Does lead composition matter?

[gifbohane]

I have been handloading for a few years and have thought about casting my own for the same amount of time. I thought that it was too complicated for an old dude. I have a smelter, ingot mold and dipper. And a few hundred pound of lead weights and lead from the bottom of a boat, all in Lyman ingot form.

I only want to cast 9mm 115 grain bullets for plinking. I have no idea the hardness of these lead ingots is (brinell.)

Can I just buy a 9mm mold and cast away or is it necessary to mix the ingredients to a certain percentage of lead, antimony etc?

I know that this is covered somewhere in her but I cannot find any specific info.

And sorry for such a basic question.

[farmbif]

cast what you have use a quality lube or powder coat begin with starting loads, 1000fps 9mm loads should be no problem as long as bullet diameter is .001-.002 larger than bore, that's been my experience anyway. not to confuse the issue but starting loads for 9mm are pretty darn close to full power 36 cal black powder cap and ball loads which I use pure lead for to stuff the cast balls into the cylinder.

[kevin c]

It does seem as though coating bullets (PC and HiTek) "covers a multitude of sins", as far as hardness goes. True that I prefer a known alloy that approximates 1:1 COWW to pure plus tin, but that's for repeatability and ease of casting and not so much the hardness.

If the load isn't pushing the velocity envelope and the diameter is appropriate for your bore, a coated bullet of almost any hardness will likely do for plinking.

[Dusty Bannister]

Just to get an idea what you have, one basic test of hardness of a lead ingot is to drop it on a cement floor. If it has sort of a thud, that is probably going to be a bit too soft for 9MM. If it has sort of a ting like sound, it might be just fine if not loaded too heavy.

"Lead weights" is not a very helpful description. There are fishing weights that can be case of anything. Clip on Wheel Weights that are now made of many different materials and some are not good for casting. Boat keels or ballast can also be about anything. That is why I suggest at least giving the ingots a drop test to see how they sound. Harder lead alloys have a higher tone to the ring. Many members have hardness testers so if you care to put your general location in your profile, perhaps someone can test your ingots to get a better idea what you have to work with.

[Bazoo]

Pends, if you got pure or nearly pure, you'll need to mix it as it's too soft. If you wheel weight alloy then it's hard enough. I don't load 9mm so I can't say if 50/50 pure/ww works well for it. Just about any lead other than pure will work acceptably for handgun bullets, but a super hard lead like Linotype is best cut with pure for cost savings as it's nearly 3.00 a pound.

If the lead weights you mention are wheel weights, you can cast them straight, or if they offer problems, add a bit of tin to them for fillout, 1% or 2% by weight. Tin makes bullets fillout well in the mould and cast easier but is expensive. Old solder, and pewterware is good sources for tin.

It's not hard at all to cast good bullets, but there are a few details that must be right. Moulds have to be hot enough. Hotter than you realize, so either use a hot plate, or preheat the mould thoroughly. I say get a mould and start in on it.

[Kraschenbirn]

Sounds like you've got a pretty good start...better than I had, anyway. For 9mm plinkers, hardness isn't going to be that large a factor unless your got dead soft, near-pure lead. I've was casting .357 SWCs from straight range scrap (9-10 Bhn) + 2% Sn (from scrap pewter) and loading them to 1100-1200 fps long before I began powder coating and can't recall any leading issue

From where you stand, I'd get one of the Lee TL356-124 ('TL' for tumble-lube) molds - either RN or TC - and get started pouring. If you haven't read 'From ingot to target' on the 'stickies' page, begin there, and then use the 'search' (lower right corner of the header) for additional hints and tips on the process.

Bill

[Dusty Bannister]

I would suggest a different style of mold if you are not certain if you will use bullet lube, tumble lube, or one of the newer coatings. Also some people have found the tumble lube bullets to be a problem and this is often a strongly divided topic.

My recommendation for a new caster is any style other than the tumble lube because it is very difficult to see if you have good fill out in the mold or a little on the small size. The complex form also seems to make mold fill out somewhat more difficult or inconsistent. But like everyone, we all have our own opinions. Any style bullet can be used successfully with the tumble lube coatings. Dusty

[mdi]

While hardness is important, bullet to gun fit is more so. You will need to know your gun's critical dimensions and the true diameter of your cast bullets. A handy source of info is Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook which will show you much of what's needed to get good shooting cast bullets.

I have 4, 9mm pistols and I have cast many 125 gr RNFP bullets of wheel weight alloy (BHN about 12) and range lead (BHN about 10-11). With a decent lube, sized correctly, I get good shooting boolits...

There's a lot of good info on bullet alloys in the "Lead and Lead Alloys" sub forum http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?57-Lead-and-Lead-Alloys

[Conditor22]

I would test all the ingots for hardness and mark them. Don't worry about alloy for plinking.



Powdercoating helps softer boolits work at higher FPS

I label all my lead by its BHN tested several weeks after casting into ingots using pencils. The pencils may not be the most accurate but they work well for my shooting

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?378866-Lead-hardness-pencil-testing-trick
https://i.imgur.com/D7c8FuZ.png

IF I need 10BHN I'll mix an ingot I marked 3 with an ingot I marked 16 and get close enough to 10 BHN.

https://i.imgur.com/a1oaQV6.jpg

A Lee 356-125 2R mold is a good place to start



***the ingots marked 3 were really easily scratched with a 6B pencil*****

[AndyC]

I only want to cast 9mm 115 grain bullets for plinking. I have no idea the hardness of these lead ingots is (brinell.)

Can I just buy a 9mm mold and cast away or is it necessary to mix the ingredients to a certain percentage of lead, antimony etc?
Yep, you can. 9mm won't need hard bullets so the Brinell doesn't really matter.

What you might find is that - assuming you already got both your mold and your molten lead hot enough - you get wrinkled bullets because the surface-tension of the lead is too high, so you'll need to add a little tin to the lead. 1-2% is plenty and will allow the lead to flow easily into all the nooks and crannies of the cavities. The tin you'll get most easily from things like solder (make sure it contains tin) at your hardware store.

Ideally before you cast a whole bunch of bullets, drive one through your barrel and see what size it is - because after you cast the bullets, you'll need to size them (about 1-thou' over the size you measured) after you've either lubed/powdercoated them.

[GregLaROCHE]

Investing in Lyman’s Bullet Casting Handbook would be good idea. There’s tons of information and they can be found used. You don’t necessarily need the latest edition.

[gifbohane]

Yes, I have the Lyman's Bullet Casting Handbook and read it several times in the last five years. Usually my eyes glazed over with the abundance of facts.

And yes the lead is wheel weights that I got from a friend who owns a gas station. I took out and tossed the Zinc and steel. I stopped asking him for them a while back because I decided to not cast but with the insanity in the gun markets I am looking at it again. Also the rest is definitely lead from one of my boats, I have several hundred pounds. Just need the handles and the moulds and a lot more courage. Most guys around here do not even reload less cast. In the Rockland County New York area.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Bazoo]

Maybe you could meet up with someone from the forum for help getting started. Seems there are a few from NY round.

I suggest trying to buy a mould used off the forum, and asking that it be known to cast well. The last thing you need when first starting is to have a crash course on tweaking an ornery new mould. A used mould should be broke in and cast well from the start.

[243winxb]

For 9mm, mix 50/50. Lead/linotype. Cost about 8 cents per bullet. Linotype is not cheap. Buy cheaper . https://missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=485&category=5&secondary=8

[Rcmaveric]

For me I use 8 to 10 Bhn for plinking and general purpose alloy. Most my pistols use this.

For general purposes riffle I use BHN of 12.

My range scraps is about 10. Clip on wheel weights gives 12 and mixing 50/50 purposes to coww is also 10.


So yeah. My lead is organized by source so I can mix and match.

With a BHN of 10 I can easily heat treat to harder if needed. But I think of hardness as a means to tweak a good load. Not get a bad fitting bullet to shoot.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[popper]

Personally I like a heavier (130 or so) cast with FN vs RN (RN need a good top punch so they don't seat crooked). 9 needs to be a tad harder then 45 so 50/50 HTd will work fine. Bevel base is fine but a tad more difficult to cull bad bases. TL grooves is OK.

[jimb16]

If you are using clip on wheel weights, casting(sizing) to .002 over bore size and keeping the velocity down under 1000 fps, there is no need to get complicated. Just use a good lube and you are good to go. Yes bullet metal composition does matter, but not for what you want to do. If you are casting high speed rifle bullets, it is critical, but not for light plinker loads.

[whisler]

Speed of powder burn can affect leading. I had problems in 9mm with 231 and when I switched to Unique with the same lot of bullets leading disappeared.