Alloy mix and quenching?

[44fanatic]

On my third iteration of typing this....dumbed down version...

On hand I have ingots made from WW's, stick on WW's, and Range scrap.
I am casting for 9mm (Ruger P85, Glock G26 w/ Lone Wolf), 44mag (Ruger SBH), and 30 Carbine (M1).

What are your reccomendations for mixing my lead and should I water quench for any of them? Shooting moderate loads for killing paper and clay pigeons.

The 30 Carbine shot great w/ little to no leading with WW boolits.

[koehn,jim]

I use a plain base 130 grain in my carbine and use ww water quenched with good results.

[Hardcast416taylor]

You could just stay with straight ww alloy for all the above calibers. Or, you could add the range lead into the ww several ingots at a pot full to "cut" the ww alloy abit. The range lead is a question of alloy and hardness levels, which I would use it only sparingly to cut the ww. The range lead can be used alone for low velocity practice rounds where it isn`t to be expected to have high velocity involved.Robert

[fryboy]

if ur running medium to hi velocities i'd go for either quenched ww straight or tempered ,low to medium ....doesnt really seem viable with the rounds u listed but if shooting the 44 at 44 special type loads u could prolly add 50% of either of the other alloys to the ww , if u have alot of the stick on ingots u could prolly trade them for harder alloy to a muzzle loadin feller

[44fanatic]

my guess is that my range scrap is pretty soft. It comes from an indoor police range with 90-95% of the rounds being Remington factory with the remainder of the rounds being factory jacketed from the major suppliers. Probably lookin to sell/trade a good portion of it.

[excess650]

my guess is that my range scrap is pretty soft. It comes from an indoor police range with 90-95% of the rounds being Remington factory with the remainder of the rounds being factory jacketed from the major suppliers. Probably lookin to sell/trade a good portion of it.

You might be surprised how hard that stuff can be. Add 2% tin, and some chilled shot for the arsenic, and quench the bullets( water drop).


About 10 years ago I bought some of the capsules that nuclear medecines come in. Thinking that they were pure lead, I added 4% tin to make 25-1 alloy for my BPCRS bullets. Surprise! It got extremely hard, and the dutch oven ingot rings like a bell when dropped! I've since read that these are 96% lead, 3% antimony, and 1% tin.

I bought buckets of "range lead" from 3 different indoor ranges. naturally, there were lots of jacketed bullets, lots of swaged factory CF and RF bullets, and some hardcast. When melted into a homogenous mix, it made really good cast bullet alloy.

[MtGun44]

I have excellent results with air cooled wheelweights with the Lee 356-124TC conventional
lubed boolit.

No need to fiddle with water dropping for 9mm.

I guess everyone still believes the commercial cast "hard is good" hogwash

Bill

[excess650]

I have excellent results with air cooled wheelweights with the Lee 356-124TC conventional
lubed boolit.

No need to fiddle with water dropping for 9mm.

I guess everyone still believes the commercial cast "hard is good" hogwash

Bill

Good for you. Not everybody has a source of wheel weights, not that it matters to me. The OP seemed inclined to think his range lead too soft, and my comments were to indicate that there are ways to deal with perceived "too soft" alloy.

I didn't need to look for wheel weights with a convenient source of range lead at $.03-.05 per #. Naturally, there was a lot of waste, but at least 50% recovery. Some of my favorite alloy has been range lead mixed with soft lead 1-1 and 2 % tin added.

[44fanatic]

I take it that I have been wrong in thinking that range lead is usually softer than WW's.

With WW's running around 12 BHN, any educated guess's on what my range scrap will be?

[excess650]

If you don't have a hardness tester, calibrate your thumbnail.:bigsmyl2: I can't scratch lino or commercial hardcast, but can Lyman #2. Pure lead is like butter compare to hard stuff.

Pure lead is 6? Linotype and 92-6-2 (commercial hardcast) run about 22.:holysheep Lyman #2 is about 15.

Compare your range lead to your WW and see if you can tell the difference. Cast some bullets out of each. Air cool some and quench others to see what you have. Make notes unless you have a better memory than me.

Adding 2% tin may help the mix flow for better bullet fill out. As long as there is at least a trace of arsenic present along with lead/tin/antimony, bullets will age harden, and much more quickly if quenched(precipitate hardening).

If your bullets don't seem to harden noticeably in a couple of days after quenching, more than likely the arsenic isn't present. Chilled shot can provide it. If you feel your mix is too hard, add soft lead, or don't quench.

[blackthorn]

Antimony, not Arsenic is the hardner. Arsenic in an alloy used for making shot is there to assist in getting the shot nice and round. Arsenic may also be of assistance, when used in cast bullets, in retarding age softening in storage over time. All that is required (or wanted) is one quarter (.25) of one percent Arsenic in an alloy. If you get too much Arsenic, it will cause rounding of what should be sharp edges on the bullet.