Need some help figuring out to make a good alloy

[reloaders4you]

Yet again I come to the masses for help. The more I read in magazines, books and this site about how to make a good casting alloy, it seems I become more confused. Mike Venturino uses alot of linotype, others use strait WW's , others use water cooled WW's as well as WW's mixed with something or other type of material. I shoot alot of hundgun matches as well as my vintage military rifles (M1, M1A, 03A etc...) My question is this. I have a great supplie of WW's, so what is needed for use in the rifles as well as the handguns. Any info would be great.

[docone31]

Wheel Weight, water dropped. Crank up the heat in the mold and pot.
Cast untill you drop!
Once in a great while, I toss in 1" of 95/5 solder if my corners do not square enough.
I started there, and I have been there ever since.

[Jaybird62]

You can get a wide range of hardness from clip-on WW. Air cooled might work for your pistol, while water-dropped or even stepping up to heat treated and quenched for the faster rifle loads should be a good starting place. You'll need to experiment to see what your particular guns like.

[fredj338]

I agree, clip on ww straight up are fine for most handgun loads to 1200fps or so. Water drop to go beyond that. For highe rvel, I would cut those 50/50 w/ linotype & water drop. Straight lino is expensive & unnecessary for anyting but high vel rifle rounds IMO.

[reloaders4you]

So the handgun stuff is good to go with the WW straight up and or water cooled is the vibe I'm getting. So what/where is a good source of additives to the WW for my rifles? Thanks so much guys for all your help.............as usual

Reloaders4you

[runfiverun]

for the most part i use plain ole ww's for up to 1600+ with g/c. and ww's water dropped up to 2300 fps.
the only thing i ever add is a touch of tin for fill out if it looks like i need it.
for other applications i vary this theme some by adding more heat or less heat to the alloy.
for the smaller stuff 223 i'll use a bit more antimony, and for hunting i use more pure lead to mx in.

[looseprojectile]

The other posters have not mentioned BOOLIT LUBE.
You can do a lot worse than Felix World Famous Boolit Lube.
Go to the bottom of this page and click on CASTPIX. Read all about Felix lube and you will be well on your way to being an expert on how to shoot straight and prevent leading.
If I would have STARTED there I would have PREVENTED most of my not so good results with cast boolits.
I have been casting boolits since 1955 and am just now getting to the point where I can PREDICT the outcome of my casting and reloading efforts.
I have learned more on this forum than I need to know, though nearly every thing I have learned has helped in the overall effort. Read, read, learn, learn.
The man you mentioned wrote an article recently on pistols using linotype.
Evidently gunwriters can afford to trade money for time. This same guy would be just as well served by making his boolits for autopistols from water quenched wheelweights. I have won bowling pin shoots with a .45 auto using just that.
Stay with us and you will really enjoy your experience.
Life is good

[JIMinPHX]

I think that the advice above is pretty much spot on. WW + 1 or 2% tin will work great for 95% of your shooting needs. Air cool for most pistol rounds. Water drop for most rifle rounds. You can get more wrapped up in the details after you have tried a bunch of stuff in your particular guns.

Start your casting off with just straight WW. If fill out is not that good, then try adding 1% tin. If you need to, go as high as 2%, but try not to use (waste) more tin than you actually need.

[Bret4207]

Unless you're reading stuff by real casters and not advertising men then take what they say in the magazines with a grain of salt. Lino works fine, but most of us can't afford to use lino or other exotic alloys. It doesn't matter because you don't need to. Straight WW can be used up to at least 2K fps given proper fit and load with a boolit your gun likes. Water Quenching can harden the boolit enough to handle those speeds in many cases, maybe a bit more. Depends on the gun and a lot of other stuff.

I don't put much faith in writers in the mags anymore. If you want some good reading on cast the CBA is currently offering a CD of Frank Marshalls collected articles from The Fouling Shot. Stuff like that or the collected articles from Handloader are good. Whatever you do, discard entirely the advertising hype of "You have to have HARD BOOLITS", it's not true at all and it's done a great disservice to the hobby,

[reloaders4you]

Start your casting off with just straight WW. If fill out is not that good, then try adding 1% tin. If you need to, go as high as 2%, but try not to use (waste) more tin than you actually need.[/QUOTE]

So there is my BIG question......when you say 1% tin how is the figured out. If I have 500 pounds of WW's would that be 5 pounds of tin?? Also where would a person find a good source of tin. Thanks in advance

[looseprojectile]

There is no GOOD source of tin because of the price.
I scrounge tin in the form of solder. I have read that some use old pewter ware that can be had from thrift stores. I have friends on the lookout for remnants of solder and lead in its various forms.
I have the habit of adding tin in small amounts to each pot of wheel weights.
If i put nine one pound bars of WW in the pot I figure that is 144 ounces which will call for 1.5 ounces of tin, approximately. Weigh twice that amount of 50/50 solder and toss it in the pot. Really, I just throw some solder in and cast a boolit and check how it looks and feels. If it looks good and fills out well it is good to go.
For my use the actual alloy is not as important as is the castability.
I will say that most of my boolits are air cooled and lubed with Lee liquid alox.
I mostly shoot holes in paper at my 97 yard tunnel through the brush.
I don't think I have ever known the exact alloy I have used, and I think a lot of people do the same. Not worth obsessing over.

Life is good

[zxcvbob]

I separate my lead into hard and soft (thumbnail test) since I usually don't know the alloys I'm starting with. (the hard lead is WW's and shooting range scrap.) I usually water-quench the boolits as I cast them, even tho' it doesn't do anything to the soft lead. I stir in just a tiny bit of solder to the casting pot only if I'm having trouble getting sharp corners.

If I was casting rifle boolits (I don't yet) and was having trouble getting them hard enough, I would add a little "magnum" shot with the hard lead because it contains a significant amount of arsenic, and arsenic is an antimony multiplier. But don't add too much or your boolits will shrink too much and might be hollow.

Like others have said, the lube makes all the difference too. I shoot a .30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk sometimes, and I get very little leading even at 1700 fps using plain base commercial cast bullets. They have tan colored lube, and I bet it's just beeswax & ALOX.

[Leftoverdj]

You've gotten good advice. Some of the variables of WW can be evened out by doing cleanup and ingotting in big batches. I usually do 100-150 pounds at a time and throw in pound of lead free soldier while I'm at it. It's worth the extra $10 to me to be sure of a consistent batch that does not need tinkering.

None of this is an exact science. WW contains some tin but there is no easy way to determine how much. I've just found over time that a pound to a bucket of WW has always been enough to get an alloy that casts well and gives a reading of about 12 bnh when air cooled and aged at least a week. That fills most of my needs, and I waterquench when I need it harder; oven treat when I need it a lot harder.

[reloaders4you]

So lead free 50/50 solder will work

[zxcvbob]

50/50 solder is not lead-free (and vice versa.)

[reloaders4you]

50/50 solder is not lead-free (and vice versa.)

When I was at Home Depot and asked about 50/50 solder, all they carry is lead free 50/50

[looseprojectile]

mind boggling. Wonder what they are putting in with the tin now.
Lead free solder has been, recently, 95 - 97 percent tin.
D'ya think someone has figured how to incorporate Chinese water?
Sorry, that might be Mall Wart.:coffee:

Life is good

[Ole]

Yet again I come to the masses for help. The more I read in magazines, books and this site about how to make a good casting alloy, it seems I become more confused. Mike Venturino uses alot of linotype, others use strait WW's , others use water cooled WW's as well as WW's mixed with something or other type of material. I shoot alot of hundgun matches as well as my vintage military rifles (M1, M1A, 03A etc...) My question is this. I have a great supplie of WW's, so what is needed for use in the rifles as well as the handguns. Any info would be great.

I make SKS boolits with 1/1 WW/Pure lead and water drop them.

They shoot fine @ 1900fps with no leading.

I'm new to casting, but it's my honest belief that most people make bullets too hard.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

When I was at Home Depot and asked about 50/50 solder, all they carry is lead free 50/50

Man , I learn something everyday . I don't know who the "expert" was you spoke to, but me thinks he/she is full of BS.[smilie=1:

You got a lot of good info in the replies from others. Like the man says WW and /or Water dropped WW will do 95% of anything you can do with cast.
If you are trying for 2300-2500FPS in your rifles , some Linotype should work for you, if you want more, shoot J-s.

Try the WW and water dropping , if you need anything more, then add some Linotype, 50/50 Lino WW

IMHO I think you should burn some powder and worry to much to soon.
Good Luck and good casting.:drinks:

[leadman]

I mix my lead alloy in approx. 100# lots. I use WW and add enough lino to test Saeco 5 when I cast a boolit from the large pot. This gives me an alloy that casts well and when water dropped will be approx. BHN17.
This is hard enough for rifle loads in 30 cal. to 2,600fps. Excellent for midrange and magnum handgun loads. Works excellent for 22 cal.
If you need it softer just let the cast boolits air cool. Excellent in 38 Special, 9mm Mak., etc.
I use LBT Blue Soft lube exclusively. I do not have any issues with leading anymore and excellent accuracy.

[windrider919]

First of all, Don't over complicate things! Its really not rocket science. I make all my alloy from WW and add 2% tin to every batch. I cast large rifle bullets and always have the potential problem of not filling out and so need tin. However, I also shoot 45ACP and don't need the tin as when I used to shoot straight WW I never had a problem. It is just simpler to only have one alloy around.

So: You can get tin in the solder or at resale / antique stores in the form of pewter which is 92% to 96% tin. Or you can Google either tin or pewter and buy it online. It is going for between $6.00 and $7.00 a lb now, new unused.

DO NOT BUY LINOTYPE as a source of tin, you will be buying a very expensive alloy with less than 10% tin. Linotype is a good shooting alloy but it would take a huge amount to alloy it with other lead, like 50/50 amount at a gestamite, I have not actually calculated how much but ballpark est. its not economical. Unless you have a magazine buying it for you and you get it free.

As per how much, heres some examples:

99lbs WW + 1lbs Tin [or pewter] = 100lbs of 1% tin alloy

49.5lbs WW + 1/2lbs Tin = 50lbs 1%

roughly; 10lbs needs 1/8lb or just an oz or so tin

If you use 50/50 solder you would double the listed tin amounts

If you wanted 2% then: 98lbs WW + 2lbs tin = 2% alloy

So, you can see that a little goes a looong way.

I have never needed to add antimony as there is plenty in WW already(too much really), in fact the only reason I add pure lead to WW is to reduce the antimony percentage.

I also water drop all my bullets to prevent dings as they fall onto each other and because they have been wet, NEVER pull them out of the water and add back to the pot until they have dried!!!!! A friend lost an eye because he was not wearing protective gear and did that.

[Bret4207]

Windrider makes a good point. Places like Midway and probably our sponsor Rotometals sell tin ingots. I bought a couple pounds of tin a few years back to alloy my mix and increase fill out. Over time I figured out how to get better fill out with out adding the tin, so I've still got most of the tin. But that's a much easier way to be sure of what you're adding than using yard sale solder.

[MT Gianni]

I use air cooled ww for 99 % of all my shooting, pistols and rifle to 2200fps. I quench for the 22's but fit is more important than alloy IMO.

[reloaders4you]

Thanks for all the info........I will post pics of my first boolits