Weight differents in Alloy mix's

[bigcountry]

So, I made up some lyman #2 from SO WW, and Clip on WW.

Also used some 50/50 bar solder.

So the SO WW batch which I used 27lbs of it, with 20lbs or linotype, and 3lbs of 50/50 bar solder. The bar solder said National 50/50

The CO WW batch, I used 70lbs of CO WW, 24lbs of linotype, and 7lbs of 50/50 bar solder. The bar solder said CA Inc 50/50

The SO WW batch is much lighter. I started molding 525gr 12ga lyman slugs. The COWW batch gave 520gr or so. The SOWW batch measures out at 490gr.

So I poured some 405gr .458 bullets. The COWW batch wieghs out at 403gr or so, and the SOWW batch wieghs out at 385gr. I am seeing a trend.

Poured some .457 roundballs. SOWW weighs 135gr, and COWW weighs 143gr.

Any ideas? I am fairly new at this alloy making stuff. I ordered a lbt hardness tester. The linotype looks like well linotype with letters and stuff.

Is it normal to see this much variance? Thats 5% or more variances.

[bigcountry]

Also, I was very careful in sorting out the WW's. I used the pliers technique, and visual id. Out of 2 5gal buckets, I found about 10lbs of zinc, and 30+lbs of Fe weights.

[cbrick]

What your seeing is the difference in the percentage of antimony and yes, normal. Antimony (Sb) is far lighter than lead and what you'll get is a lighter and larger as cast boolit with higher Sb.

Rick

[bigcountry]

So, I suspect the high antimony should yield much higher hardness? I will report back with my lbt test results.

Some of my first mixes came from the lyman casting book with 4lbs of linotype, 1lb of 50/50 bar solder, and 5lbs of SO WW

I also made the 9lbs of CO WW and 1lb of 50/50 bar solder. They were lighter with the SO too. Maybe the 4lbs of linotype added alot of antimony, and made it lighter.

Thanks
Mark

[Sekatoa]

I did something similar. I made one batch with the Lyman WW recipe, and one with the Linotype recipe. The hardness on the WW batch was fine, but the Lino batch was way to high. I later found a huge a variance in the hardness of the Linotype I used , and it was actually an assortment of all type metals, and in the 22-high 30's BHN range. In my original test samples, a few random ones, happened to be consistently about 22, I just stopped testing too soon.

So, I found I could fix the batch that was too high by blending it 1:1 with pure lead (it was that off and hard). Then when it was in the right range, I took all my batches and blended then together so that all my #2 ingots would be consistent.

[bigcountry]

So finally measured hardness. So the light ones measured around 18BHN, and the heavier ones was 13BHN. Thinking of mixing the two to make 15?

I think I am going to use some of the harder stuff for my 45-70 microgroove.

Sure the 44mag bullets at 13BHN will be fine with lower pressure