Will my WW and ranger scrap mix make good 30 cal rifle boolits?

[supv26]

I've been casting pistol boolits for several years now and just recently picked up a 30 cal mold for my Rem .308 SPS 1-12 twist. I was wondering if the mix I have been using for my pistol bullets would work ok for the rifle? I still have to find gas checks and get my sizer but I would really like to try some soon.

[btroj]

No reason why a WW/ range scrap mix shouldn't work.
Good fit and a gas check will help.

[williamwaco]

I use that mix for all my handguns.

I also use it in my .30-30 and .30 Carbine.

My mix measures around 10 BNH.

[detox]

You can allways quench them in water to make harder. Put something soft like a towel in bottom of pan of water to catch after dropping from hot mould.

[supv26]

You can allways quench them in water to make harder. Put something soft like a towel in bottom of pan of water to catch after dropping from hot mould.

I may try this as I have done it with some pistol bullets. I just need to come up with a way to do this keeping the water from splashing up onto the mold. It's always funny how one little boolit can make such a huge freaking splash!!! LOL

[burr7870]

A little drop of water on the mould is not a problem. Just keep the water away from the pot!

[Huntducks]

Get a 5 gal bucket put a towel in botton and fill at least half way W/water drop boolits straight from mold right away.

[.22-10-45]

Try shooting before going to trouble of W.Q. I am using about the same alloy in a 7X57 Mauser sporting rifle..haven't chron'ed yet, but I am well up into jacketed bullet charges using H4895..no leading whatsoever.

[cbrick]

The alloy should work, I use straight clip-on weights with 2% Sn air cooled in my 1 in 12 twist 308 with excellent accuracy and zero leading. 19.0 gr SR4759, a standard primer and boolit weights from 160 to 180 all work well.

Rick

[Shiloh]

It does for me.

Sometimes I add three to four feet of 95/5 tin/antimony solder if needed.

Shiloh

[CML]

I use that mix for all my handguns.

I also use it in my .30-30 and .30 Carbine.

My mix measures around 10 BNH.

I just got an LBT hardness tester and my mix of 50/50 WW/Range Scrap measures 17 BHN. I expected it to be softer but all my bullets from that alloy checked about the same.

[RickinTN]

I just got an LBT hardness tester and my mix of 50/50 WW/Range Scrap measures 17 BHN. I expected it to be softer but all my bullets from that alloy checked about the same.

Is your alloy air cooled or water dropped?

[cbrick]

I just got an LBT hardness tester and my mix of 50/50 WW/Range Scrap measures 17 BHN. I expected it to be softer but all my bullets from that alloy checked about the same.

Is your alloy air cooled or water dropped?

Very good question. That is quite hard for WW & range lead. I suppose the range lead could have contained a bunch of lino bullets raising the Sb. For quenched WW 17-18 is about right.

Rick

[CML]

Air cooled. Couple months old. Think my tester is off?

[cbrick]

Air cooled. Couple months old. Think my tester is off?

Could be. A few years ago there was a test run of various BHN testers and several LBT testers including mine were part of the test. One of them read all samples rather high.

The test . . .

Cast Bullet BHN Tester Experiment

Rick

[CML]

Interesting. Maybe I should go ahead and get a Lee as well and compare. Or find some kind of known standard to check my LBT. For $100 I was expecting more and I sure expect it to be resonably accurate.

[CML]

I think I'll go cast a few straight from the range scrap and straight WW and see what they each check. I really have no idea what that scrap is. Also got some dead soft 22 range scrap that may be a resonable standard......??

[Bigslug]

I may try this as I have done it with some pistol bullets. I just need to come up with a way to do this keeping the water from splashing up onto the mold. . .

Go to Target or your local dollar store and buy a package of foam kitchen sponges. Cut them into 1" chunks and float them on the surface of your quench bucket for splash control.

As to your alloy mix. . .range scrap, in my limited experience anyway, is pretty soft stuff that borders on the nearly pure lead end of things, but then, I have access to a lot of fired shotgun slugs and jacketed pistol bullets that are all typically swaged from pure. If you're scrounging from a range of do-it-yourselfers or a skeet range, you'll be getting harder stuff.

Living in Kalifornia, I've only been able to smelt wheel weights from one ancient batch given to me by a friend cleaning house. This got melted in with a bunch of cast pistol boolits from an OLD police range that were probably made of wheel weights themselves. In retrospect, I wish I'd melted the two sources down seperately, but first smelt - live and learn. Resulting alloy was about 10-11 BHN.

My gut feeling is that you'll end up a little soft for rifle boolits without adding some tin. Ingot it out, test the hardness, proceed accordingly.

[supv26]

Go to Target or your local dollar store and buy a package of foam kitchen sponges. Cut them into 1" chunks and float them on the surface of your quench bucket for splash control.

As to your alloy mix. . .range scrap, in my limited experience anyway, is pretty soft stuff that borders on the nearly pure lead end of things, but then, I have access to a lot of fired shotgun slugs and jacketed pistol bullets that are all typically swaged from pure. If you're scrounging from a range of do-it-yourselfers or a skeet range, you'll be getting harder stuff.

Living in Kalifornia, I've only been able to smelt wheel weights from one ancient batch given to me by a friend cleaning house. This got melted in with a bunch of cast pistol boolits from an OLD police range that were probably made of wheel weights themselves. In retrospect, I wish I'd melted the two sources down seperately, but first smelt - live and learn. Resulting alloy was about 10-11 BHN.

My gut feeling is that you'll end up a little soft for rifle boolits without adding some tin. Ingot it out, test the hardness, proceed accordingly.

Oh, the sponge idea sounds great.... I'd never thought of that one.

[popper]

sponge idea sounds great - sounds better than a slotted towel over the top. Mine always ends up in the water anyway.