one alloy

[lotech]

I've spent decades scrounging wheelweights. Straight wheelweight alloy has worked well for bullets used in both handgun cartridges and rifle cartridges. I've tried many alloy mixtures only to come back to wheelweights every time. I have a dwindling supply of wheelweight alloy left but my scrounging days are over.

I plan on buying commercial alloy if I can find the right one. I don't require wheelweight alloy but do need a suitable replacement; something that works equally well if that's possible. Any suggestions?

[Dusty Bannister]

If I were looking for something similar to COWW I would probably buy the commercial alloy of 2-6-92 and blend 50/50 with soft lead scrap such as plumbing or sheet lead scrap. If I were getting out of melting and blending all together, I would look at a blend of 2-3-95 which would be similar to COWW with some added tin. There is probably no "real" answer because it will depend upon cost and availability in your area.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Check out Bantou's lead sales in the vendor sponsor section. Think I paid $1.67 a pound shipped for wheel weight ingots. He is out of it now but will be getting more.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Are you powder coating? Many are finding they can get good results out of softer alloys with powder coat. How about water dropping? Water dropped 50/50 Pure/WW will still pick up quite a bit of hardness.

[lotech]

Are you powder coating? Many are finding they can get good results out of softer alloys with powder coat. How about water dropping? Water dropped 50/50 Pure/WW will still pick up quite a bit of hardness.

I don't powder coat. Conventional sizing/lubing has worked pretty well for me. I have used water-dropped (and heat-treated) wheelweights experimentally many times for both rifle and handgun bullets. I've seen some advantage in some instances, but usually just use linotype if I need really hard bullets; seldom need such hard bullets anymore.

[centershot]

Dusty's recommendations above are spot-on! I settled on a mix of 94-3-3, for my purposes it works out well. If you check out BNE's post here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?231905-Clip-On-Wheel-Weight-XrF-Data

You'll see that COWW alloy varies quite a bit. But, when you average it out you come up with something like 96-3-1. Common practice is to add 1-2% tin to WW metal, which brings you to 94-3-3. As many, many people have found, this is a really good alloy, suitable to most boolit making needs.

I mix 1 part linotype (84-12-4) with 3 parts pure lead, yielding 96-3-1. I then add enough 50-50 solder to raise the tin content to roughly 3%. Having equal amounts of Sn and Sb makes the alloy less brittle, not really "stronger", but "tougher". Check out Glen Fryxel's work here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?61171-The-Definitive-Answer-page-for-Lead-and-Alloys!

[John Boy]

https://missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=346&category=12&secondary=

[lightman]

I've spent decades scrounging wheelweights. Straight wheelweight alloy has worked well for bullets used in both handgun cartridges and rifle cartridges. I've tried many alloy mixtures only to come back to wheelweights every time. I have a dwindling supply of wheelweight alloy left but my scrounging days are over.

I plan on buying commercial alloy if I can find the right one. I don't require wheelweight alloy but do need a suitable replacement; something that works equally well if that's possible. Any suggestions?

I'm another that has found wheel weights to work well for what I shoot. As suggested, you can buy wheel weight ingots in our swapping and selling section. If I were going to buy new alloy I would look at something like 96-2-2 or 94-3-3. There is something magical about having the SN and SB balanced.

[Dusty Bannister]

The reason I had suggested magnum alloy was that many dealers handle that alloy. Does anyone know of a source for the two blends mentioned by lightman? Not to disagree with the choice, I do like the balanced alloy, but is it available at reasonable cost?

[jreidthompson1]

Found this
https://www.gtbullets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=75


https://www.gtbullets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=87


Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[lotech]

Some very good suggestions here and I'm appreciative for them.

[mac1911]

Closer to wheel weight alloy , i had a batch of all wheel weight smelt tested and there was no tin , these where newer wheel weights I pulled from the rims myself at the shop.
Anyway A group buy or maybe just splurge and pick up this. Tin content is .5% ?
https://www.rotometals.com/pallet-recycled-lead-ingots-1000-pounds-1-49-per-pound-freight-included/
Thats what 45k 150gn cast bullets! I wont shoot 45k rounds of cast anytime soon!

I found myself with a lot of lead but many different batches of alloys. So I had some of the larger batches tested and did my best to make a Faux Lyman #2
Which came in at about 2-5-93< I would have to look for exact numbers.
If i had $1500 I would not miss I would grab a pallet while its "cheap"
Or buy $1500 worth of pre casted bullets? At the current prices I have seen for some casted bullets $1500 could get you close to 20k bullets if you catch the sales and deals. Ive seen some cast as low as .06 each shipped in bulk.
Im nearing the end of my smelting days
Even shooting days are growing slim.