Missouri Bullet Magic Alloy: Tips/Tricks?
After some careful consideration of my options to begin casting, I had decided to get around 65 pounds of Magic Alloy from Missouri Bullets The price was, after shipping, about $2.50 a pound. Not exactly a bargain but considering it's an alloy with around 18BHN and ready to cast alloy, it was well worth not having to hassle with processing the lead myself.
I have yet to make the rounds of finding lead sources in my area, and my processing equipment is only an 8lb RCBS pot. Enough to get the job done but not exactly efficient for processing lead.
I'm only planning on casting for .9mm, .38 Special, and .45 ACP: nothing that requires the alloy to be very hard. Would it be recommended to "cut" the Magic Alloy with Pure lead or COWW that we would source later? I want to make the best value out of my fairly expensive lead, and I don't want to waste any of its hardness, so to speak.
The Magic Alloy came in a set of approximately 8lb ingots so at least I have an opportunity to experiment.
Missouri Bullet Magic Alloy: Tips/Tricks?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
VariableRecall
Thanks for the suggestion! I believe that 12BHN would be plenty for the applications I'm intending to use it with. Considering that I could almost double the potential castable lead that I could potentially make use of in the future.
Would 8 lbs Clip on Wheel Weights with 8lbs of Magic Alloy lead to a reasonable result as well? I suppose pure lead would be softer but it's my understanding that COWW can run just fine with most pistol calibers on their own.
I've heard of using certain styles of pencil leads as a impomptu test of BHN but at the moment I have no testing framework with which to test lead hardness other than my fingernail, and I'd rather keep my gloves on when I'm handling solid chunks of the stuff.
On testing lead with pencils, I’ve been doing that for years with solid results. Not the most accurate but for my proposed it’s was more cost effective than the more expensive testers. Looked on Amazon where I got mine and they’re even on sale today.
Staedtler Mars Lumograph Art Drawing Pencils, 12 Pack Graphite Pencils in Metal Case, Break-Resistant Bonded Lead, 100 G12 https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0014E2S...ing=UTF8&psc=1
Found the chart I use here.
http://www.texas-mac.com/sitebuilder...s2-681x475.jpg
Courtesy of this site which explains procedure of test:
http://www.texas-mac.com/Evaluations...s_Testers.html