Lead recipe for 45-70

[rescue_171]

What recipe would you guys use to make an alloy for 405grain bullet for the 45-70 in a 14 inch contender barrel launched at about 1400 to 1500 fps?

Was going to use wheel weights but hard to find around here and when you do find them most are zinc or aluminum or steel.

I was thinking 20lb of pure lead and 1 pound of linotype and a little tin.... Would that work?

By the way im new to this and this will be my first experiment with this.... You guys here finally talked me into it.

[onesonek]

What recipe would you guys use to make an alloy for 405grain bullet for the 45-70 in a 14 inch contender barrel launched at about 1400 to 1500 fps?

Was going to use wheel weights but hard to find around here and when you do find them most are zinc or aluminum or steel.

I was thinking 20lb of pure lead and 1 pound of linotype and a little tin.... Would that work?

By the way im new to this and this will be my first experiment with this.... You guys here finally talked me into it.


I'm new to this casting also, but I do know the .45-70 and the Contender. That load is going to be a handful and a 1/2. Thats another matter altogether however.
I been reading alot on this casting stuff, and just want to throw my thoughts in to see if I'm close with what others with more experience think.
My thouhts are for better mold fill out, you will want a more tin in the mix. For a relatively tough bullet at that speed I would go with 1/2 pure lead and 1/2 90-5-5 (Lyman #2). Or for a softer bullet, I would go 1 in 40 alloy ( 97.5- 2.5)

Dave

[rescue_171]

OK I got my hands on 2 --5 gallon buckets of free wheel weights..... For the 45-70 should I use straight wheel weights or use a wheel weight -soft lead mix?

[Larry Gibson]

OK I got my hands on 2 --5 gallon buckets of free wheel weights..... For the 45-70 should I use straight wheel weights or use a wheel weight -soft lead mix?

Suggest you try 50/50 WW/lead W'd first. If that doesn't work the try 70/30 WW/lead. If your mould is a GC then you can get excellent accuracy at the velocity you want with softer alloys. You might also try a 1-16 alloy of tin - lead. I use it up through 1600 fps in several cartridges including the 45-70. I use it up to 1850 fps with a GC' RCBS 300 gr bullet in the 45-70. As mentioned, that is going to be a handful to hang onto:-)

Larry Gibson

[sqlbullet]

Mixing pure lead with linotype at 3:1 would give you the same basic alloy as WW, 96/3/1.

If you have tin, 16:1 makes very pretty bullets.