Given that Whitetail deer and Black bear are the largest game animals I'll encounter locally this is WAY more than I'll need but that's OK with me.
Nope, not trying to reinvent any wheels at all. But I do have what I have to work with. The only way at the moment I can segregate my metals is with hardness, but I have reached out to member BNE to get some testing done.
How I've described my metals is very generic. I have what has been sold to me as "soft lead", and it is soft, but I don't know for sure what's in it. I have around 30 lbs of jacketed bullet cores I've melted out of the jackets, and it's a homogeneous mix of lead from probably the 1950's to present. I have "wheel weights", all clip on, from the 70s to the 90s. I have what was initially thought to be linotype but the hardness tester suggests it's monotype instead.
I'll get my compositions determined and go from there.
I wouldn't bother going to the trouble of determining the exact composition of everything. Especially if it is only on 30 pounds of something. Just play with an alloy calculator with your best guess of what the batches are. If you can easily scratch the soft lead with your fingernail assume it is pure lead for the calculation. The cores from the bullets is lead with a little antimony (and very little tin) which is also in the calculator. Linotype vs monotype can make a difference with super hard alloys but for a standard BHN 13 batch does it matter if you actually get something a BHN or two off? Don't stress it and just start alloying some batches. If they are not hard enough add another handful of linotype or more lead if it is too hard.
Casting is an art and not an exact science.
I think you will need some additional tin / pewter though.
If I bother testing at all, its usually about 2 weeks after casting.
EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol
There's a thread on this forum in the archives about a 'Billy Bob hardness tester'. I just go by that. I don't need perfection, an educated guess is plenty close enough for me.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |