Rotometals Antimonial Lead Alloy

[ejcrist]

By the numbers it looks like Rotometals Antimonial Lead (3%-5% antimony) is pretty close to wheel weights with the exception of any arsenic. Has anyone used it and what was your opinion? The reason I'm asking is because I often don't have a lot of time for casting and time gets even tighter when I have to melt wheel weights into ingots and separate zinc ww's etc., so I'd love to be able to buy something close to ww's that I can just throw in the pot and start casting boolits. Lately I've been using 16:1 but it's a bit pricey and age softens a little. I used to buy clip on ww ingots from fleabay but I'm not too keen on doing that since some of the stiff is questionable. Any opinions appreciated.

[40-82 hiker]

Why don't you post "WTB" on CB for COWW ingots? Just make sure you specify COWW alloy only (no SOWW included), and ingots that will fit in your casting pot. Just and idea... We're more trustworthy than fleabay. :wink:

[scottfire1957]

Gee whiz. This site has a selling forum, and a vendors forum. Wheel weight sellers aplenty. Go look, you'll find 'em easy enough.

[bangerjim]

S&S on here is an excellent source for darned near anything gun! Good people. Good prices.

If they were NOT good........they would be G_O_N_E!

I never trust evilbay for anything lately. Too many "hungry" people trying to turn a buck....and will say anything to reel you in.

Don't know where you are in the Valley of the Surface of the Sun, but PM me, as I have some hardball-ish & COWW stuff I would part with for a fellow desert dweller. Mabe a F to F meet?

banger-j

[bumpo628]

I agree with the others that you should check the swappin' & sellin' forum for cheaper alternatives first.

To answer your question, I think the antimonial lead could use some tin to help with mold fill-out. Instead of that, you could buy Linotype (4,12,84) and Pure Lead and mix your own. Mix Lino with Pure 1:1 and you get Hardball (2,6,92) which is good for rifles or magnums. Mix Hardball with Pure 1:1 and you get a nice pistol alloy (1,3,96) that is similar to WW with tin added. If you want to skip straight to the pistol alloy, then just mix Lino and Pure in a 1:3 ratio. The price would come out cheaper than antimonial lead if you bought the 52-55lb pure lead pigs ($2.28/lb vs $2.53/lb).

[Mitch]

there is 10% off at rotometals till midnight tonight.i have not used the 3 to5% stuff buat have use superhard that is 30%.it works great kinda nice to have a known alloys to work with,but not a thing you have to have.there is a pretty good deal in S&S right now for lino

[ejcrist]

Thanks much for the info fella's - very much appreciated. I didn't know we had all those sellers on here. I'm glad they don't charge by the hour to peruse this site. I'm good now.

[WILCO]

Gee whiz. This site has a selling forum, and a vendors forum. Wheel weight sellers aplenty. Go look, you'll find 'em easy enough.

The OP stated that he doesn't want to waste time on producing lead ingots.
He's looking for a source of comparable alloy ready to drop in the pot.



By the numbers it looks like Rotometals Antimonial Lead (3%-5% antimony) is pretty close to wheel weights with the exception of any arsenic. Has anyone used it and what was your opinion? The reason I'm asking is because I often don't have a lot of time for casting and time gets even tighter when I have to melt wheel weights into ingots and separate zinc ww's etc., so I'd love to be able to buy something close to ww's that I can just throw in the pot and start casting boolits.

Hi EJchrist!

I'd give Rotometals a call. See if they could send you a sample to try.

[scottfire1957]

The OP stated that he doesn't want to waste time on producing lead ingots.
He's looking for a source of comparable alloy ready to drop in the pot.




Hi EJchrist!

I'd give Rotometals a call. See if they could send you a sample to try.

Yeah, you're right. Nobody in either of those subforums has ever offered wheel weight ingots.

OOPs! Except for http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?127-The-Captain

[Buck Neck It]

3-5% antimonial lead is the main product from the battery recyclers, I betcha. This is probably what the wheel weight manufacturers used. It should work as well as any wheel weight source for casting bullets. Rotometals would be a middleman for this product, not the best price.

[dragon813gt]

Rotometals would be a middleman for this product, not the best price.
They aren't the middle man. They are a foundry and sell direct. You can do a lot better than their prices.

[ejcrist]

Rotometals has been very good with everything I've ordered from them, even offering to send me a sample of antimonial lead at 1/2 price if I send them my test results. I offerred to send them my test results without the discount since I'm glad to share the info if it'll benefit others. Were only talking a few dollars anyway for a single ingot. The nice thing about ordering from Rotometals is I get the ingots, very high quality BTW, delivered to my doorstep, and all I have to do is drop them in the pot. That saves me a tremendous amount of time vs. finding ww's, picking them up, sorting, and melting into ingots. I figured out that 1:1 antimonial lead/lead and 2% tin is a great mix, and the price of antimonial lead and lead are currently the same at $12.65 for a 5 lb ingot, which translates to 2.53/lb. Considering it's delivered to your doorstep and ready-to-go I think that's a very fair price. I'll continue to get ww's where I have been for free since that of course is a great price, and I'll buy ww ingots from the trusted sources I have, but over the long term I'm leaning toward buying antimonial lead and 99% pure lead from Rotometals for the best boolits.