Help with alloy?

[Slugster]

I got ready to cast some boolits today and found that I had exhausted my old supply of alloy. Did an inventory of material on hand, and have:

104.2 lbs of pure lead
14 lbs of scuba weights - Probably COWW
2.5 lbs of 50/50 bar solder
440 lbs of Linotype pigs
The formula of my old supply of casting metal has been forgotten, so no help there. None is left for an XRF.

What would be a good general purpose alloy?

I cast for 38/357, 9mm, 44 special/magnum, 45ACP in handguns, and 223, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm mauser, 308, 30-06, and 45-70 for rifles. Is there a general purpose alloy that be a fit for all these calibers, or would I be better off to tailor my alloys for specific calibers? Can no longer score any wheel weights in my area.
I have tried the alloy calculators on this site and elsewhere, but can't seem to get them to where it all makes sense to me.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Rich in Kentucky

[ShooterAZ]

For your handguns you could go 1/3 or even 1/4 parts lino to pure. If you want harder, you can water drop. For rifles You could go with a 1/1 lino-lead or even 1/2. I often use a mix of 75% WW to 25% lino for rifles. BHN of this mixture is right around 15, can get much harder out of it if WD or oven quenched. Hope this helps.

[Dusty Bannister]

Everyone has their favorites based upon what they have on hand. I like 1 lino and 3 COWW for a general purpose handgun alloy. But you are not saying how hard you will be driving the rifle bullets so that is pretty hard to say just one alloy unless you intend on shooting hard handgun bullets.

Rather than waste your lino, consider buying COWW from forum members for the handgun purposes. For rifle, you might try 1 lino and 1 pure lead. And is it really pure or soft lead scrap? Your hardness might be anywhere from -5 up to about 8 BHN if you are using scrap soft lead.

Heat treating and quenching or even powder coating gives you even more options.

Are you positive that you do not have just one loaded round with your old alloy? All it takes is a melted lead splatter to perform the XRF scan and then you know what you have been using. Pull the bullet, melt it and find out for sure. Good luck. Dusty

While your dive weights might be good COWW alloy, I use junk contaminated alloy to cast the ones I make. That way they never come back as mistaken cast bullet alloy.

[Slugster]

Hi ShooterAZ: Thanks, I appreciate the help!

[Slugster]

Hi Dusty Bannister: Sorry I left out the important info.
Handgun boolits: 750 to 1600 fps. Some plain based, some G.C.
Rifle Boolits: 1200 to probably 2000 fps. All G.C. except 45-70.
The lead I refer to as pure, actually is pure, as I personally smelted it from roofing sheets. It's very soft.
I don't have even 1 boolit from the earlier casts, so I'm out of luck in that regard.

Thanks in advance,
Rich in Kentucky

[Mitch]

i use a 2.5% tin 2.5% antimony mix for 357 either PCd or lubes with white label carnuba red.the most i have run with this alloy is about 1400 fps no checks.useing the alloy calculator with some on the metal you list above to come up with 101.5 lbs of this alloy.3.5lb of 50/50 solder,21lb of lino and 77lb of pure lead.bhn of about 11.6.for something like 45acp or colt you can cut this mix with 50 more lbs of pure and come up with 1.71%tin and 1.66% antimony.very similer to 50/50 ww and pure +1% tin.about 10.6 bhn.tryed to keep it easy by makeing a 100lb batch so you can divide it out any way you want to get the batch size you need.

the alloy calulater here is very handy once you get it up and running.hope this helps you out a bit.

[bangerjim]

YES...............download the free alloy calc on here. Solves all your mixing problems for just about anything you cast!

It is just an Excel spreadsheet and easy to use!

banger