Close enough to Lyman #2, anyone see any problems?

[zomby woof]

So, I've been curious how #2 casts. I have some really rich alloy. I had some lead tested and used the alloy calculator to get me close. I mixed up some lead to get #2 and had it tested. It came out Pb = 89.6% SB = 5.7% SN = 4.7% It's pretty close, tin content is lower. It should be good. anyone see any problems?

[Larry Gibson]

Shouldn't be any problems with that alloy and it should cast some very good bullets. However, it may be a bit antimony and tin rich for most cast bullet applications unless you are casting for high velocity or match shooting. Even then I would add 10% lead to it. For most cast bullet applications I would cut that alloy with 30 - 40 % lead to reduce the antimony and tin percentages to the 2.5 - 3 % range.

Larry Gibson

[williamwaco]

Shouldn't be any problems with that alloy and it should cast some very good bullets. However, it may be a bit antimony and tin rich for most cast bullet applications unless you are casting for high velocity or match shooting. Even then I would add 10% lead to it. For most cast bullet applications I would cut that alloy with 30 - 40 % lead to reduce the antimony and tin percentages to the 2.5 - 3 % range.

Larry Gibson

I was thinking 50/50 with pure but I agree 100% with Larry.

[zomby woof]

It's for a 38 super race gun pushed hard. Like I said, just wanted to see how it casts. I'm usually much lower in sb/sn.

[runfiverun]

that's pretty close to my 4/6/90 alloy that sees quite a bit of use in stuff like the 223, and for some 30 cal. target work.
repeatability is more useful than an exact 5/5 number.

[rintinglen]

Only problem I see is you have it and I don't!

[Nose Dive]

Once again...I agree with Larry. And if I had what you have....I'd be in the shed casting boolits right now!!

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[RogerDat]

I like Lyman #2 because I don't foresee a need for anything more than that, and it does cut with plain really well all the way down through 50/50 mix. When I shoot for mixing up a "batch" to have on hand that is what I shoot for. That or some COWW + 2% Sn. Oh and it does cast really nice boolits, even the Lee TL designs :-)

If you wanted to get a little a-retentive you could add .25 lb. of 40% Sn solder and 1 lb. of plain to every 10 lbs. of your 5.7/4.7 alloy and according to the alloy calculator it would put both Sn and Sb at 5.07 so it would be balanced and pretty darn close to 5/5 alloy.