Foundry Type Lead

[texasbilly]

Has anyone tried foundry type lead for casting their boolits? Foundry type are those little sticks of lead that we hand set to print things when we were in junior high school shop class. These lead sticks were designed to be hard enough to withstand the punishment of the printing presses. I found that foundry type lead melts at low temperature, flows like water, fills a mold to maximum diameter, and makes perfect boolits. If you can find a supply of foundry type, you may find that it casts better than linotype.

[scottfire1957]

I haven't found any, but it's on my radar.

[williamwaco]

There are many types of foundry type metal. Some are too hard but I expect you are talking about linotype.
It makes excellent bullets but is WAY TOO HARD for most uses.

I cut it 3 to 1 with soft lead before using it.

[bangerjim]

You do NOT want to cast with foundry type (if that is what it actually is) becuase it is waaaaay too hard. You are just wasting expensive alloy material.

Download the free alloy calc shreadsheet on here to figure out how much to add to pure or others to get the hardness you want.

Foundry type is individual letters and numbers with a notch on one side at the bottom.

Sn is what is giving you the good fillout, not the hardness.


bangerjim

[cbrick]

Linotype, foundry type and stereotype are all high antimony alloys, as such it depends on what your target is because antimony is very brittle. Lino is 12% antimony and many do cast straight with it, foundry type and stereotype are so brittle you can actually break a bullet in half dropping it on a cement floor or even chambering it.

It's all great alloy to use to blend with because it's rich in both antimony and tin. If you can find any at a decent price grab it.
Another downside is that it's getting pretty tough to find, the printing industry doesn't use it anymore so . . .

Rick

[1johnlb]

I use 2~3 parts coww to 1part mono/foundry for my 30 Cal. rifle shooting with excellent results . I'm almost pushing full jacketed loads. It's perfect for hardening soft alloy for hv.

[bangerjim]

As 1johnnlb says, great for harder rifle boolits when alloyed properly.

Too much Sb can also cause antimony wash in your barrel so I have been told. Never seen it in mine because I keep the Sb ration in a reasonable range for what I casting.

Use it also sparingly to sweeten up sub sonic pistol loads. Ratios can easily be determined from the free calc. GET IT!

Rick is right. This stuff ( not lino) is getting hard to find....... and is classified as antiques today! The over 700# of it I have will never be melted down, as it goes with the antique rotary printing presses I have (1860-80 vintage). When I depart this mortal coil, all goes to a working museum of American History!

If you can find it get it! Use it sparingly and it will go a long way.

banger

[MaryB]

I have about 100 pounds of foundry type that I have been mixing with pure lead, Casts great, my LGS guy gave me 120 pounds of xray room lead sheet that I smelted down so I gave him 500 45acp bullets I cast with it and he wants more. I use it in my 9mm and it is a great mix.

[RogerDat]

The only place I have seen Foundry Type in person aside from a few pounds at a scrap yard (approx. 1/3 coffee can worth) it was being sold by the letter in a gift shop. Way too expensive. There was someone that listed some for sale here about 6 months ago but the post was a link to ebay and came down shortly, never heard from the member again in response to PM's.

[bangerjim]

The only place I have seen Foundry Type in person aside from a few pounds at a scrap yard (approx. 1/3 coffee can worth) it was being sold by the letter in a gift shop. Way too expensive. There was someone that listed some for sale here about 6 months ago but the post was a link to ebay and came down shortly, never heard from the member again in response to PM's.

It is becoming rather rare. If you find it at scrap prices you are very lucky. If there are any printer's orniments or large figure blocks......SAVE THEM! Those are worth a whole lot more than a few silly boolits. Some have been lucky finding old print drawers full of type. Those wooden drawers are worth over $25 each empty. But anyone with a printing press would be happy to get a drawer full of same-font type in a full set. (upper/lower/punctuation/numbers)

Finding it in a bucket at a scrap yard is a possibllity depending on your location. In the antique-rich east coast area, there may be old print shops and such selling off for scrap. I bought 200# of it complete with drawers, on ebay several years ago from a guy back in PA. 25 cents a pound was not bad!

You are better off trying for linotype.....and even that is becoming scarce today! Or just buy your SN/Sb sweetening alloys form sources on here.

Good luck with your scrounging!

banger

[HATCH]

I purchase a lead directly from a foundry. 95/2.5/2.5
Its all I cast with except when doing round musket balls or shotgun slugs