Need "Experienced" advice concerning lead to purchase.

[Follow Me]

Greetings to all,
I am an old guy but I am getting into casting despite that fact. What I need is to pick the best, the most experienced casters/shooters brains on this site.
I shoot a Sig BDA 45acp, a Sig P226 (9mm), a Marlin 1894 (micro groove) 357mag and a S&W 65-3 (357mag). I want to load to factory spec's or slower (but not much slower). I have 700X, Unique, Bullseye and 2400 and I use Moyer's cast projo's (.360rnfp; .452rn).
I do not want to get into smelting and mixing to arrive at a single alloy. I want to BUY the alloy that will do the job in all my guns with the least number of bad side-effects. BTW, I'll shoot at paper plates, soda cans and steel shapes. And, if the world "turns wrong side up", I'll take the appropriate actions against all enemies, foreign or domestic, for as long as I can.
Surely there is a alloy/mixture that wiil fit my needs. I eagerly await your counsel.
Thank you for taking your time.
Follow Me

I am the infantry, Queen of Battle. Follow me.
I am not a "nation builder". I am a trigger puller, a leader, a butt kicker. I aspire to be the worst nightmare of any and all of our enemies. I have been that and I will be that again if I am needed. May GOD bless and keep our country. I follow HIM.

[MarkP]

Several on this site sell range scrap for around $1 / lb shipped; that should suit your needs with guns, cartridges, & powders listed above. Clip on wheel weights would work as well.

[dverna]

Most commercial casters use 92-2-6. My last price was $1.60/lb delivered.

Don Verna

[Half Dog]

If you happen to be near Dallas, TX give me a shout.

[Tatume]

RotoMetals advertises in the banner at the top of this page. They have any alloy you could possibly need.
As mentioned above, plenty of people here sell lead ingots. Their prices are usually very good.

[dragon813gt]

Rotometals is fine if you only want a small amount. If you wish to order 1k# and up then order foundry direct. My last price for 96-2-2 was $1.36 shipped. A good bit of that cost was the shipping.

[ioon44]

I use 6-2-92 alloy for all my cast loads 9 mm to 44 mag and would recommend the Hi-Tek coating for all your cast bullets, the coating really works great.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'd also suggest 92-2-6.
While 45acp can benefit from a softer alloy, you can surely have success with 92-2-6.
Factory loads in 9mm and 357M will be troublesome with softer alloys, so 92-2-6 would be very good.
If you found a real good deal on a softer alloy, like COWW or Range scrap, you can heat treat (or water drop) for the 9mm and 357M.

[runfiverun]

the 2/6/92 is easy to get, all the commercial guy's use it.
I would get half that and half pure lead and just mix the two together.
there ain't too much that you couldn't do with just those 2 alloys.

[ShooterAZ]

This^^^! 1/3/96 alloy is pretty much all I use any more. If I need harder I water drop it. I get 1/3/96 from isotope cores, but that needs to be smelted. You can but the 2/6/92 and pure from Rotometals to mix together. They are a good company to deal with. You can keep an eye on the swapping & selling forum here also for good deals on WW metal from jetsfan and others.

[Cherokee]

Follow Me - Welcome...reminds me of my old OCS days. For you, the 2/6/92 for your desired simplicity and for a known alloy. Range lead can vary. You don't need anything more than 2/3/95 to cover all your stated uses. Bullet hardness does not prevent leading, fit to barrel is king (in revolvers cylinder throat size needs to be at least barrel groove size).

[fredj338]

the 2/6/92 is easy to get, all the commercial guy's use it.
I would get half that and half pure lead and just mix the two together.
there ain't too much that you couldn't do with just those 2 alloys.
Agree, if buying alloy, buy Lyman #2 or sim & then pure lead to cut that for lower pressure stuff.

[Bullwolf]

Another name for the 92-6-2 alloy is Hardball, or Taracorp Magnum alloy.

The numbers mean:

92% Lead
6% Antimony
2% Tin

Rotometals sells foundry certified Hardball alloy for $13.59 for a 5lb ingot.
(about $2.70 a lb)
Shipping is free from Rotometals when you order over $99, which is nice as lead is obviously heavy.

Hardball Bullet Casting Alloy 5lb Ingot. (https://rotometals.com/lead-mini-ingot-pure-99-9-1-pound/)
https://rotometals.com/hardball-bullet-casting-alloy-ingot-2-tin-6-antimony-and-92-lead/

There are other cheaper ways to get or even make Hardball, but Rotometals is probably the easiest. However you will pay a little more for the convenience.

It's also popular to simply make your own hardball alloy, which is easily accomplished by mixing soft scrap lead, or pure lead with Linotype at a 50-50 ratio.

Linotype alloy can be purchased from Rotometals. ($17.99 for 5lbs)

(http://Linotype Alloy 5lb Ingot)Linotype Alloy 5lb Ingot. (https://rotometals.com/linotype-alloy-ingot-4-tin-12-antimony-and-84-lead/)
https://rotometals.com/linotype-alloy-ingot-4-tin-12-antimony-and-84-lead/

Linotype Alloy is:
84% Lead
12% Antimony
4% Tin

Cut or dilute the Linotype in half using 50% pure lead, and you get:

Hardball, or Taracorp Magnum Alloy
93% Lead
6% Antimony
2% Tin

Because of this, scrap Linotype has always been popular with boolit casters, though it's gotten much harder to find printing press Linotype metal in it's raw letter form, since it's no longer used.

If you have an cheap or even free source for soft/pure lead (such as X-ray lead, or roofing jacks, or lead water pipe) You can make your own Hardball Alloy simply by adding an equal amount of Linotype, and save some money.

Rotometals sells foundry certified 99.9% pure lead 1lb ingots for $2.99 a lb, if you want to purchase foundry grade pure soft lead instead of scrounging for it, or try mixing up your own alloy.

Rotometals 99.9% pure lead 1lb Ingot. (https://rotometals.com/lead-mini-ingot-pure-99-9-1-pound/)
https://rotometals.com/lead-mini-ingot-pure-99-9-1-pound/

And they sell Lyman #2 alloy as well. ($13.59 for 5lbs)

Lyman #2 5lb Ingot. (https://rotometals.com/lyman-2-bullet-ingot-90-lead-5-tin-5-antimony/)
https://rotometals.com/lyman-2-bullet-ingot-90-lead-5-tin-5-antimony/

Lyman #2 is:
90% Lead
5% Antimony
5% Tin

Mixing and making your own alloy from scrap metal is often more work, but can be much less expensive. It can sometimes be difficult to make the exact same alloy each time though due to the varying metal contents of the scrap lead.

Foundry grade alloy is obviously going to be much more consistent, but you will pay a premium for it. Fortunately, one doesn't require an exacting foundry grade alloy to cast nice boolits with.

It's also popular to simply cast boolits from straight WW (Wheel Weight) lead.

One of my home brewed alloys is simply 3 parts of WW lead, to 1 part of Linotype. I like to think of it as my Junkyard Hardball.

If your looking to find lead on the cheap, you can often find it for $1.00 a lb + shipping here on Cast Boolits from our members and vendor sponsors.





- Bullwolf