Alloy Questions

[Ruckus Ralph]

As being new to casting I have a few questions about the lead alloys I have and what do I need to do..

This is the lead that I have
70 lbs of Isotope lead thats 95 Pb- 2.5 Sb- 2.5 Sn
60lbs of Wheel Weight Lead
65lbs of Range Lead ? not sure alloy... roughly same hardness as wheel weights.
55lbs of dead soft sheet lead..

I am trying to figure out what would be my best deal to do..
Should I remelt the iso, ww, and range lead back all together and have just one alloy or what?

I figure I will melt the soft lead and keep it seperate.
ANY suggestions are appreciated..
Thanks,
Ralph

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Ralph,

Keep the Dead Soft seperate, You can't draw it back out. The other's all depend on what you are trying to do. Speed of Bullet and GC or no GC have a lot to do with what Alloy is best. I use the Iso Straight for Some of My BP Rifle Boolits.

Sam :D

[Old Goat Keeper]

So isotope lead is about the same hardness as wheel weight material Sam???

Tom who is happy with Sam's wheel weight material ingots he doen bought

[Ruckus Ralph]

I will be using this lead to cast 38spec. 125gr and 158gr bullets sized to .358 used for cowboy action shooting only.. Will be MAX of 900fps loads.. probably closer to 700fps....
Some will be lubed and shot with Goex Blackpowder, but most will be lubed and shot with 2.5-3gr. Clays...

Thanks.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Tom.

The Cores are Closer, The Small containers are a little less antimony and a little more tin. Water Dropping really hardens then up well.

Sam :D

[jr81452]

Ralph,
Assuming your WW lead is all clip on (it is if it's the stuff you got from me)

If you combine the known alloys:
70 lbs of Isotope lead thats 95 Pb- 2.5 Sb- 2.5 Sn
60lbs of Wheel Weight Lead
55lbs of dead soft sheet lead

You will get 185lb of 97/1.9/1.1

if you combine
70 lbs of Isotope lead
60lbs of Wheel Weight Lead

You will get 130lb of 95.7/2.7/1.7

if you treat the range lead as WW (i wouldn't without testing it for specific alloy first) and combine:

70 lbs of Isotope lead
60lbs of Wheel Weight Lead
65lbs of Range Lead

You get 195lb of 96/2.8/1.2

If you mix it all together and assume range=WW you will get 250lb of 96.9/2.2/1.0

Any of these alloys will suit your stated purposes just fine. Remember that it is difficult to create a perfectly consistent alloy in a quantity that exceeds one smelting pot. So you are someone limited by how much you can melt at one time. All percentages are in Pb/Sb/Sn format.

Good luck