Newbie to casting ( lead to alloy ratio )

[CastnewbieX]

Hello, I’m new to casting lead bullets . But I have purchased molds , a melting pot & a bunch of lead (100 lbs )I either stripped out of an old boat or an elevator .( can’t remember. I’ve had this stuff for 30 years ) . I also have dental lead from X-ray film & rim weights (20 lbs ) . My question is how much if any alloy do I need to add to my melting pot per pound of lead ?

[Dave W.]

What are casting for? Rifle bullets should be harder than pistol bullets.
For pistol - revolver bullets I mix, by weight, 50% clip on wheel weighs with 50% soft lead, then I add 2% tin.
If you are casting for black power, those can be pretty much soft lead.
Do some searching, there is lots of info on this site.

[Winger Ed.]

It depends on what you're casting/loading for.

The faster you want to push a boolit, the harder it needs to be.
The formula for Lyman #2 is the bench mark for medium-ish speeds, and up to around 2,000 fps or so with gas checks.

For slow going pistols like .45ACP & .38s-- since pure Lead swaged bullets work fine,
I put just enough of the harder alloys like wheel weights in the pot of pure Lead to get a good mold fill out.