Expansion without fragmentation

[OS OK]

I can't testify to the results of that high of velocity as all my testing this summer has been limited to the .45ACP but I think our lead blending and velocity has a relationship that can be varied by changing speed or blend of Pb & Sn and/or Sb.
Needing a bit stiffer yet malleable alloy for a penta .45ACP @ 209 ~ 211 grains & running at 975 fps, I tried using range lead I bought from a guy that got it from Quantico Va..
Thinking that the small amount of Sb in that type lead from the jacketed rounds might offset the high amounts of Sn you have to use in the 16 & 20:1 varieties of HP lead blends as you try to attain a hardness of 10 or 11 bhn. Tin doesn't harden at the same ratio like the Sb does and I noticed earlier this summer that any amount of antimony at all, even the 1% Bumbpo's calc. claims for range lead will kick the hardness by 1.2 bhn just as a result of that short 20 minute trip in the oven at 400ºƒ & air cooling of the PC coating. THat's a minuscule amount of hardness but it can be the difference between a 'fail & pass' in HP performance but it's a much larger difference in the Sn required, where we may get by at around 3.3% Sn instead of the much higher 4.7 to 5.8% of the 16 & 20:1 blends.
It would be a big deal, at least to me to be able to use range lead as the base lead of a HP blend for these .45ACP speeds and not have to add over 3% Sn. that stuff is expensive.
Anyway, I tried that in this last HP test no. 7 to end the summer's experimentation.
It appears to have worked but that won't be a conclusion until next summers continuation of the HP experiments...



I thought this was pretty good for this speed and bhn level with the trace of Sb, it didn't fold the petals over against the body of the cast...that's saying something about having some Sb in the blend, me thinks?



I hope by then to know the exact quantities of all my lead stashes of various type leads.
I think the XRF will be the definitive answer as to contents and then be able to apply RotoMetals bhn formula to describe exactly the magnitude of that difference.
As you prolly know, it is very difficult trying to blend good HP lead from stashes of lead we all have gotten from all over the place, the Sn & Sb & As also are all over the place too.

Anyway, that's the reason I suggested using the COWW's in your blend as it has somewhere around 3% Sb or depending on the source of COWW's that number could be much less.
I think it's worth a try.

[mnewcomb59]

There is a fine line with antimony alloys where just enough tin and just a hair too little tin can cause a dramatic difference in weight retention and penetration. I like to shoot for a quarter percent more tin than antimony to be sure I have enough.

I have had great results with 1-1-98, 2-2-96 and 3-3-94. One batch of 4-4-92 fragmented, and the next batch I mixed up at 4.25-4-91.75 had great weight retention.

I believe that my problem comes from assuming composition of my foundry type. I have seen xrf tests for that stuff all over the place and I am probably overestimating tin, underestimating antimony, or copper is messing with my alloy's grain structure. My laymans solution has been to make the tin 0.125-0.25% heavy depending on how rich I am making the antimony. This gives me 98-100% weight retention.

One guy on here is more liberal with his tin than me and I think he was having good luck with 6-4-90. It seems like too much won't hurt but you can definitely see when you have too little.

You can make a pot, run a couple test bullets then shut it off. Check for fragmentation and if needed add a little more tin to your pot then cast a bunch from that same pot and have 400-900 all of the same alloy.

[Ledhead]

Thanks for the responses, it's been an interesting read thus far. I'll retry the 20-1 and 16-1 in all wetpack, see how that goes. Along with the 50/50 +5%.

Does anyone think that my source of tin (silver bearing plumbing solder) could be making a difference? I wouldn't figure that the small amounts of silver would be able to make any difference. I've read where copper bearing alloy makes a boolit "tougher" but does silver add anything beneficial to the mix?

[45r]

I like to hunt from a tree stand or some other type of elevated position when handgun hunting and aim for a high shoulder impact.
Most of the time it can result in a drt or not a very long tracking job.
It breaks down the shoulders and makes a good blood trail with the exit hole being low on the off side.
Shot placement is key.

[fredj338]

1 gallon jug of water for expansion backed by soaked phone books to catch the boolit. Fragmentation is occurring in the water. The fragments are sizable, usually consisting of one 1/4"X3/4" crescent shaped pedal and 3-4 fragments about 1/4". Then of course the main boolit that is now just a jagged wadcutter/roundnose hybrid.

Try it the other way; wetpack backed by water. Water can be quite "hard" on an expanding bullet. If a bullet frags in water it often expands perfectly in gel or wetpack.