lead mix

[Caster456]

do you need to mix in tin or other metal in your lead batch?
im making 9mm bullets for traget shooting.

[David2011]

Welcome, to our party! In order to know where you're going, let's figure out where you're starting. Are you beginning with wheelweights or something else?

Wheelweights will make useable boolits. If you add a litte tin they will be much better. You only need 2% tin. That's 3.2 ounces per 10 lb of wheelweight alloy. The tin will make the alloy flow better and fill the mold easier. It will not substantially affect the hardness of the mix.

If you are starting with essentially pure lead you will need to add tin or tin and antimony. One of the sponsors here, Rotometals - http://www.rotometals.com/Bullet-Casting-Alloys-s/5.htm, sells a hardening alloy called "super hard alloy" that is 70% lead and 30% antimony. Antimony provides the hardness. Wheelweight already has about 4% antimony so you only need some tin. For 9mm you may want to consider the desired velocity. If you want to push the boolits over 1000 or 1100 fps you will probably want a little harder boolit. Boolits with antimony respond well to water quenching- dropping them from the mold into a bucket of water. They will also harden with age. Boolits that are 3 weeks old are noticeably harder to size than freshly cast ones.

If you decide to cast for larger bores than 9mm you can just alloy straight lead and some tin. The soft boolits will mushroom nicely if used for anyting other than target shooting. Spend some time with the Rotometals page above and it will give you an idea of what people use. Straight lead is best used for black powder applications. Once you see the various alloys the challenge is to decide what you need. If you alloy 9.5 lb of WW with 1/2 lb of 50/50 solder you will get a very useful alloy and the solder is easy to find. If you want to add straight tin you will probably have to order it. If you can get your hands on babbit, get all you can. There are a bunch of babbit alloys but they are all very rich in tin.

It is important to verify the bore of your barrel and size your boolits to .001 over the max ID of the barrel to minimize leading. Undersized boolits can cause leading even if they are hard. Softer boolits, properly sized, will shoot cleaner. Do a search on this site for slugging the barrel.

Do you have access to a lubrisizer? Do you have a mold yet? Do you have any equipment yet? Let us know where you're starting and we'll guide you along and maybe save you some money along the way.

There's much to learn and you're in the right place. Spend some time reading the archives and your knowledge will grow rapidly.

David

[Echo]

A small amount of tin (2-3%) will improve fill-out, and help antimony do it's thing in hardening. Many of us use WW's with 2% added tin for most of our casting. What are you using for your base? WW? Pure lead?

[Caster456]

First off thanks for the replys.
Im using wheel weights,I have 200LBS of lead ingots. As for equipment i have a lee 2 cavity mould, lead melter.
I dont have a lube sizer yet but i was told for the sales man since the mould is tumble lube i didnt need one.

[sagacious]

Straight ww alloy works well for me when casting 9mm. Try the alloy you have first, as it may pour perfectly fine bullets. For your application, you may not need to add any tin. This is one of those things you have to determine based on your equipment and your technique.

Adding tin when it's not needed is a waste of tin. Get some practice pouring, and once you're sure you're doing everything right-- and if you still don't get good mold fill-out-- you can consider adding up to about 2% tin. I often find than even adding a 1/2% tin helps fill-out considerably in stubborn molds.

[VPW]

I thought I had posted this hijack right after I joined but it says I have 0 posts so I messed up somehow.

Thirty years ago I started reloading. Before I got far into it things happened and I "lost" my notes and books and most equipment. I did not lose the metal I had gathered. I would like to get back into it and wonder if there is a way to tell what the metal on hand is? Could be lead, WW, linotype or heaven knows.

Does it matter if it pours and fills the molds ok?

[Cherokee]

VPW - Welcome to the forum. It would have been better to start your own post with the question. Most lead alloys will form bullets but you might not be meeting your need as efficiently as possible. Include more information, like what bullets you want to cast, what cartridge, what purpose (target, mid-range, max loads) so we can help you better. There are ways to get approximations.

[VPW]

Sorry. I knew better.

I have really no idea what I want to do on a specific level. I tend to follow rabbit trails. I will start a new thread when I isolate on something. I guess I just wanted to know if I should toss the metal and start over keeping better records. Thanks.

[mold maker]

Don't toss any metal.
If ya can scratch it easily with your finger nail, it's soft.
Get a lead wheel weight and try to scratch it. If no scratch, its hard.
Most anything between is good bullit alloy that may need a little tin for best results.
Since all of your stash was saved for this purpose, you are that much ahead of starting over.
Without buying alloy, finding cheap lead is much harder now. It's becoming poor mans GOLD.

[VPW]

Thanks. I will hang on to it.

[Dale53]

VPW;
Look at this:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=75455&highlight=Pencil+hardness+tester

This WORKS!

FWIW
Dale53

[VPW]

Thanks. Interesting stuff.