oldroger
07-14-2008, 10:44 PM
I need advice on alloys. I am about to restart casting after a 40 year layoff. I will be casting .45acp (452630 &460) & 10mm (no molds yet) to be shot in M1911 and S&W pistols at 950-1000 fps.
I have been doing some research, reading posts here, obviously very knowledgeable people here. Special thanks to grumpy one for his work!
When I last cast we were using Lyman #2, diluted with two parts of MOL pure lead, usually lead pipe. This mix resulted in about 1.7/1.7 - Sb/Sn alloy. We had the mix tested a couple of times (I had a friend who worked in the wet lab) and there was usually a trace of As doubtless from the pipe and other scrap. We always dropped the boolits from the mold into ambient water. I have no idea how hard the boolits were even though I had access to all sorts of elaborate hardness testing equipment. IMO there is no way to do a conventional Brinell test on anything as small as most cast boolits.
I have linotype and MOL pure lead, I propose to dilute the lino to below 2% Sb and add enough Sn to get up to about a 1.5/1.5 alloy or a bit less. I mix on a Coleman Stove and am limited to about a 30# batch at which point my comfort level is exceeded due to the flimsy nature of the stove. I know that this isn’t the cheapest way to go. But, it should give me high quality!
Anyone see any loopholes in this plan?
I have been doing some research, reading posts here, obviously very knowledgeable people here. Special thanks to grumpy one for his work!
When I last cast we were using Lyman #2, diluted with two parts of MOL pure lead, usually lead pipe. This mix resulted in about 1.7/1.7 - Sb/Sn alloy. We had the mix tested a couple of times (I had a friend who worked in the wet lab) and there was usually a trace of As doubtless from the pipe and other scrap. We always dropped the boolits from the mold into ambient water. I have no idea how hard the boolits were even though I had access to all sorts of elaborate hardness testing equipment. IMO there is no way to do a conventional Brinell test on anything as small as most cast boolits.
I have linotype and MOL pure lead, I propose to dilute the lino to below 2% Sb and add enough Sn to get up to about a 1.5/1.5 alloy or a bit less. I mix on a Coleman Stove and am limited to about a 30# batch at which point my comfort level is exceeded due to the flimsy nature of the stove. I know that this isn’t the cheapest way to go. But, it should give me high quality!
Anyone see any loopholes in this plan?