Need help/info on how to make #2 alloy

[reloaders4you]

I have about 150 pounds of new WW and want to melt them down into ingots. Then what do I need to mix with the WW to create a #2 alloy? ANY INFO WOULD BE GREAT:-D

[opentop]

9 pounds ww
1 pound 50/50 solder

Makes 10 pounds lyman #2

9-1/2 pounds ww
1/2 pound tin or lead free solder

makes 10 pounds lyman #2

[reloaders4you]

What temp should I melt it at?

[randyrat]

Here is a pile of info. http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

[Kraschenbirn]

9# clip-on WWs + 2# Lino = Lyman #2.

Bill

[KYCaster]

I have about 150 pounds of new WW and want to melt them down into ingots. Then what do I need to mix with the WW to create a #2 alloy? ANY INFO WOULD BE GREAT:-D


I don't mean to open a Can-O-Worms here, but.....

You'd think that Lyman would be the place to go to get good information about "Lyman #2 Alloy". My copy of their Handbook #44 (c. 1970) defines #2 alloy as "90 parts lead, 5 parts tin and 5 parts antimony", and gives two recipes to make it:

5 1/2 lbs. wheelweights
1 lb. 50/50 bar solder
3 1/2 lbs. lead

and

4 lbs. Line-O-Type
1 lb. 50/50 bar solder
5 lbs. lead

It goes on to say "Wheelweights contain about 9% antimony..." and "Lino-O-Type...contains 12% antimony, 4% tin and 84% lead.

The problem is that no wheelweights I've ever found have that much antimony. I've had different commonly available alloys analyzed several times beginning about 1985 and WW have always been fairly consistant at .5% Sn, 2.5% Sb.

So Lyman's WW based recipe actually yields 93.35% Pb, 1.37% Sb, 5.27% Sn...not even close to 90-5-5. Since Lyno-O-Type (unlike WW) is an industry standard alloy, their lino based recipe comes much closer to the target.

Lyman's more recently published recipes...9 lb. WW, 1 lb. 50/50 and 9.5 lb. WW, .5 Sn...appear to be based on WW having 5% Sb which still doesn't agree with what I've found. Both these recipes will yield ~92 Pb, 2.4 Sb, 5.5 Sn.

A little bit of reading on this site and one thing becomes painfully obvious...there's no consensus about what is the best alloy for a particular application. Other than soft for expansion and hard for speed you won't find much agreement and even those aren't set in stone.

Most of the sources I've seen agree that alloys with equal parts Sn and Sb in the range of 3.5 to 5% have the best balance of strength and ductility and that Sn that exceeds the amount of Sb serves no useful purpose in boolit alloys; so #2 alloy is certainly a desirable goal. But, based on the fact that so many people have been getting good results with Lyman's published recipes, their ideal alloy is not really necessary for success. It would seem to me that, unless you have some specific purpose in mind that requires an alloy with optimum strength and ductility, you would be just as well served with straight WW for your boolits...maybe with a bit of Sn added if you think that helps with mold fill out.

Now, to answer your question: "...what do I need to mix with the WW to create a #2 alloy?"...

70 lbs. WW
26 lbs. lino
3.8 lbs. 95/5 solder

will give you 100 lbs. of 90-5-5 alloy.

Jerry

[Echo]

IMHO - Lyman #2 is unnecessary. A small amount of tin (2-3%) and twice as much antimony (4-6%) will make as hard and tough an alloy as anyone needs - IMHO. As cast, BHN of ~15, HT up to 30. Uses less expensive tin, and easy to generate - 50/50 WW/Lino. I think...

For general use, straight WW sweetend with 2% tin to reduce alloy surface tension.

[Lloyd Smale]

I use this one. I use it because ive got lots of 5050 and pure that i dont have another need for 4 lbs. Line-O-Type
1 lb. 50/50 bar solder
5 lbs. lead

Easyed you mixture will work too but not to many of us have access to antimony and use linotype to get the hardness and the tin just comes with the package. As to the 9 lb ww / 1 lb 5050 in that case id say your wasteing alot of tin

[TAWILDCATT]

you can heat treat WW you cannot heat treat lyman #2.I use WW in pistol and rifle.I have not had any reason to buy lyman.lyman #2 was used before WW were in existance.and no one shot as many bullets as is done now.how many cartridges do you want to make on a tong tool.potters are not that fast nor pacific.
and that was the most common tool.I never even heard of the potter until 1969.
:coffee: [smilie=1: