Author Topic: Newbie Alloy Question (Read 650 times)

Cahunter · « **on:** September 24, 2005, 08:48:50 AM »

I've been reloading for a while now but am just getting into casting. This is probably a stupid question but I was wondering when making alloy do you mix it by weight or mass? I have a bunch of linotype and was wanting to melt it down with some pure lead. I have a bunch of roofing lead to mix it with. What is a good mixture of lino to lead? It's for a 44 magnum so I need it to be pretty hard.

Thanks
Cahunter

Leftoverdj · « **Reply #1 on:** September 24, 2005, 10:06:05 AM »

By weight, and approximation is generally good enough. Both pure lead and linotype are getting expensive and hard to find. You should be able to sell or swap the lead to a muzzleloader shooter. Two for one WW for Lead is not unreasonable and you may be able to do better.

My general purpose allow for many years has been 5:1 WW/lino. WW only runs me about a dime a pound. To get roughly the same hardness from lead, you would have to mix lead and lino roughly 50/50. That's a good alloy, but a very expensive one.

Kmrere42 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 01, 2005, 03:45:12 PM »

Hi All,

What expense whould we expect when buying materials. I was at Home Depot the other night and found some pure lead sheething at around $1.32/lb. Have to buy it in 50lb rolls though.

JPH45 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 02, 2005, 08:04:47 AM »

If my math is correct, the lead cost is $66.00 and to that another $20.00 for the tin to make 20/1 and the cost of the material is $86.00. 52 pounds of metal makes about 1800- 200 grain bullets Divide 86 by 1800 and we get .047 or 4.7 cents a bullet. That is still half the cost of jacketed bullets which typically run 10 cents each. Not a bad deal. If you can get some wheel weights, you can mix the lead/ww at a rate of 1 to 1 and cut your costs even further. You can also cut the lead at 1 to 1 with linotype, even 2 to 1 ain't too bad (2/1 lead/lino approximates wheel weight)and extend your dollars.

pistolfan · « **Reply #4 on:** October 05, 2005, 11:31:52 AM »

cahunter: Whatever mix you come up with if I where you I'd make as big a batch that you can, that way your bullets in the future will all weigh pretty close to the same. When I make my mixes I make close to 60 lbs or more at a time. I have an old propane tank that I cut the top off and melt in that, may even be more than 60 + lbs. Hope this little tidbit helps some. Peter aka pistolfan

sundogg1911 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 28, 2005, 06:00:20 AM »

i make one pound ingots (approx) with lino and with WW's I usually mix 8 or 9 WW Ingots with 1 lino ingot in my lee pot. I keep a separate pot on a propane furnace with the same mixture so I can "Top off" the production pot without changing the ratio much. othewise i am constantly changing the mix by adding an ingot at a time. I used to use the mixed alloy until the pot was almost empty, but that really slowed me down. I had to wait for the pot, and the molds to reheat.

:grin:

DPRinks · « **Reply #6 on:** October 28, 2005, 05:10:20 PM »

You really need to improve your scrounging abilities, I get wws free at the tire shop where I get tires and oil changes and buy lead in the form of valley flashing and roof jacks at the metal recycling plant for 10c a lb.
Tin is best available in the 95-5 lead free solder, about $8 a pound locally.
One pound will take care of 100 lbs of wws.