ADKWOODSMAN
Member
If I mix pure lead with linotype?
What will my boolet hardness be?
Haven't casted any bullets in 35 years. Need help.
What will my boolet hardness be?
Haven't casted any bullets in 35 years. Need help.
If I mix pure lead with linotype?
- Thread starter ADKWOODSMAN
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ReloaderFred
Member
You'll find all the information (and more) you need at this link: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?105952-Lead-alloy-calculators
Hope this helps.
Fred
Hope this helps.
Fred
Arkansas Paul
Member
Well, it depends on how much lead you mix with how much linotype.
You can make it as hard or soft as you want.
You can make it as hard or soft as you want.
Wreck-n-Crew
Member
Don't forget the Tin!
About all you need to know about Rotometals hard mixtures.http://www.lasc.us/SuperHard.htm One thing (look on the notes) to remember that matching tin % with Anitmony % will produce harder alloys and in a case where you want to use less of your antimony, by matching tin you can achieve this.
Also water dropping will produce harder bullets and can reduce the amount of antimony needed.
A note on Tin: Tin ads very little hardness by itself and plateaus very quickly. It's best assets are when used in equal amounts with Linotype it increases the value and hardness of the antimony...by itself it does little to nothing with helping to harden lead. Secondly tin helps to insure a good mold fill and reduce poor fill when casting. Nice shiny whole bullets are a welcome sight! Thank tin.
About all you need to know about Rotometals hard mixtures.http://www.lasc.us/SuperHard.htm One thing (look on the notes) to remember that matching tin % with Anitmony % will produce harder alloys and in a case where you want to use less of your antimony, by matching tin you can achieve this.
Also water dropping will produce harder bullets and can reduce the amount of antimony needed.
A note on Tin: Tin ads very little hardness by itself and plateaus very quickly. It's best assets are when used in equal amounts with Linotype it increases the value and hardness of the antimony...by itself it does little to nothing with helping to harden lead. Secondly tin helps to insure a good mold fill and reduce poor fill when casting. Nice shiny whole bullets are a welcome sight! Thank tin.
ADKWOODSMAN
Member
This is very helpful. Gives me a place to read up.
Thanks everyone.
Thanks everyone.
Jim Watson
Member
Half linotype, half lead gives you the 92-6-2 alloy used by most commercial calibers.
Wreck-n-Crew
Member
Note: the Stick on wheel weight recipes are same as pure lead recipe.
Also a mixture of 5% Antimony and 5% tin will give you same hardness as Lyman #2
Note on hardness for bullet caliber and velocity:
Application Hardness Range
Light target loads (<800 fps and 10,000 psi) BHN 6-12
Standard revolver loads (800-1000 fps, 16,000 psi) BHN 8-14
+P revolver loads (1000-1200 fps, 20,000 psi) BHN 10-16
Magnum revolver loads (1200-1500 fps, 35,000 psi) BHN 12-20
454 Casull (1400-1800 fps, 50,000 psi) BHN 16 and up
Clip On Wheel Weights (COWW) come out at 11-12 BHN. However bullets will harden to 18 BHN if water dropped.
Also a mixture of 5% Antimony and 5% tin will give you same hardness as Lyman #2
Note on hardness for bullet caliber and velocity:
Application Hardness Range
Light target loads (<800 fps and 10,000 psi) BHN 6-12
Standard revolver loads (800-1000 fps, 16,000 psi) BHN 8-14
+P revolver loads (1000-1200 fps, 20,000 psi) BHN 10-16
Magnum revolver loads (1200-1500 fps, 35,000 psi) BHN 12-20
454 Casull (1400-1800 fps, 50,000 psi) BHN 16 and up
Clip On Wheel Weights (COWW) come out at 11-12 BHN. However bullets will harden to 18 BHN if water dropped.
GP100man
Member
What ya gonna shoot it in ???
Normal handgun loads rarely need anything harder than 12-13 bhn, my 45 acp boolits run in the 9-10 bhn.
I KRINGE at the thought of all the alloys I wasted chasing the "harder is better" route.
Size is KING, hardness is QUEEN, lube is the joker !!
A lot of reading on CastBoolits.com !!!!!
GP
Normal handgun loads rarely need anything harder than 12-13 bhn, my 45 acp boolits run in the 9-10 bhn.
I KRINGE at the thought of all the alloys I wasted chasing the "harder is better" route.
Size is KING, hardness is QUEEN, lube is the joker !!
A lot of reading on CastBoolits.com !!!!!
GP
Arkansas Paul
Member
Oh yeah.
Much more leading is caused by a bullet that is too hard than a bullet that is too soft.
Proper fit is definitely the most important factor.
When Keith did his testing for the .44 mag he used the common 16-1 alloy which is about an 11 BHN bullet.
Scooter22
Member
I saw WWs mentioned. Don't use any of the shiny silver ones. They have zinc which will wreck your whole batch of alloy. Only use the dull grey ones.
41 Mag
Member
To start of with, as mentioned above, what will you be casting for in the first place?
This in of it's self can make a TON of difference in how you want to use your alloy. IF your only pouring up target loads for a 38 SPL or 45 ACP, you won't need very much lino at all. If your looking at anything over around 1200fps then your going to need some but still not as much as you might think.
My base alloy is roughly a 1/3/96 (tin/ antimony/ lead). From that, I used the calculator located in the Lead and Alloy forum on Castboolits. I found that blending up an alloy which like mentioned below, gives me roughly equal percentages of tin and antimony, I can work with cast HP bullets and get beautiful expansion with only two blended alloys. One I use for velocities up to about 1100fps, and the other I have so far run up to 1600fps out of my 41 magnum. I figure that this would be the hottest I would load it and so far it has shown great promise, with picture perfect expansion. The thing is by equaling the tin and antimony, you get a final alloy that is very malleable, while still a little hard but not brittle. The hardest of these two is only about a 12 BHN.
So if you don't mind downloading that calculator it WILL give you a good idea of not only what your starting out with, but also pretty close to what your going to end up with when you get it blended. I'm only adding in 9oz of tin in a 65'ish pound batch of alloy. I also add in around 20 pounds of pure lead as well which brings the antimony down. This formula has worked for going on three years of testing in calibers ranging from 30 Carbine up to my 454 and the one thing I have found is that once you get to an alloy of around a 2-2-96, your pretty much wasting your tin if your looking for anything else other than pretty bullets. Anything more doesn't help out with anything I have come across.
This in of it's self can make a TON of difference in how you want to use your alloy. IF your only pouring up target loads for a 38 SPL or 45 ACP, you won't need very much lino at all. If your looking at anything over around 1200fps then your going to need some but still not as much as you might think.
My base alloy is roughly a 1/3/96 (tin/ antimony/ lead). From that, I used the calculator located in the Lead and Alloy forum on Castboolits. I found that blending up an alloy which like mentioned below, gives me roughly equal percentages of tin and antimony, I can work with cast HP bullets and get beautiful expansion with only two blended alloys. One I use for velocities up to about 1100fps, and the other I have so far run up to 1600fps out of my 41 magnum. I figure that this would be the hottest I would load it and so far it has shown great promise, with picture perfect expansion. The thing is by equaling the tin and antimony, you get a final alloy that is very malleable, while still a little hard but not brittle. The hardest of these two is only about a 12 BHN.
So if you don't mind downloading that calculator it WILL give you a good idea of not only what your starting out with, but also pretty close to what your going to end up with when you get it blended. I'm only adding in 9oz of tin in a 65'ish pound batch of alloy. I also add in around 20 pounds of pure lead as well which brings the antimony down. This formula has worked for going on three years of testing in calibers ranging from 30 Carbine up to my 454 and the one thing I have found is that once you get to an alloy of around a 2-2-96, your pretty much wasting your tin if your looking for anything else other than pretty bullets. Anything more doesn't help out with anything I have come across.
Wreck-n-Crew
Member
Now I run my own powder coat and have no need to be overly cautious.
More to testing them than looks too. Though you can catch many that way. Long process of sorting by hand which I no longer do. However if you wish to be sure get you some diagonal cutting pliers and test each one. You can tell the difference easily this way as steel and zinc won't cut.
Now I throw them all in together and scoop the zinc out out because they don't melt at lower temps. Never had an issue. Tin and lead alloy melt at lower temperatures than lead alone.Wheel weight alloy melts under 600 degrees F and Zinc @787 degrees. Really close to 200 degrees difference in melting points. I load the pot with COWW's and Put the propane on at medium heat and let it heat up slow (about 20-30 minutes). Taking time to scoop out clips as the lead becomes liquefied. When the thermometer reaches 600 degrees everything floating is skimmed off including COWW's as they are Zinc or steel.
Then comes a good final scraping of the bottom of the pot before final pre-flux skim. Skim. Flux and after burn off skim and ingot pour time. Some like to refill the pot and get it full but I see no need to go through the whole process again and dirty up already processed lead YMMV. Besides I use an old Cast iron skillet (too cheap to buy a big cast iron pot yet) . I use a slotted spoon for the crap and tongs are retired from smelting.
These are from COWW's as are all my bullets any more. Alloys for the time being are in my past even though I do keep some Rotometals Hard (antimony rich) around and some tin ingots I smelted from old pewter bowls I pick up at the thrift store or the scrap yard.
Lloyd Smale
Member
main problem with giving an answer is the linotype. Very little of it that we get ahold of these days is still as hard as it was initially. Ive had linotype that hardness tested anywhere from 24bhn to as low as 18bhn. Most of the monotype and stereotype ive seen is close to what it was new but not linotype anymore.
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