Casting heavy bullets

[ChuckS1]

I think I need more tin, but would like to get some expert opinions.

I have a "new to me" H&G 130 185 grain 4 cavity mold that I just got. When using wheelweights, the bullets come out around a little over 200 grains. How much tin would I need to add? I have a 10# Lee bottom pour pot and a couple of pounds of 50/50 bar solder.

Thanks in advance.

[hyoder]

According to the Lyman Cast Boolit Book - add 1# of 50/50 to 9# WW to get an approximate #2 alloy.
15 grs. is a lot to cut.
Again the Lyman book shows about a 5 gr. drop from WW to #2 and about 10 grs. going from WW to lino with this size boolit.

[454PB]

Pure lead casts the heaviest. Anything else you add (tin or antimony) will make it lighter. Tin is expensive, and there is a limit to how much can or should be added. I'd suggest you try to find some linotype for it's high antimony content. If you boolits weigh 200 grains now, they would weigh about 185 from straight linotype.

[mooman76]

I think I need more tin, but would like to get some expert opinions.

I have a "new to me" H&G 130 185 grain 4 cavity mold that I just got. When using wheelweights, the bullets come out around a little over 200 grains. How much tin would I need to add? I have a 10# Lee bottom pour pot and a couple of pounds of 50/50 bar solder.

Thanks in advance.

What are you trying to accomplish and why do you think you don't have enough tin?

[Lloyd Smale]

guess i have to ask the same question. Is there a reason why you want them lighter. If the mold is casting well and the bullet shoots well that 15 grains isnt going to mean much as far as recoil and trajectory goes.
What are you trying to accomplish and why do you think you don't have enough tin?

[44man]

What difference does it make how much a boolit weighs? So what! I don't think I have a single mold that casts the printed weight.
Ballpark is good enough.
Sounds like the panties in a knot thing! :bigsmyl2:

[ChuckS1]

Well, just curious more so than anything else. My Ballisti-Cast 668 mold casts at 205 grains with the same alloy. Not a big deal, just curious if it was possible to reduce the weight. But that brings up another question and that is what alloy did H&G use to come up with 185 grains from this mold? Comparing it to a commercial cast 185 grain bullet, the band between the lube goove and the base is significantly wider on the H&G bullet.

[725]

If your alloy fills out well, go with it. Like others, I don't think I have a mould that hits the design mark perfectly. Some come close, some don't. If it's important to you to have that slightly lighter boolit, I guess you could mill off a few thou and refit the sprue plate.

[Cherokee]

If the bullets are casting good, use them. Don't worry about the weight difference.

[Irascible]

10lbs of WW and 1 lb of 50/50 leaves me a little light on tin. I don't know what the percentage is. 9lbs as Lyman recommended is close to perfect. Linotype casts beautiful bullets, but is a waste of tin and you have to push them hard to get them to fill out (obturate). For most uses the Lyman recommended mixture is all you'll need.
Hmm, it could be that mould weight was specified for Linotype!

[runfiverun]

if you add 5% tin to ww's you donot get lyman #2 you get boolits with soft spots..
ww's nowdays are more like 3%.
the 185 weight would be spot on if you use the rcbs mix of 90pb/10sn
or just hollow point it.
my bet is the 200gr will shoot just fine my 45's like that weight just fine and 212 better.

[LAH]

My Ballisti-Cast 668 mold casts at 205 grains with the same

How do you like the 668 bullet?..........Creeker

[Ben]

Molds are like politicians, what's on the outside isn't always an indication of what is going to come from the inside when it gets put to use.

Ben

[Bret4207]

It's possible you have a "special" mould thats designed to cast a bit heavier.

[HeavyMetal]

Seems to me I remember the old H&G catalog stated they would cut molds based on your alloy if you wished.

I figure you got a mold from someone who had a lot of linotype to melt.

In the 60's many a gun writer thought that Lino was the answer to all things cast and many a shooter would use straight lino because it was best!

Sounds like you've got a good mold making good boolits. Yes you can play with your alloy and get the original bolit weight but in IMHO way bother?

If they shoot your good if not then explore other options.

This is the old " if it ain't broke why fix it" suggestion.

[Ghugly]

Sounds like a defective mold to me. Might even damage your gun. As it happens, I'm in need of a good paper weight.

[ChuckS1]

How do you like the 668 bullet?..........Creeker

I really like it. Feeds great in all my M1911s, though my P220 seems to like the Lyman 452374 better. As far as the mold goes, it's a 'night and day" difference between it and my Lyman molds. The bullets just fall out, no tapping required like my Lyman and RCBS molds.

[ANeat]

Seems to me I remember the old H&G catalog stated they would cut molds based on your alloy if you wished.


That would be my guess. I know Ballisti-Cast now using the H&G tooling runs that way. Tell them the design you want, diameter and weight using your alloy and they make it happen.

I know a lot of Bullseye shooters would use Linotype like Heavy Metal mentioned, If they called H&G and said "I want a 130 4 cavity 185 grain using Lino"

ChuckS1; I would be curious to know what diameter the bullets are coming out??

[Le Loup Solitaire]

In an original H & G catalog that is of course dated by many years now, the #130 was listed as casting at 185 with lino. Lino if alloyed to spec , is supposed to have a Brinnel rating of around 22. Thats pretty hard. Mr Gibbs also noted that for cast with WW to add approx 6 %, (actually 6.35% according to the Terracorp formula). That would work out to pretty close to 12 grains added to the 185 so the figure of 200 plus or minus isn't that far away. But the point made that the weight really isn't important to get to an exact degree is valid. If you shoot good groups and good scores with a properly adjusted powder loading then how much the boolit weighs; it doesn't really matter whether its 185, 190, or 200. The #130 was and is a very popular boolit design and was kind of a standard loading with 3.5 grains of Bullseye and favored by many 45ACP shooters for serious target work. LLS

[ChuckS1]

ChuckS1; I would be curious to know what diameter the bullets are coming out??

They come out at .453.

As far as how they shoot, the shoot great from both my Colt National Match and my hardball gun. And don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy with them, it's just something I'm curious about, being a new caster.

I did just buy a #668 mold from Ballisti-Cast and they did ask what alloy I was planning to use and the cast dimension I wanted. Plus, from date I ordered to date received was only 7 days.

[ANeat]

I did just buy a #668 mold from Ballisti-Cast and they did ask what alloy I was planning to use and the cast dimension I wanted. Plus, from date I ordered to date received was only 7 days.

Yes Ive bough a H&G 68 and a 147 9mm bullet mold from Ballisti-Cast over the last year or two and got great service. They do beautiful work.