pistol and can't be done at 50/50 COWW and Pure equivalent alloy, but i find that my lee 356-124 TL needs a little more hardness, not to get squished down in the case reducing its size. i guess i'll keep some for that or start using my 38/357 powder funnel/expander to leave a little less tension on the case.
now the questions
i have some random lead shot in a small quantity. maybe a total of 20#. is there a way to tell what the alloy is? i have a bunch of #9, a few cups of #4 and a few cups of #2. i was figuring this would help me get a little arsenic into the mix.
should i worry about the arsenic as i don't really plan on hardening this alloy? i would like to run some full house hot 357 loads (358156 GC) should i make a small batch of alloy with the shot added to that to help with the hardness?
right now i'm planning on the following
100 LB Pure (plumbing lead)
17LB Lino/Mono whatever it is (lets call it 78/16.5/5.5) lead/antimony/tin
1Lb Pewter
the cast alloy calculator says i should be at 96/2.43/1.58 roughly at a COWW alloy.
my thinking is that at this point i can fill the casting pot 50/50 with this alloy and pure or i can add some of the shot (if the alloy is good) to get something a little more worthy of a magnum pistol load? is my reasoning sound or did i breathe in too much lead oxide with my head in that barrel for 10 minutes?
given that alloy to work with, how much shot should i add to get to a good magnum alloy capable of heat treatment?
thanks guys!