Help Picking An Alloy

[Don in Texas]

Hey guys. I'm new to casting boolits. We have nothing to speak of here locally as a good source of lead, so for the sake of convenience I'm probably going to start out using Rotometals.

The shooting that I do is cowboy shooting with 45 colts. I also do a lot of plinking/paper punching with 38 special and 45 ACP. I'll probably end up doing the same kind of shooting with 44 special also. I really don't have any need for full power magnum loads for the kind of shooting I do. I've managed to pick up some moulds (Lyman and RCBS) at various gun shops over the past couple years at bargain prices. A couple of my .38 moulds are designed for using gas checks, but if I understand correctly, you don't necessarily have to use the GC's if you are using a softer alloy and keeping the velocitys down. That's what got me thinking about which alloy to use.

Rotometals version of Lyman #2 seems like it might be harder than what I need. I was wondering if their 1:16 or 1:20 might be more suitable for me, and might perform better for those GC moulds, but without the added expense of buying the checks. Any thoughts you guys might have would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Don

[runfiverun]

if i had to buy.
i would get their hardball alloy and pure lead then mix it 1-1
for a 1/3/96 alloy.
you could mix this equally with any ww's you find.
use a bit more of the 2/6 alloy for diameter help.
add more pure,more tin,,etc.

[Dale53]

Elmer Keith used 16/1 lead/tin for all of his loads with success. Now, of course, tin is much more expensive. That is why most people use WW's (I use WW's+2% tin for excellent fill out).

Rotometals "Antimonial Lead" is a bit harder than you need but if you can score some scrap lead (try scrap dealers) you can add scrap lead to soften the alloy and stretch it a bit. Check out commercial roofers in your area. They often are a good source of roofing lead (pretty much dead soft stuff). WW's are 3-4% Antimony and many on here add some scrap lead to their alloy to stretch the WW's.

FWIW
Dale53

[Don in Texas]

Unfortunately it looks like I'll have to buy, at least to start with. None of the tire dealers in town are willing to help me out with WW's and range scrap isn't much of an option as the range I use is a wide open field with no berms at all. Not sure if trying to salvage anything there would be worthwhile.

Mixing the hardball with pure is an interesting idea. That would bring the price down about .50 per pound compared to using the 1:16 alloy. That would also give me a supply of harder alloy to work with on the rare occasion that I might want to load up some 357 or 44 Mag. The only downside I can see is that I would need to buy at least 60 pounds of each one in order to get the 4% price break. It's workable though. Thanks. I knew you guys would give me some ideas.

Hey, what would the approximate hardness of that 1/3/96 alloy end up being?

[bumpo628]

Unfortunately it looks like I'll have to buy, at least to start with. None of the tire dealers in town are willing to help me out with WW's and range scrap isn't much of an option as the range I use is a wide open field with no berms at all. Not sure if trying to salvage anything there would be worthwhile.

Mixing the hardball with pure is an interesting idea. That would bring the price down about .50 per pound compared to using the 1:16 alloy. That would also give me a supply of harder alloy to work with on the rare occasion that I might want to load up some 357 or 44 Mag. The only downside I can see is that I would need to buy at least 60 pounds of each one in order to get the 4% price break. It's workable though. Thanks. I knew you guys would give me some ideas.

Hey, what would the approximate hardness of that 1/3/96 alloy end up being?

1/3/96 would probably end up about bhn 12 air-cooled.

Regarding the alloy purchase, I suggest that you get some linotype and pure lead from rotometals instead of the hardball. Lino is 4/12/84, so if you mix it 50/50 with pure you get hardball. It will give you even more options than the hardball and it is only $0.40 more per pound.

[Rockchucker]

Don, Over in the swapping & selling there is always folks selling wheel weights and pure lead ingots for around 1 dollar a pound. I mix my alloy in equal amounts plus 2% tin for the 45lc and the 45acp loads i shoot w/o the gc's and my bores are shiny clean, use a good lube like the c-red or any of the others here that make a quality lube and you'll be quite pleased with the results.

[alfloyd]

I second the idea about looking in the S&S section for lead.
That is where I would look to start with.

I have soft (pure) lead that I will sell you for $27.00 for 20 lbs delivered to you.
That comes out to $1.35 per lb total cost.

Lafaun

[Echo]

+1 on buying from the forum. I have bought from The Captain here (AKA Kathy), and have been very pleased. About $1/lb for range scrap, a touch more for WW's, and so on. And range scrap is all you would need for your cowboy shooting.

[Don in Texas]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I will definitely look into buying from someone here on the forum once I figure out what I need and how much.

[runfiverun]

500- 250 gr 45 colt boolits weighs about 18 lbs.
if that helps any.

[Don in Texas]

500- 250 gr 45 colt boolits weighs about 18 lbs.
if that helps any.

That's very helpful actually. I'm currently shooting up a batch of 250 gr from this place

http://www.bulletworks.com/cowboy_bullets.html

They sell them for $83 per 1000 which would work out to $2.30 per pound only taking the alloy cost into consideration. That's about as good as I could do if I have to buy from Rotometals, and all the work is done for me already. They are also a fairly short drive for me so no shipping involved. My only gripe with them is that I get some minor leading in the bore of my Uberti lever gun. I haven't slugged it but I'm guessing it's probably .454 and doesn't like the .452 these are sized at. They do great in my Ruger Vaqueros.

Anyway, sounds like I need to find a way to get under Rotometals prices to make it worth the effort. Now I at least have an idea on what I'd like to do. Thanks.