I just found a virtually infinite supply of lead (for myself)... A family member has a bunch of lead pipe, said I can have as much as I want so I took about 50 lbs initially...
That lead pipe will be to soft to shoot in anything except black powder.
I've got some similar lead. I occassionally use it if I'm shooting plinker rounds with low velocity, I'll add some of it to ww's. It's also good to have a little around to slug a barrel with. Otherwise you'll need to find tin and antimony. I have a nice supply of linotype for this reason also.
I've got some similar lead. I occassionally use it if I'm shooting plinker rounds with low velocity, I'll add some of it to ww's. It's also good to have a little around to slug a barrel with. Otherwise you'll need to find tin and antimony. I have a nice supply of linotype for this reason also.
So if I run thru 10 lbs of lead it should be 9.6 oz of tin and 3.2 oz of antimony?
Tin is easy to add, antimony is harder. To get antimony you need to buy linotype or hardball alloy etc to add to your pure lead.
I've been lucky on the alloy sticks. I've picked up a near life time supply off evilbay in the last few years. Seems people don't understand what it's good for. A little bit goes a long way. And as stated before I keep linotype around for this.
If you're going to be mixing a big batch a hardness tool might come in handy. It will help you get a decent mix. I wouldn't want to mix to much linotype or alloy in, it's not usually the cheapest ingredient. So you can check your hardness and come up with the most economical recipe. For small batches it's not usually that big a deal as for cost. But like anything else in reloading/casting we want to stretch our dollars as far as we can.
If you're going to be mixing a big batch a hardness tool might come in handy. It will help you get a decent mix. I wouldn't want to mix to much linotype or alloy in, it's not usually the cheapest ingredient. So you can check your hardness and come up with the most economical recipe. For small batches it's not usually that big a deal as for cost. But like anything else in reloading/casting we want to stretch our dollars as far as we can.
So how much linotype would you throw in for 10 pounds of lead? Just trying to get a starting point..I'm assuming it's not 1 to 1.. I don't mind ordering 10 pounds of linotype from somewhere if it's going to be mixed 1 to 10 or something silly like that...
I usually just experiment. That's where the tool comes in handy.
It's been a while since I've done it, CRS is kicking in.
It seems like I have to retrain myself everytime I mix a batch.
But no it wouldn't need to be one to one, quite a bit less.
Let me do a little research, but kind of seems like 10 to 1 would work.
I appreciate it... Fortunately I have a virtual cornicopia of the lead pipe, unfortunately I have to explain to my wife why I have to buy alloy.. While its not an exact science I'm sure I'd rather play with hardness then brush lead out of my barrel for hours on end. If it's 10-1 then I'll just order 10 lbs of linotype from ebay and then just mix as necessary, I'm assuming I'll still need tin too, but I would think linotype would be a good start even without the tin.. since tin is mainly used to help the bullets form more uniformly in the mold... This is all very interesting stuff to me, sounds like a good hobby to pick up for the next while as itll let me shoot more (notice I said shoot more and not shoot less expensively)...It also keeps me away from the stupid box..
Here's some approximate numbers you can use to start deciding how you want to mix.
Mat'l____% Tin___% Ant___% Lead___BHN
WW_____.25_____ 3_______96.75____12
Lino______4______12______84_______22
Lead_____0_______0______100_______5
Kind of looks like I was probably mixing 4 or 5 to 1.
Mat'l____% Tin___% Ant___% Lead___BHN
WW_____.25_____ 3_______96.75____12
Lino______4______12______84_______22
Lead_____0_______0______100_______5
Kind of looks like I was probably mixing 4 or 5 to 1.
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