I just made a big score on linotype pigs a old print shop went out of business and I picked up 68- 20lb pigs and also around 400 lbs of letters which is lino/mono.ps I really enjoy all your videos I have watched most of them two or three times.
I've been casting for about five decades. I agree that RotoMetals is a great outfit to order from: nice and clean, and if you buy enough (last time I checked it was $149) you get free shipping. To simplify my casting, I use Linotype almost exclusively, and occasionally Lyman #2. Midway is also a good source, but they are a bit higher, and free shipping is only an occasional deal. RotoMetals has the most diverse choice of alloys.
I've been learning a lot about casting my own bullets from watching you and I made 108 muzzleloader bullets yesterday with the lee real mold not bad for my first time casting
I've spoken to Rotometals personally before watching this video and I had excellent, professional and very knowledgeable customer service. I believe they would treat you the same whether you bought a bar or a truckload. I would recommend them and I plan on doing business with them in the future.
Rotometals are everything you said they are, I’ve been using them for years. Also, thanks to Worlander TV for if you can play tic-tac-toe you can figure out how much to blend your metals for the Hardness you want. 😊😊
PGIFilms-Thanks for your interesting comments. No, separating metals from dross is some foundry work that very few bullet casters will get into. More power to ya if you can get that done. But antimony is very hard to work with and tin is in solution with the lead. Personally, I'll leave all that up to those like yourself that have an interest. I'm just happy getting my range scrap and processing it into beautiful bullets…Best Regards
Thanks for the advice. I’m going to pick up a respirator tonight for added precaution. I chatted with a gal from Roto Metal and she said that I could put in small pieces of antimony to my lead and tin, but with pot only getting up to 900f it might take a couple of hours. I think I’ll start off small and try to make a couple pounds of linotype. If my memory serves me correct is 84% lead, 12% antimony and 4% tin. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Wish me luck.
Larry Evans-reply2-as I have found that the adhesives used in stick ons sometimes leaves rainbow residues on the surface of melted lead that is work to remove. You might save your stick ons until you have enough to melt them into ingots separately from your WWs. WWs will melt, flux and skim nicely. The stick ons are almost pure lead and perfect for use to make muzzleloading, cap and ball, or shotgun slugs just as they are.
yea, I went to my close public range today and they cleaned the back stops over the weekend. could tell soon as I rolled up and noticed immediately new grade and no trenches from rounds pilling on top each other and threw the dirt. o well off to the scrap yard tomorrow to see what they have. hoping they got some more lead ww in.
hiaruga-Thanks for your comment-Rotometals is neat company - free shipping if order is $100-and their alloys are made from virgin metals - clean bars. They sell to a lot of commercial casters. Best Regards...
Larry Evans-Thanks for the great question. Lead Wheel Weights (WW or ww) are perfect for use to make any standard or +P or magnum pistol bullet just as they are. If you add the stick on weights (softer lead), you will indeed soften your WW. Once softened, your alloy can be used for standard velocity or cowboy bullets, but not for +P or magnums. WWs can also be used for lower powered rifle bullets. I would be careful just melting the stick ons into your good WWs as see2
bak1911-one visit by the tinsel fairy early in my casting career - I dumped some wheelweights into molten lead and some bubbles started coming up. I got up and went around the corner of the house just in time for a very loud pop. Every bit of lead was blown out of the pot and all over everything including the chair that I had been sitting in. Only takes once to learn never to dump lead of unknown water or oil content into molten lead.Been 30 years of safe casting since-good work getting lead-
Vengenace Early-don't know how your comment was flagged as spam-I sure didn't do it…Thanks for your comment. I'm very glad you got that 60 - will make lots of bullets (approx 2100 44/45 200 grainers) And what you are finding is what is being reported just about everywhere. Some lucky casters still getting WWs, but, as you say, less all the time. Best Regards…Always like your comments...
bak1911-Thanks for your comment. Rotometals is a fine outfit to deal with - their alloys are really clean and reliable. If our casters get range scrap that has been shoveled up by the range, we have to do a check to see if any loaded rounds (esp 22LRs) are in the mix dropped by shooters when they are changing targets. I've never had that problem as I pick up the range scrap myself. Range scrap is good stuff 2-4%antimony. Those tin bars will last you as only a little tin is needed in mix.
Daniel Gutierrez-reply addendum-Didn't mean to overdo the antimony warning-I handle Superhard alloy with my bare hands as the antimony is not any more problematic than any lead - we just use our usual precautions of not touching our mouth and watching for ventilation, fume exposure, and thorough washing showering after casting - if we do these things and watch for casting safety, casting is a very good and economical pastime...Best Regards...
Another good source for tin if your local recycling center will sell you the lead they collect is bar solder. Typically its marked in the molded bar 60/40 or so with 60% tin and 40% lead. The best alternate source is scrap pewter as its 90% tin and often also appears as "lead" in scrapyards as well in the same bin and even appears in resale shops from time to time for 2-3 dollars per lb depending on the piece. Its wise to melt the pewter in your scrap pot or a dipper based pot as the 8% of stuff or so you don't want is often copper in newer pieces and will clog a bottom pour pot.
Wow, if you can get pewter for $2-3 a pound, that is fantastic. If I ran into any of that, I'd start by buying 100 pounds and ask for more…Thanks for posting this...
It's a Sony Handicam...bought it a little less than a year ago. Nothing special - it's HD and a consumer model. Thanks for the question and also for the feedback
Do a Google search for Rotometals and they'll flip you right to it. But if you don't cast a lot, the shipping is prohibitive for small orders. If you have a source of wheel weights, your search is over - plain wheel weights are great for all cast bullets - and if you drop quench your bullets, they are great for max magnum and even light rifle loading.
Excellent video, very informative. You really take the time to explain. Now I just wish you could make a video that shows the entire process-determining what lead you have-whats missing to make it hard enough, and how to determine how much tin/antimony to add in a given batch. Thanks.
chalemi-Thanks for your questions- Any shooter can determine the BHN they need from the formula at RotoMetals BHN = 9 + 1(% of Antimony in final mix) + .3 (% of tin in final mix) + 1 for water quenching bullets; whereas 9 is the BHN of raw pure lead. So, for instance, cowboy action or standard velocity target shooting needs BHN 12 so range scrap has approx. 3% antimony - guess what? You have BHN 12 with plain range scrap-melt it, clean it, ingot it, then cast and lowd 'em. +P or +P+ needs BHN 15-16 and magnums and light rifle need BHN 18; full power rifle needs BHN 20. Linotype has 4% tin and 12% antimony - calculate how much you need to add to get the percentages you want in the final mix. Hint - RM Superhard alloy 30% antimony is very helpful to make the alloys we want...
I think in the near future we are all going to have to buy our lead. The days of the free wheel weights are over. I got a good bucket full after sorting. But the rest was zinc ! half of it Zinc ! Still a good 60 pounds of lead after sorting but it look much bigger before I sorted it. Still next time he said I would have to buy it !
Can't answer that question as I just use my thumbrnail - if I can just get a little dent after pressing with my thumbnail until my thumbnail turns white, it's good for regular and +P loads. If I go with magnum loads, I use the same thumbnail, but make a little sawing action back and forth as I press - if it dents more than a little dent - that bullet is back to +P. I know this sounds unscientific, but lead testers work basically the same way. I have never leaded a barrel in 40 years of shots.
Allway's love to learn more Steve...thank you!. I will let you know how my first casting's go when I get my Lee mold for 7/8 oz slug's,I hear tell they fly a little better than the 1 oz slug's!!!...
Charles Frazier- Good question. I have not tried either their BHN 12 or 18 lead, but the price sounds right on. If you buy the same from RotoMetals, they have free shipping with a $100 purchase (this is from my memory, but you can check that out). As always price comparison is a good idea. Some have found RM pure lead to be dirty - I have not had problems with RM, but never ordered pure lead (use dental foil) Buying from Ebay or Amazon might get you some weird stuff - or not...Best Regards...
Daniel Gutierrez-reply2-Rotometals gives a good formula on their website for mixing alloys to any BHN you want. For casters who want to go with pre-mixed alloys - You can't go wrong with Lyman #2 alloy from Rotometals ready to go ideal for your 45/70. Or you can mix it like in my video on Mixing BHN 18 Alloy (title is close, but you can search for it easy). Raw antimony is going to be a bear to get lead hot enough to mix and more you work with toxic raw antimony, the less happy I am for you
bak1911 get as much of that lead ww as you can. WWs are very fine for bullets just as they are. There will come a day when all the lead will have been sent overseas. The range scrap will build up and be there for you to collect before long...Thanks again for the comments Good casting to ya...
The one thing I kept waiting for you to comment on the was the actual BHN for your 6lb range scrap to 1lb linotype recipe. Can you share what that BHN ended up being? TIA, Brooks
working on it tomorrow morning soon as they open. cut a deal with the one guy that fishes. I have sinker and jig molds told him if he gave me such a weight in lead after I clean it ill give him a 1/3 to 1/2 back in what ever jigs and sinkers he wants or needs. they had a buncha lead sheeting, lead pipe and imam rade the ww container. steel plate and 5 gal bucket are going to be my friends tomorrow. how many times have you been visited by the tinsel fairy? take it easy safe casting.
Have you ever tried using the dross from initial melts to obtain the antimony? I was thinking if I had better tools that can maintain & monitor the temperature I could separate the tin, lead, zinc, & antimony in bullet alloys from most impurities picked up in using range scrap. Tin separation will be hard, but only needs to be done if trying get softer near-pure lead. Haven't had a chance to see if it would be cost/time effective trying to use multiple melts to obtain the antimony.
Daniel Gutierrez-I don't know many casters who work with raw antimony. Please be careful with it because 1) is toxic material and I have advised casters to avoid handling it 2) melting point is much higher than lead and is difficult to get alloy together-My best recommendations for working with antimony is to use Rotometals Superhard alloy 30% antimony, 70% lead mixed and ready for us to alloy with other metals. Raw tin is safe and easy to handle and easy to mix into lead alloys see2
FortuneCookie45LC very late response here. Antimony melting point is irrelevant. It dissolves into the lead like sugar cubes into water. The warmer the water the faster the dissolution. 800 deg F is sufficient to dissolve Sb into Pb . Cooler temperature will just take longer. Adding Sb actually lowers the mp of Lead alloys. The higher the Sb content the lower the mp of the Pb alloy.
joelopezj128 - Once again - sorry to not respond till now - your comment was flagged as spam(?). Antimony is expensive and difficult to use in its pure state. Mixing it into lead is best left up to smelters. I like to get Linotype from Rotometals. Fortunately, I don't need much of it to harden my lead so that a 6 to 1 Lino-range scrap (2-4%antimonty) + water quench works well for up to 1050 fps where I do 75% of my handgun shooting. Best Regards...
this is awesome. I bought lead for swagging which is 6 brinell and i have about 60lbs left with me. I would like to cast 147 grain 9mm boolits and 325grain 50 Beowulf boolits. Can u guide me on what brinell hardness I need for each and how the formula on how to create right hardness using linotype from rotometals
i cast fishing sinkers, 50 caliber, 44 caliber for black powder. i have a question? will what they sell melt in a 700 watt lead melting pot? i am thinking of buying a small kiln to create my own. then i was thinking about issues like kiln have to cut materials into very small pieces and pouring. I have made my own bullet lube with a ratio of alox. i am big into casting but issue is it requires so many molds. i been thinking about fabricating my own but at the end of the day some things require so much almost better off buying already produced. fishing weights, old toy soldiers, bullets, items for jewelry is what i am going into the large goal. just my hobby
I am new to casting. I have no access to range lead. I have collected some wheel weights and in seperating out the steel & zink I also seperated out the stick on ?weights. How do I merge the stick on's in with the wheel weights? The stick on's seem to be softer lead?
I noticed in your other video about charting lead alloy hardness, that the round muffin shaped ingots of 22 Brinnell alloy had an area that appeared to have gaps and bubbles in them, about halfway through their vertical thickness. It was easy to see on the sides of those muffin shaped ingots. Is that what you were talking about when you said that this hard lead alloy may have problems filling out the mold evenly unless you add tin?
HighlanderNorth1 - Those bubbles were caused by oils or grease in the ingot molds. Once that burns off, the bubbles stop. If I alloy with SuperHard alloy 30% antimony to get hard bullets, a small amount of tin added in the way of some linotype - helps mold fill out noticeably. Best of the Christmas and Holiday Season to ya, FC Steve
FortuneCookie45LC Thanks. One last question: Speaking of tin, I am going to try casting with pure tin. When in its pure form(99.9%), does tin have any 'issues' with casting that I need to be prepared for? The reason I'm choosing pure tin, is due to NOT having any real casting equipment, like high temp furnace or crucibles etc. Tin can be melted on a propane camping stove in a stainless steel measuring cup.
The only way that 1911s like SWC is the bottom edge of the chamber mouth needs to be radiused (throated) slightly. Care must be taken not to overdo this as then the case is unsupported just above the web of the case head - can result in blown cases. The job is best left to a GUNSMITH to do. If he overcuts the chamber mouth, he'll give you a new barrel. Or just stick with RN lead bullets or hardball ammo.
Good information! Thanks for sharing! So why wouldn't range scrap has the hardness for standard velocity? because they were designed for shooting, shouldn't this type already on hardness 12 or so?
Don Gayan Amarasinghe - Thanks for your comments... and you have a hit on it... range scrap, straight up, can be used for cowboy, standard or target shooting. If used for auto pistols, though, will need slightly harder bullets to BHN 15 or so to allow smooth functioning... Magnum and light rifle will need BHN 18 or so. Best Regards, FC
Thank you for this video I almost did the casting with pure lead. I always thought there was something else mixed into the lead out of common sense. Because wouldn't the bullet mushroom before reaching the target if it was pure lead or liquify again before leaving the barrel? If so I'm sure glad I went back and looked for your video on this subject.
BLADES 777 - Easy confusion on this as black powder shooters and shotgun slug users are recommended to use pure lead only for their projectiles. In the early days, round balls and simple conicals were casted and they are easy to cast with pure lead. But when better rifling came along, the utilization of grease grooves required some tin to be added to the lead to increase hardness (tin does a little of that), but also to allow better detailed casting (tin allows molten alloy to flow better). As velocities increased, more hardness was required and antimony is the key there - 1% of antimony gives 1 more BHN point of hardness. Water quenching cast bullets dropped straight from the mold gives an easy +1 to 2 BHN and is very worthwhile to get. But we all need to be reminded every now and then that bullet fit to the gun is #1 for accuracy, performance and clean shooting. Bullet hardness is a more distant #2 in importance and now with powder coating, bullet hardness is even a farther #2. Bullet fit is still #1. Best Regards, FC
Heloo FC. New to bullet casting and i am looking for wisdom and advice. Plan on casting bullets from wheel wheights, nothing else, just them, for 9mm luger. I have 124grain Lee mold. With water quenching wil the bullet be hard egnouf for standard velocity 9mm luger. Hope to get about 16 or 17 BHN. Do you have any expirience in casting bullets from wheel wheights, and what Is your opinion and advice on this mater? Thank's in advance. Learnd a lot from Your videos, very very helpful, keep up the good work. 👌😊
Thanks for all the helpful videos FortuneCookie. I’m just getting started in casting and you’ve answered a lot of my questions. However, I do have more. Just before I saw this video I ordered from Roto. I picked up lead, tin and antimony, all separately. The antimony is in raw form, so my question is, have you ever melted raw antimony and how did you go about doing it. Also, what do you recommend the ratio for lead, tin and antimony. I’ll be loading for my Marlin 1895SBL. Thanks again.
How much is too much Tin and Antimony in you cast bullets? I have a bunch of range scrap thats way to soft was looking to buy Foundry Type to mix to get my harness, is it ok to go over 6% antimony?
I hope I didn't miss the answer to my question but I'm new to lead casting and was curious if you had pure lead maybe melted down from fishing sinkers and diving gear, how much antimony and how much tin in weight would you need to cook up 10 pounds of said lead above? I heard you say 1 lb of antimony to 6 lb of lead. I'm also bad at math so I couldn't do the calculations myself, also its 4:15 in the morning.
Peter421-Fishing sinkers and diving weights are practically pure lead - pure lead is very valuable for making shotgun slugs and black powder shooters would love to get a hold of that as well. If you are thinking about casting for shotgun or black powder in the future, my advice to you is keep the fishing sinkers and diving weights for that. Range scrap is good lead for making bullets for handgun and light rifle - just add 1 pound of linotype to 5 pounds of range scrap (safe ratio) for shooting up to +P handgun. I do have other videos that explain mixing more in depth…Best Regards
FCLC45, Question for you: does a bullet that is almost perfectly balanced have any advantages over one that is not? Is it best for a bullet to be nose heavy or base heavy? When a company like LEE designs a mold/s does the balance of the bullet play a roll in their design? Thanks, AGW.
AirGunWarriors - You did not factor in if barrels are rifled or smoothbore. Smoothbore - most accurate is the nose heavy-hollow base, then round ball, least would be any elongated bullet and worse base heavy. In rifled, any bullet that lacks gyroscopic stability from having weight variations along the width of the bullet would be inaccurate. As long as the rate of rifling stabilizes the bullet, different weight centers along the front-back axis can all be accurate as long as the bullets are uniform. Note the benchrest shooters using hollow point bullets. Lee's design of their 1 oz slug having more balanced distribution of weight compared to their more nose heavy 7/8 oz is a bit baffling. Best Regards
Quick question. What ratio of Linotype would you mix into cleaned range lead, for say .357, to handle velocities up to 1500/fps in 125 grain? I have seen sources call for a 50-50 mix of Linotype to pure lead, but like you said range lead already has antimony in it. I would be using a water quench as well. I just dont want to cast overly hard bullets.
Dert McGert - If you go to the RotoMetals Bullet Casting Alloys page, the formula is 8.6 + .3 (%tin) + .9 (%antimony) and you can add 1 BHN for water quench and 1 for age hardening. So if you mix your lino 1:3 range scrap (4% Sb), you can get to 17-18 BHN with water quench and age. Some other posters have commented that pure lead is more like BHN 4 than 8.6, but who am I to argue with a company that's been around for 75 years. And besides, the formula works for me every time. If you subscribe to the BHN 4 school, then go with a 1: 2 ratio. Otherwise 1:3 according to RM. What favors RM is that we tend to cast our bullets too hard - the most important thing is matching size of bullet to the gun. Elmer Keith used to shoot his magnums with 1-30 alloy and no gas checks. The 50-50 that you refer to is actually an alloy called Hardball 2% tin, 6% antimony; 92% lead. It's a good alloy for auto pistols. The 1:3 is actually very close to that - only difference is slightly less tin (but you don't need much tin anyway as it adds castability, doesn't really add hardness) - Good castin' to ya...
I use car battery lead. I find it very good. In Malta were I live wheel weights are almost inexistent. No one let you collect lead from the range. To import lead from abroad will be more expensive then buying ready made bullets due to freight costs. 50 bullets cost me around 4$.
9mmpara - 50 bullets for $4 ($8 per 100) not bad pricing for 9mm bullets. You should let us know how you get the lead out of car batteries - that's something I have always told other casters to avoid as the chemicals in there are too harsh and toxic. Best Regards and Hail to Malta!! - located strategically in the Mediterranean...
Hi. First I pierce each battery cell with a Phillips screwdriver to drain out acid in battery. Then I leave it for a week so it will dry out . I open the top of the battery pulling out the posts and connecting bars together with plates. I leave everything to dry well . While wearing a protective mask rubber gloves and gown I separate the plates from connecting bars. I dust off the spongy lead from the grids. The whole operation occurs outside. Then wearing same protective equipment and out side I melt posts, connecting bars and grids on a gas stove making ingots. While everything is melting I stay away from melting pot returning after half an hour to skim dross. Once lead is clean there are no toxic chemicals. Then I start casting,. fill of mould is excellent. Lead is toxic however battery lead is slightly more toxic but once chemicals are burnt it becomes common lead. Open batteries should be handled with care due to acid burns. Use protective clothings goggles and filter masks. Work outside.
9mmpara Thanks for the info…If I didn't have a good source of range scrap, those car batteries might be a try, but I'd look at batteries as being a last resort…Good castin' to ya
AirGunWarriors Well, for big Dutch Ovens, you'd add 1 pound of tin to 40 pounds of roofing flash, or lead pipes or dental x-ray foil (or small batch - 10 pounds to 1/4 pound of tin). But I've never seen 1 pound of pure tin. Closest I got to that was when I first started casting (over 40 years ago when I was a new wage earner), I went into this plumbing supply store and they had 50-50 bar solder. They had two boxes of these bars for 50 cents a bar and I cleaned them out. Plumbers used lots of lead for lead water pipes back then. But I recall 50 cents was worth a lot more than today as the price of gasoline was 35 cents a gallon. 40-1 alloy is 2.5% tin alloy. That would be a very soft lead alloy very close to the hardness of pure lead (would only add 1 BHN point). The tin in there would provide for good casting flow. Best to ya...
I ordered some from Rotometals last week and was planning on mixing it with my wheel weights I have for my 44 Mag bullets. (I tried it without and got leading big time, my lead was to soft) . How are you cutting it?
+Delbert McCord -- No need to cut it - RM give you the alloys in 5 pound bars - Make a little Sharpie mark in 1/5ths (1 pound ) and melt the alloy in accordingly - channel grip pliers helps in melting in what we want. But check your cylinder throats - if your bullets are .001-.002" bigger than you cylinder throats, you have the right diameter bullets for leading control and accuracy. That is the primary consideration for good shooting. Bullet hardness is important, but a secondary consideration. Adequate lubrication is #3. There are vids on all of these... Good castin' and good shootin' to ya... FC
ocean374 - I don't even add tin to cast slugs - there really aren't any sharp grease grooves or sharp detail areas on slugs that using pure lead can't handle. Range scrap is a fair bit harder than pure lead and is not recommended for casting slugs. However, a lot of casters do that anyway. If you only shoot your slugs through cylinder or improved cylinder barrels - shouldn't have any trouble, but again pure lead is the recommendation. Best Regards to you, FC
I'm new to reloading and am going to buy some lead from rotometals and they give a BHN. I am assuming that that is air cooled. Have you ever checked how much hardness you gain from water quenched and do you gain anymore frorn cold water vs cool water.
bill84345 Continue to look for lead sources in your locality - there is lots of lead out there - note the rangemaster was given 500 pounds of big lead ingots by a friend (lucky guy) - you can post a want ad on the bulletin board of your local range. I really like RotoMetals Linotype and SuperHard alloy for hardening my range scrap lead. The BHN formula on RotoMetals is not quenched. You will hear that water quenching raises BHNs into the 20s. I have not found that to be true. Conservatively speaking, 1 BHN is all you get by water quenching. However, we gain another 1 BHN just letting the bullet sit for 10 days before loading them. I can't tell 1 BHN with my thumbnail dig test. And I seriously question that you could get a reliable 1 BHN determination from any of the available lead hardness testers commonly found with casters. The quenching forces harder grain structure formation, and some casters anneal their bullets to get even extra hardness. I don't do that as the most reliable way to harden our bullets is by addition of antimony (1 BHN for every percentage point of antimony present in the alloy) - and 1-2% tin is all we need to get alloy flow and hot mold fill out. I use cold water out of the tap in 5 gallon buckets. And you will need a 2nd bucket of water if you are doing a long casting session as the first bucket becomes fairly warm water after 1200 bullets. Good castin' to ya
+bill84345 - Some casters even recommend ice water...they don't mention if they keep adding ice or taking the temperature of the water. Bullet casting is not rocket science. If it was, the many casters of history would never have had any success. I'm even talking about the development of our magnum cartridges that was all done with cast bullets back in the day. Elmer Keith, Ray Thompson, Skeeter Skelton et al - none of them bothered with all that - they melted wheel weights, pure lead and added some linotype as necessary. They didn't even do any quenching. And they shot their bullets at 1500 fps and were happy. I just use 2 1/2 gallons of water from the garden spigot and let fly. You will hear all kinds of increase in BHN from water quenching and then from heat treatment of bullets. If we cast at BHN 18 and water quench to get BHN 26 - 33 (that is really too amazing to be true - to be fair - it doesn't on any predictable or consistent basis. Go ahead and quench your bullets - if you are getting BHN 26-33, you might as well be trying to dent granite with your sawing fingernail test). I'd recommend that we take and increase of 1 BHN as a good reliable number. It's not much, but worthwhile to get. As for heat treating our cast bullets - I have never done that as the amount of work required, I'll just buy some of the fine jacketed bullets instead. For my cast lead bullets, I want good, safe, inexpensive, time economical and accurate bullets in big mounds. My 45/45/10 lubed and even powder coated cast bullets give me that. If I have to heat treat to allow me to shoot cast bullets at jacketed bullet velocities, I'll just buy the jacketed - hard heavy cast bullets work best for deep penetration with big meplats. A bullet that is too hard will be brittle and not hold together defeating the way cast bullets work. If I have to be a metallurgist to get cast bullets to work (requires a small amount of arsenic to be in the alloy), I'll just pass on that, and go to the range with my cast reloads instead... Have a great day, FC
FC, I have a couple hundred pounds of pure lead. What would you recommend for a ratio of linotype to pure lead mix? I will be casting for 9mm, 40 cal and 45acp.
+Paul Riley -- I hate mixing pure lead because I like to use my pure lead for making shotgun slugs. And my supplies of pure lead are drying up - miss that free pure lead. I like to mix with base raw material of range scrap - already has 2-4% antimony content to start with. If you are mixing pure lead - You can mix lino 1 to 2 pure lead water quench your bullets to get bullets good for up to +P revolver shooting. Just a bit more lino to that for those auto pistols of yours. Or you can mix lino 1 to 3 pure lead and powder coat for everything. I don't like pure lead powder coated bullets for all handgun shooting for the reasons above. What I would do is powder coat bullets cast from straight range scrap...Best Regards to ya, FC
Rangermosley7 - Depends on what BHN you want to wind up with. Then go to the RotoMetals Casting Alloys page - at the bottom, you will have a formula to determine your mix - please come back for a detailed answer if you have any problems. Also, if you talk to the RotoMetals people when placing your order, they will tell you how much to mix. Tell 'em FortuneCookie sent you and they'll say "Who....??" or not. Range scrap is 3-4% antimony and BHN 11. Also, add 1 BHN point for quenching (conservative) and 1 BHN for age hardening (10 days - 2 weeks) If you powder coat your bullets, you will get no leading, but you will lose the quench and age additions. Best to ya, FC
hello fc i have 2 bars that look like your bar of linotype I was told it was zinc an lead 50-50 min but how do I tell it melts like lead but win it hardens its dull gray I tried to skim it at low temp but I don't think its zink many its what u have
Doug newman - Zinc does not alloy well with lead - Zinc alloys well with copper to make brass. If it gets into lead - it makes a curdly disaster. So your bars are probably lead and tin or antimony. 50-50 bar solder (lead and tin) was very common for back in the days when lead water pipes were in all the houses. And plumber's always had that melted in their shops and ready to go. Your alloy is probably best used to harden other lead, but no way to tell exactly what you have. Best to ya, FC
I have found if I reply to too many of your videos I get flagged as spam, so just know I watch them all, but don't think I can comment on all of them on the same day.
Hey, Fortunecookie45LC love your videos they are very informative. As i am on my way to start casting bullets i wonder if its a good idea to just buy pure antimony(99,6%) and mix it in the lead? Any issues doing that? The reason im thinking of this is because i live in Norway and trying to hold the shipping costs down. And what is the tin content in range scrap do i need to add some?
SUCCSESS! It was a sunny day Wednesday, so I broke out the Lee Furnas and crushed up .5lb antimony, cut off a .5lb of tin and 9lbs of led, put it in the pot in that order, Cranked up the heat (which got up to 1050f) and,, voile’,, Lyman #2. Next is Linotype.
+ASUS DAG - You do need heat to get antimony to mix with lead. Getting antimony to alloy with lead is hard enough that RotoMetals does all the work for us with their RotoMetals Superhard alloy. I like to use that whenever I want to mix a harder alloy... Best Regards to ya
$.35 then vs $.50 now...considering buying power of the dollar then and now, cheaper now. Guess this just means, once one has the set up, reloading is cheaper than ever...but I don't know anything.
Did you know that good fonts of Monotype are worth a fortune to a letterpress printer? I am getting $ 70.00 for a font that weighs just under 6 pounds.
Silber MaiKatzchen- And I distinctly remember the joyful days when I went to the metal recycler and bought 300 pounds at a time for 55 cents a pound!! Price has gone up 20x in 35 years…Best Regards, and thanks for posting that good info...
Bret B. It's OK though because I only buy the linotype and Superhard alloys at roughly $3 a pound or so...and I mix these anywhere from 1 to 3 to 1 to 5 (larger numbers are the ratio to range scrap and I get the range scrap for free). Plain range scrap is good for target handgun bullets as is...Rotometals has a policy of buy 100 pounds and shipping is free - that is very fair. Water quenching and aging also adds some hardness to our bullets and that is free hardening. Best to ya
jason stout No, I was trying to measure my speech and not used to doing videos. Took me 50-75 videos to get relaxed and comfortable - my latest videos don't have that problem. If I had a director, I'm sure that would have been caught immediately...Best to ya
Your audio will be improved if you drink some water before recording to wet your mouth so it won't be heard as it snaps every time it is re-opened after being closed, dozens of times in one short video. The quality of our equipment has become so high that things are being recorded that we never heard before.
HappyQuails - This was one of my early videos, and yes, there was that problem - we don't realize things until we hear ourselves recorded. Dry mouth with age is a bear. Other posters have thought that I was eating or chewing gum while talking, but you're on the beam with this one...After the first 50 or 60 videos, we learn a lot as TH-cam video posters - still learning.... Have a great day
Dear, I forward new price for Grade A Tin (Tin rod, Tin ingots, Tin powder, Tin anode, and Babbitt Metal): 1) Pure Tin $ 31 kg. 2) Babbit Metal (ASTM, DIN, GOST, BS): Babbit 90 - $ 36.05 kg; Babbit 89 - $ 35.85 kg; Babbit 88 - $ 35.66 kg; Babbit 87 - $ 35.27 kg; Babbit 84 - $ 34.69 Kg; Babbit 80 - $ 33.43 kg; TEGOv738 (MP81) - $ 34.01 kg; TEGOSTAR®738 - $ 36.63 kg; Babbit 55 - $ 24.52 kg; Babbit 10 - $ 9.40 kg; e Babbit 5 - $ 7.07 kg. 3) Tin Solder: Solder Bars 20: - $ 10.85 kg; Solder Bars 30: - $ 14.63 kg; Solder Bars 33: - $ 14.73 kg; Solder Bars 40: - $ 18.31 kg; Solder Bars 50: - $ 22.09 kg; Solder Bars 60: - $ 25.78 kg; Solder Bars 63: - $ 26.94 kg; Solder Bars: - 62x36x2Ag: $ 35.08 kg; Solder Bars: - 94Sn x 6Sb: $ 39.73 kg; e Solder Bars: - 97Sn x 3Ag: $ 52.33 kg. If you need this, please contact me! Looking forward to working with you! __________________________ Prezados Senhores, Tem consumo de Estanho, Metal Patente ou soldas no processo produtivo? Caso tenha por favor me incluir nas próximas cotações. ---------------------------- Cari Sinhori, Siamo una fabbrica brasiliana e produciamo stagno e suoi derivati (leghe di stagno). Possiamo scambiare Tin (Sn) in base al prezzo LME. Si prega di restituire questo contatto se si consumano questi prodotti che produciamo. grazie per l'aiuto ---------------------------- Dear Sirs, Have a consumption of Tin (Sn), Babbitt ASTM-B23 in the production process? If so, please include me in your next purchases. Sincerely, Atenciosamente, Adriano Nervis Commercial - Anda Metais Tel: +55 11 2228 3319 - Cel: +55 11 98666-3969 WhatsApp central@andametais.com.br
I just made a big score on linotype pigs a old print shop went out of business and I picked up 68- 20lb pigs and also around 400 lbs of letters which is lino/mono.ps I really enjoy all your videos I have watched most of them two or three times.
I've been casting for about five decades. I agree that RotoMetals is a great outfit to order from: nice and clean, and if you buy enough (last time I checked it was $149) you get free shipping. To simplify my casting, I use Linotype almost exclusively, and occasionally Lyman #2. Midway is also a good source, but they are a bit higher, and free shipping is only an occasional deal. RotoMetals has the most diverse choice of alloys.
I've been learning a lot about casting my own bullets from watching you and I made 108 muzzleloader bullets yesterday with the lee real mold not bad for my first time casting
I've spoken to Rotometals personally before watching this video and I had excellent, professional and very knowledgeable customer service. I believe they would treat you the same whether you bought a bar or a truckload. I would recommend them and I plan on doing business with them in the future.
Don Myers - Yes, they are good folks to work with, indeed. They've also been in business for nearly 80 years. Have a great day, FC
Rotometals are everything you said they are, I’ve been using them for years. Also, thanks to Worlander TV for if you can play tic-tac-toe you can figure out how much to blend your metals for the Hardness you want. 😊😊
PGIFilms-Thanks for your interesting comments. No, separating metals from dross is some foundry work that very few bullet casters will get into. More power to ya if you can get that done. But antimony is very hard to work with and tin is in solution with the lead. Personally, I'll leave all that up to those like yourself that have an interest. I'm just happy getting my range scrap and processing it into beautiful bullets…Best Regards
Thanks for the advice. I’m going to pick up a respirator tonight for added precaution. I chatted with a gal from Roto Metal and she said that I could put in small pieces of antimony to my lead and tin, but with pot only getting up to 900f it might take a couple of hours. I think I’ll start off small and try to make a couple pounds of linotype. If my memory serves me correct is 84% lead, 12% antimony and 4% tin. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Wish me luck.
Larry Evans-reply2-as I have found that the adhesives used in stick ons sometimes leaves rainbow residues on the surface of melted lead that is work to remove. You might save your stick ons until you have enough to melt them into ingots separately from your WWs. WWs will melt, flux and skim nicely. The stick ons are almost pure lead and perfect for use to make muzzleloading, cap and ball, or shotgun slugs just as they are.
yea, I went to my close public range today and they cleaned the back stops over the weekend. could tell soon as I rolled up and noticed immediately new grade and no trenches from rounds pilling on top each other and threw the dirt. o well off to the scrap yard tomorrow to see what they have. hoping they got some more lead ww in.
hiaruga-Thanks for your comment-Rotometals is neat company - free shipping if order is $100-and their alloys are made from virgin metals - clean bars. They sell to a lot of commercial casters. Best Regards...
Larry Evans-Thanks for the great question. Lead Wheel Weights (WW or ww) are perfect for use to make any standard or +P or magnum pistol bullet just as they are. If you add the stick on weights (softer lead), you will indeed soften your WW. Once softened, your alloy can be used for standard velocity or cowboy bullets, but not for +P or magnums. WWs can also be used for lower powered rifle bullets. I would be careful just melting the stick ons into your good WWs as see2
I realize it's pretty randomly asking but does anybody know a good website to stream new movies online ?
@Wells Nolan flixportal xD
@Boston Nathanael thank you, I went there and it seems like a nice service :D I really appreciate it !!
@Wells Nolan you are welcome =)
bak1911-one visit by the tinsel fairy early in my casting career - I dumped some wheelweights into molten lead and some bubbles started coming up. I got up and went around the corner of the house just in time for a very loud pop. Every bit of lead was blown out of the pot and all over everything including the chair that I had been sitting in. Only takes once to learn never to dump lead of unknown water or oil content into molten lead.Been 30 years of safe casting since-good work getting lead-
Vengenace Early-don't know how your comment was flagged as spam-I sure didn't do it…Thanks for your comment. I'm very glad you got that 60 - will make lots of bullets (approx 2100 44/45 200 grainers) And what you are finding is what is being reported just about everywhere. Some lucky casters still getting WWs, but, as you say, less all the time. Best Regards…Always like your comments...
bak1911-Thanks for your comment. Rotometals is a fine outfit to deal with - their alloys are really clean and reliable. If our casters get range scrap that has been shoveled up by the range, we have to do a check to see if any loaded rounds (esp 22LRs) are in the mix dropped by shooters when they are changing targets. I've never had that problem as I pick up the range scrap myself. Range scrap is good stuff 2-4%antimony. Those tin bars will last you as only a little tin is needed in mix.
Daniel Gutierrez-reply addendum-Didn't mean to overdo the antimony warning-I handle Superhard alloy with my bare hands as the antimony is not any more problematic than any lead - we just use our usual precautions of not touching our mouth and watching for ventilation, fume exposure, and thorough washing showering after casting - if we do these things and watch for casting safety, casting is a very good and economical pastime...Best Regards...
Another good source for tin if your local recycling center will sell you the lead they collect is bar solder. Typically its marked in the molded bar 60/40 or so with 60% tin and 40% lead. The best alternate source is scrap pewter as its 90% tin and often also appears as "lead" in scrapyards as well in the same bin and even appears in resale shops from time to time for 2-3 dollars per lb depending on the piece.
Its wise to melt the pewter in your scrap pot or a dipper based pot as the 8% of stuff or so you don't want is often copper in newer pieces and will clog a bottom pour pot.
Wow, if you can get pewter for $2-3 a pound, that is fantastic. If I ran into any of that, I'd start by buying 100 pounds and ask for more…Thanks for posting this...
It's a Sony Handicam...bought it a little less than a year ago. Nothing special - it's HD and a consumer model. Thanks for the question and also for the feedback
Do a Google search for Rotometals and they'll flip you right to it. But if you don't cast a lot, the shipping is prohibitive for small orders. If you have a source of wheel weights, your search is over - plain wheel weights are great for all cast bullets - and if you drop quench your bullets, they are great for max magnum and even light rifle loading.
Excellent video, very informative. You really take the time to explain. Now I just wish you could make a video that shows the entire process-determining what lead you have-whats missing to make it hard enough, and how to determine how much tin/antimony to add in a given batch. Thanks.
chalemi-Thanks for your questions- Any shooter can determine the BHN they need from the formula at RotoMetals BHN = 9 + 1(% of Antimony in final mix) + .3 (% of tin in final mix) + 1 for water quenching bullets; whereas 9 is the BHN of raw pure lead. So, for instance, cowboy action or standard velocity target shooting needs BHN 12 so range scrap has approx. 3% antimony - guess what? You have BHN 12 with plain range scrap-melt it, clean it, ingot it, then cast and lowd 'em. +P or +P+ needs BHN 15-16 and magnums and light rifle need BHN 18; full power rifle needs BHN 20. Linotype has 4% tin and 12% antimony - calculate how much you need to add to get the percentages you want in the final mix. Hint - RM Superhard alloy 30% antimony is very helpful to make the alloys we want...
I think in the near future we are all going to have to buy our lead. The days of the free wheel weights are over. I got a good bucket full after sorting. But the rest was zinc ! half of it Zinc ! Still a good 60 pounds of lead after sorting but it look much bigger before I sorted it. Still next time he said I would have to buy it !
45LC, thanks for tip on Rotometals. I'm definitely going to check them out.
Can't answer that question as I just use my thumbrnail - if I can just get a little dent after pressing with my thumbnail until my thumbnail turns white, it's good for regular and +P loads. If I go with magnum loads, I use the same thumbnail, but make a little sawing action back and forth as I press - if it dents more than a little dent - that bullet is back to +P. I know this sounds unscientific, but lead testers work basically the same way. I have never leaded a barrel in 40 years of shots.
I like the super hard alloy an the pure tin in 1 pd bars. just need to get to the range today to get scrap or to the scrap yard...
Thanks for the info man; I also saw from some vid a while ago that they get there lead from dentist office's.
Allway's love to learn more Steve...thank you!. I will let you know how my first casting's go when I get my Lee mold for 7/8 oz slug's,I hear tell they fly a little better than the 1 oz slug's!!!...
Thank you so much for your reply. You've helped me a lot.
Charles Frazier- Good question. I have not tried either their BHN 12 or 18 lead, but the price sounds right on. If you buy the same from RotoMetals, they have free shipping with a $100 purchase (this is from my memory, but you can check that out). As always price comparison is a good idea. Some have found RM pure lead to be dirty - I have not had problems with RM, but never ordered pure lead (use dental foil) Buying from Ebay or Amazon might get you some weird stuff - or not...Best Regards...
Daniel Gutierrez-reply2-Rotometals gives a good formula on their website for mixing alloys to any BHN you want. For casters who want to go with pre-mixed alloys - You can't go wrong with Lyman #2 alloy from Rotometals ready to go ideal for your 45/70. Or you can mix it like in my video on Mixing BHN 18 Alloy (title is close, but you can search for it easy). Raw antimony is going to be a bear to get lead hot enough to mix and more you work with toxic raw antimony, the less happy I am for you
bak1911 get as much of that lead ww as you can. WWs are very fine for bullets just as they are. There will come a day when all the lead will have been sent overseas. The range scrap will build up and be there for you to collect before long...Thanks again for the comments Good casting to ya...
The one thing I kept waiting for you to comment on the was the actual BHN for your 6lb range scrap to 1lb linotype recipe. Can you share what that BHN ended up being? TIA, Brooks
working on it tomorrow morning soon as they open. cut a deal with the one guy that fishes. I have sinker and jig molds told him if he gave me such a weight in lead after I clean it ill give him a 1/3 to 1/2 back in what ever jigs and sinkers he wants or needs. they had a buncha lead sheeting, lead pipe and imam rade the ww container. steel plate and 5 gal bucket are going to be my friends tomorrow. how many times have you been visited by the tinsel fairy? take it easy safe casting.
Have you ever tried using the dross from initial melts to obtain the antimony? I was thinking if I had better tools that can maintain & monitor the temperature I could separate the tin, lead, zinc, & antimony in bullet alloys from most impurities picked up in using range scrap. Tin separation will be hard, but only needs to be done if trying get softer near-pure lead. Haven't had a chance to see if it would be cost/time effective trying to use multiple melts to obtain the antimony.
VE-Thanks for the heads up…That is good to know...
Daniel Gutierrez-I don't know many casters who work with raw antimony. Please be careful with it because 1) is toxic material and I have advised casters to avoid handling it 2) melting point is much higher than lead and is difficult to get alloy together-My best recommendations for working with antimony is to use Rotometals Superhard alloy 30% antimony, 70% lead mixed and ready for us to alloy with other metals. Raw tin is safe and easy to handle and easy to mix into lead alloys see2
FortuneCookie45LC very late response here. Antimony melting point is irrelevant. It dissolves into the lead like sugar cubes into water. The warmer the water the faster the dissolution.
800 deg F is sufficient to dissolve Sb into Pb . Cooler temperature will just take longer.
Adding Sb actually lowers the mp of Lead alloys. The higher the Sb content the lower the mp of the Pb alloy.
I'm buying NICE scrap lead today for $1 per pound. Instead of my fingernail, I use a Fender Medium guitar pick to check hardness.
joelopezj128 - Once again - sorry to not respond till now - your comment was flagged as spam(?). Antimony is expensive and difficult to use in its pure state. Mixing it into lead is best left up to smelters. I like to get Linotype from Rotometals. Fortunately, I don't need much of it to harden my lead so that a 6 to 1 Lino-range scrap (2-4%antimonty) + water quench works well for up to 1050 fps where I do 75% of my handgun shooting. Best Regards...
this is awesome. I bought lead for swagging which is 6 brinell and i have about 60lbs left with me. I would like to cast 147 grain 9mm boolits and 325grain 50 Beowulf boolits. Can u guide me on what brinell hardness I need for each and how the formula on how to create right hardness using linotype from rotometals
i cast fishing sinkers, 50 caliber, 44 caliber for black powder. i have a question? will what they sell melt in a 700 watt lead melting pot? i am thinking of buying a small kiln to create my own. then i was thinking about issues like kiln have to cut materials into very small pieces and pouring. I have made my own bullet lube with a ratio of alox. i am big into casting but issue is it requires so many molds. i been thinking about fabricating my own but at the end of the day some things require so much almost better off buying already produced. fishing weights, old toy soldiers, bullets, items for jewelry is what i am going into the large goal. just my hobby
I am new to casting. I have no access to range lead. I have collected some wheel weights and in seperating out the steel & zink I also seperated out the stick on ?weights. How do I merge the stick on's in with the wheel weights? The stick on's seem to be softer lead?
If you are casting with pure lead and you are going to powder coat and quench the bullet would that be ok?
have you cast bismuth and tin mix to make bullets?
Have you tried Missouri Bullet bullet lead? It's the same alloy the make their bullets of. Cost, $2.07 a pound + shipping.
I noticed in your other video about charting lead alloy hardness, that the round muffin shaped ingots of 22 Brinnell alloy had an area that appeared to have gaps and bubbles in them, about halfway through their vertical thickness. It was easy to see on the sides of those muffin shaped ingots. Is that what you were talking about when you said that this hard lead alloy may have problems filling out the mold evenly unless you add tin?
HighlanderNorth1 - Those bubbles were caused by oils or grease in the ingot molds. Once that burns off, the bubbles stop. If I alloy with SuperHard alloy 30% antimony to get hard bullets, a small amount of tin added in the way of some linotype - helps mold fill out noticeably. Best of the Christmas and Holiday Season to ya, FC Steve
FortuneCookie45LC
Thanks. One last question: Speaking of tin, I am going to try casting with pure tin. When in its pure form(99.9%), does tin have any 'issues' with casting that I need to be prepared for? The reason I'm choosing pure tin, is due to NOT having any real casting equipment, like high temp furnace or crucibles etc. Tin can be melted on a propane camping stove in a stainless steel measuring cup.
The only way that 1911s like SWC is the bottom edge of the chamber mouth needs to be radiused (throated) slightly. Care must be taken not to overdo this as then the case is unsupported just above the web of the case head - can result in blown cases. The job is best left to a GUNSMITH to do. If he overcuts the chamber mouth, he'll give you a new barrel. Or just stick with RN lead bullets or hardball ammo.
Good information! Thanks for sharing! So why wouldn't range scrap has the hardness for standard velocity? because they were designed for shooting, shouldn't this type already on hardness 12 or so?
Don Gayan Amarasinghe - Thanks for your comments... and you have a hit on it... range scrap, straight up, can be used for cowboy, standard or target shooting. If used for auto pistols, though, will need slightly harder bullets to BHN 15 or so to allow smooth functioning... Magnum and light rifle will need BHN 18 or so. Best Regards, FC
Thank you for this video I almost did the casting with pure lead. I always thought there was something else mixed into the lead out of common sense. Because wouldn't the bullet mushroom before reaching the target if it was pure lead or liquify again before leaving the barrel? If so I'm sure glad I went back and looked for your video on this subject.
BLADES 777 - Easy confusion on this as black powder shooters and shotgun slug users are recommended to use pure lead only for their projectiles. In the early days, round balls and simple conicals were casted and they are easy to cast with pure lead. But when better rifling came along, the utilization of grease grooves required some tin to be added to the lead to increase hardness (tin does a little of that), but also to allow better detailed casting (tin allows molten alloy to flow better). As velocities increased, more hardness was required and antimony is the key there - 1% of antimony gives 1 more BHN point of hardness. Water quenching cast bullets dropped straight from the mold gives an easy +1 to 2 BHN and is very worthwhile to get. But we all need to be reminded every now and then that bullet fit to the gun is #1 for accuracy, performance and clean shooting. Bullet hardness is a more distant #2 in importance and now with powder coating, bullet hardness is even a farther #2. Bullet fit is still #1. Best Regards, FC
Heloo FC.
New to bullet casting and i am looking for wisdom and advice.
Plan on casting bullets from wheel wheights, nothing else, just them, for 9mm luger. I have 124grain Lee mold. With water quenching wil the bullet be hard egnouf for standard velocity 9mm luger. Hope to get about 16 or 17 BHN. Do you have any expirience in casting bullets from wheel wheights, and what Is your opinion and advice on this mater? Thank's in advance. Learnd a lot from Your videos, very very helpful, keep up the good work. 👌😊
Thanks for all the helpful videos FortuneCookie. I’m just getting started in casting and you’ve answered a lot of my questions. However, I do have more. Just before I saw this video I ordered from Roto. I picked up lead, tin and antimony, all separately. The antimony is in raw form, so my question is, have you ever melted raw antimony and how did you go about doing it. Also, what do you recommend the ratio for lead, tin and antimony. I’ll be loading for my Marlin 1895SBL. Thanks again.
Would a dollar a pound be a fair price for the old mono type
Where can I find antimony? Is it cheap or expensive
How can you contact Reloaders Network and get them to respond. I usually don’t trust those who do not respond.
How much is too much Tin and Antimony in you cast bullets? I have a bunch of range scrap thats way to soft was looking to buy Foundry Type to mix to get my harness, is it ok to go over 6% antimony?
How do you cast hard bullets
I hope I didn't miss the answer to my question but I'm new to lead casting and was curious if you had pure lead maybe melted down from fishing sinkers and diving gear, how much antimony and how much tin in weight would you need to cook up 10 pounds of said lead above? I heard you say 1 lb of antimony to 6 lb of lead. I'm also bad at math so I couldn't do the calculations myself, also its 4:15 in the morning.
Peter421-Fishing sinkers and diving weights are practically pure lead - pure lead is very valuable for making shotgun slugs and black powder shooters would love to get a hold of that as well. If you are thinking about casting for shotgun or black powder in the future, my advice to you is keep the fishing sinkers and diving weights for that. Range scrap is good lead for making bullets for handgun and light rifle - just add 1 pound of linotype to 5 pounds of range scrap (safe ratio) for shooting up to +P handgun. I do have other videos that explain mixing more in depth…Best Regards
FCLC45, Question for you: does a bullet that is almost perfectly balanced have any advantages over one that is not? Is it best for a bullet to be nose heavy or base heavy? When a company like LEE designs a mold/s does the balance of the bullet play a roll in their design? Thanks, AGW.
AirGunWarriors - You did not factor in if barrels are rifled or smoothbore. Smoothbore - most accurate is the nose heavy-hollow base, then round ball, least would be any elongated bullet and worse base heavy. In rifled, any bullet that lacks gyroscopic stability from having weight variations along the width of the bullet would be inaccurate. As long as the rate of rifling stabilizes the bullet, different weight centers along the front-back axis can all be accurate as long as the bullets are uniform. Note the benchrest shooters using hollow point bullets. Lee's design of their 1 oz slug having more balanced distribution of weight compared to their more nose heavy 7/8 oz is a bit baffling. Best Regards
Quick question. What ratio of Linotype would you mix into cleaned range lead, for say .357, to handle velocities up to 1500/fps in 125 grain? I have seen sources call for a 50-50 mix of Linotype to pure lead, but like you said range lead already has antimony in it.
I would be using a water quench as well. I just dont want to cast overly hard bullets.
Dert McGert - If you go to the RotoMetals Bullet Casting Alloys page, the formula is 8.6 + .3 (%tin) + .9 (%antimony) and you can add 1 BHN for water quench and 1 for age hardening. So if you mix your lino 1:3 range scrap (4% Sb), you can get to 17-18 BHN with water quench and age. Some other posters have commented that pure lead is more like BHN 4 than 8.6, but who am I to argue with a company that's been around for 75 years. And besides, the formula works for me every time. If you subscribe to the BHN 4 school, then go with a 1: 2 ratio. Otherwise 1:3 according to RM. What favors RM is that we tend to cast our bullets too hard - the most important thing is matching size of bullet to the gun. Elmer Keith used to shoot his magnums with 1-30 alloy and no gas checks. The 50-50 that you refer to is actually an alloy called Hardball 2% tin, 6% antimony; 92% lead. It's a good alloy for auto pistols. The 1:3 is actually very close to that - only difference is slightly less tin (but you don't need much tin anyway as it adds castability, doesn't really add hardness) - Good castin' to ya...
Does powder coating improve that? Does the process of cooking the powder coat in the oven increase the BH?
Hey fortune cookie where do you think I can get a good source of antimony instead of using like eBay and stuff like that
I use car battery lead. I find it very good. In Malta were I live wheel weights are almost inexistent. No one let you collect lead from the range. To import lead from abroad will be more expensive then buying ready made bullets due to freight costs. 50 bullets cost me around 4$.
9mmpara - 50 bullets for $4 ($8 per 100) not bad pricing for 9mm bullets. You should let us know how you get the lead out of car batteries - that's something I have always told other casters to avoid as the chemicals in there are too harsh and toxic. Best Regards and Hail to Malta!! - located strategically in the Mediterranean...
Hi. First I pierce each battery cell with a Phillips screwdriver to drain out acid in battery. Then I leave it for a week so it will dry out . I open the top of the battery pulling out the posts and connecting bars together with plates. I leave everything to dry well . While wearing a protective mask rubber gloves and gown I separate the plates from connecting bars. I dust off the spongy lead from the grids. The whole operation occurs outside. Then wearing same protective equipment and out side I melt posts, connecting bars and grids on a gas stove making ingots. While everything is melting I stay away from melting pot returning after half an hour to skim dross. Once lead is clean there are no toxic chemicals. Then I start casting,. fill of mould is excellent. Lead is toxic however battery lead is slightly more toxic but once chemicals are burnt it becomes common lead. Open batteries should be handled with care due to acid burns. Use protective clothings goggles and filter masks. Work outside.
9mmpara Thanks for the info…If I didn't have a good source of range scrap, those car batteries might be a try, but I'd look at batteries as being a last resort…Good castin' to ya
+9mmpara what do you do with the acid?
FCLC45, thinking in terms of weight, how much tin would I mix with lead to get a 40-1 mixture? Thank you very much, AGW.
AirGunWarriors Well, for big Dutch Ovens, you'd add 1 pound of tin to 40 pounds of roofing flash, or lead pipes or dental x-ray foil (or small batch - 10 pounds to 1/4 pound of tin). But I've never seen 1 pound of pure tin. Closest I got to that was when I first started casting (over 40 years ago when I was a new wage earner), I went into this plumbing supply store and they had 50-50 bar solder. They had two boxes of these bars for 50 cents a bar and I cleaned them out. Plumbers used lots of lead for lead water pipes back then. But I recall 50 cents was worth a lot more than today as the price of gasoline was 35 cents a gallon. 40-1 alloy is 2.5% tin alloy. That would be a very soft lead alloy very close to the hardness of pure lead (would only add 1 BHN point). The tin in there would provide for good casting flow. Best to ya...
I ordered some from Rotometals last week and was planning on mixing it with my wheel weights I have for my 44 Mag bullets. (I tried it without and got leading big time, my lead was to soft) . How are you cutting it?
+Delbert McCord -- No need to cut it - RM give you the alloys in 5 pound bars - Make a little Sharpie mark in 1/5ths (1 pound ) and melt the alloy in accordingly - channel grip pliers helps in melting in what we want. But check your cylinder throats - if your bullets are .001-.002" bigger than you cylinder throats, you have the right diameter bullets for leading control and accuracy. That is the primary consideration for good shooting. Bullet hardness is important, but a secondary consideration. Adequate lubrication is #3. There are vids on all of these... Good castin' and good shootin' to ya... FC
So I’m using wheel weights do I still need to use one pound Linotype to 6 pounds of lead?
I’m wondering the same thing ???
Hi how are now my question is can you use range scrap for slugs or it's to hard for slugs just add tin like you say for flow thanks
ocean374 - I don't even add tin to cast slugs - there really aren't any sharp grease grooves or sharp detail areas on slugs that using pure lead can't handle. Range scrap is a fair bit harder than pure lead and is not recommended for casting slugs. However, a lot of casters do that anyway. If you only shoot your slugs through cylinder or improved cylinder barrels - shouldn't have any trouble, but again pure lead is the recommendation. Best Regards to you, FC
whos makes the best lead hardness tester?
I'm new to reloading and am going to buy some lead from rotometals and they give a BHN. I am assuming that that is air cooled. Have you ever checked how much hardness you gain from water quenched and do you gain anymore frorn cold water vs cool water.
bill84345 Continue to look for lead sources in your locality - there is lots of lead out there - note the rangemaster was given 500 pounds of big lead ingots by a friend (lucky guy) - you can post a want ad on the bulletin board of your local range. I really like RotoMetals Linotype and SuperHard alloy for hardening my range scrap lead. The BHN formula on RotoMetals is not quenched. You will hear that water quenching raises BHNs into the 20s. I have not found that to be true. Conservatively speaking, 1 BHN is all you get by water quenching. However, we gain another 1 BHN just letting the bullet sit for 10 days before loading them. I can't tell 1 BHN with my thumbnail dig test. And I seriously question that you could get a reliable 1 BHN determination from any of the available lead hardness testers commonly found with casters. The quenching forces harder grain structure formation, and some casters anneal their bullets to get even extra hardness. I don't do that as the most reliable way to harden our bullets is by addition of antimony (1 BHN for every percentage point of antimony present in the alloy) - and 1-2% tin is all we need to get alloy flow and hot mold fill out. I use cold water out of the tap in 5 gallon buckets. And you will need a 2nd bucket of water if you are doing a long casting session as the first bucket becomes fairly warm water after 1200 bullets. Good castin' to ya
+bill84345 - Some casters even recommend ice water...they don't mention if they keep adding ice or taking the temperature of the water. Bullet casting is not rocket science. If it was, the many casters of history would never have had any success. I'm even talking about the development of our magnum cartridges that was all done with cast bullets back in the day. Elmer Keith, Ray Thompson, Skeeter Skelton et al - none of them bothered with all that - they melted wheel weights, pure lead and added some linotype as necessary. They didn't even do any quenching. And they shot their bullets at 1500 fps and were happy. I just use 2 1/2 gallons of water from the garden spigot and let fly. You will hear all kinds of increase in BHN from water quenching and then from heat treatment of bullets. If we cast at BHN 18 and water quench to get BHN 26 - 33 (that is really too amazing to be true - to be fair - it doesn't on any predictable or consistent basis. Go ahead and quench your bullets - if you are getting BHN 26-33, you might as well be trying to dent granite with your sawing fingernail test). I'd recommend that we take and increase of 1 BHN as a good reliable number. It's not much, but worthwhile to get. As for heat treating our cast bullets - I have never done that as the amount of work required, I'll just buy some of the fine jacketed bullets instead. For my cast lead bullets, I want good, safe, inexpensive, time economical and accurate bullets in big mounds. My 45/45/10 lubed and even powder coated cast bullets give me that. If I have to heat treat to allow me to shoot cast bullets at jacketed bullet velocities, I'll just buy the jacketed - hard heavy cast bullets work best for deep penetration with big meplats. A bullet that is too hard will be brittle and not hold together defeating the way cast bullets work. If I have to be a metallurgist to get cast bullets to work (requires a small amount of arsenic to be in the alloy), I'll just pass on that, and go to the range with my cast reloads instead... Have a great day, FC
FC,
I have a couple hundred pounds of pure lead. What would you recommend for a ratio of linotype to pure lead mix? I will be casting for 9mm, 40 cal and 45acp.
+Paul Riley -- I hate mixing pure lead because I like to use my pure lead for making shotgun slugs. And my supplies of pure lead are drying up - miss that free pure lead. I like to mix with base raw material of range scrap - already has 2-4% antimony content to start with. If you are mixing pure lead - You can mix lino 1 to 2 pure lead water quench your bullets to get bullets good for up to +P revolver shooting. Just a bit more lino to that for those auto pistols of yours. Or you can mix lino 1 to 3 pure lead and powder coat for everything. I don't like pure lead powder coated bullets for all handgun shooting for the reasons above. What I would do is powder coat bullets cast from straight range scrap...Best Regards to ya, FC
FC..?? How many Lbs of range scrap to Superhard do you mix.?
Rangermosley7 - Depends on what BHN you want to wind up with. Then go to the RotoMetals Casting Alloys page - at the bottom, you will have a formula to determine your mix - please come back for a detailed answer if you have any problems. Also, if you talk to the RotoMetals people when placing your order, they will tell you how much to mix. Tell 'em FortuneCookie sent you and they'll say "Who....??" or not. Range scrap is 3-4% antimony and BHN 11. Also, add 1 BHN point for quenching (conservative) and 1 BHN for age hardening (10 days - 2 weeks) If you powder coat your bullets, you will get no leading, but you will lose the quench and age additions. Best to ya, FC
hello fc i have 2 bars that look like your bar of linotype I was told it was zinc an lead 50-50 min but how do I tell it melts like lead but win it hardens its dull gray I tried to skim it at low temp but I don't think its zink many its what u have
Doug newman - Zinc does not alloy well with lead - Zinc alloys well with copper to make brass. If it gets into lead - it makes a curdly disaster. So your bars are probably lead and tin or antimony. 50-50 bar solder (lead and tin) was very common for back in the days when lead water pipes were in all the houses. And plumber's always had that melted in their shops and ready to go. Your alloy is probably best used to harden other lead, but no way to tell exactly what you have. Best to ya, FC
I have found if I reply to too many of your videos I get flagged as spam, so just know I watch them all, but don't think I can comment on all of them on the same day.
whats there website? thanks so much bud!
Hey, Fortunecookie45LC love your videos they are very informative. As i am on my way to start casting bullets i wonder if its a good idea to just buy pure antimony(99,6%) and mix it in the lead? Any issues doing that? The reason im thinking of this is because i live in Norway and trying to hold the shipping costs down. And what is the tin content in range scrap do i need to add some?
SUCCSESS! It was a sunny day Wednesday, so I broke out the Lee Furnas and crushed up .5lb antimony, cut off a .5lb of tin and 9lbs of led, put it in the pot in that order, Cranked up the heat (which got up to 1050f) and,, voile’,, Lyman #2. Next is Linotype.
+ASUS DAG - You do need heat to get antimony to mix with lead. Getting antimony to alloy with lead is hard enough that RotoMetals does all the work for us with their RotoMetals Superhard alloy. I like to use that whenever I want to mix a harder alloy... Best Regards to ya
ASUS DAG soft lead
Who's Annie Moaney?
Jack Sainthill - :) and again :)...
$.35 then vs $.50 now...considering buying power of the dollar then and now, cheaper now.
Guess this just means, once one has the set up, reloading is cheaper than ever...but I don't know anything.
Why we have to add anything ? Range scrap is supposed to be perfect for alloy as it is old bullets ?!?!? How’s that ??
Great
Did you know that good fonts of Monotype are worth a fortune to a letterpress printer? I am getting $ 70.00 for a font that weighs just under 6 pounds.
Silber MaiKatzchen- And I distinctly remember the joyful days when I went to the metal recycler and bought 300 pounds at a time for 55 cents a pound!! Price has gone up 20x in 35 years…Best Regards, and thanks for posting that good info...
those letters look like your making a ransom note
$17 for five pounds?!?! Ummm that's anything but cheap...
Bret B. It's OK though because I only buy the linotype and Superhard alloys at roughly $3 a pound or so...and I mix these anywhere from 1 to 3 to 1 to 5 (larger numbers are the ratio to range scrap and I get the range scrap for free). Plain range scrap is good for target handgun bullets as is...Rotometals has a policy of buy 100 pounds and shipping is free - that is very fair. Water quenching and aging also adds some hardness to our bullets and that is free hardening. Best to ya
I get tin from hallmarked pewter, it's 80% tin
Is your tin source still good?
@@kingdaddy4200 haven't had to look in a long time, gathered enough to last years
Range scrap can vary so much, don't use it.
I HATE HATE HATE HATE SWC in 45acp..... never owned a 45acp that liked them
Were you eating juicy fruit gum when you recorded this?
jason stout No, I was trying to measure my speech and not used to doing videos. Took me 50-75 videos to get relaxed and comfortable - my latest videos don't have that problem. If I had a director, I'm sure that would have been caught immediately...Best to ya
Your audio will be improved if you drink some water before recording to wet your mouth so it won't be heard as it snaps every time it is re-opened after being closed, dozens of times in one short video. The quality of our equipment has become so high that things are being recorded that we never heard before.
HappyQuails - This was one of my early videos, and yes, there was that problem - we don't realize things until we hear ourselves recorded. Dry mouth with age is a bear. Other posters have thought that I was eating or chewing gum while talking, but you're on the beam with this one...After the first 50 or 60 videos, we learn a lot as TH-cam video posters - still learning.... Have a great day
Dear,
I forward new price for Grade A Tin (Tin rod, Tin ingots, Tin powder, Tin anode, and Babbitt Metal):
1) Pure Tin $ 31 kg.
2) Babbit Metal (ASTM, DIN, GOST, BS):
Babbit 90 - $ 36.05 kg;
Babbit 89 - $ 35.85 kg;
Babbit 88 - $ 35.66 kg;
Babbit 87 - $ 35.27 kg;
Babbit 84 - $ 34.69 Kg;
Babbit 80 - $ 33.43 kg;
TEGOv738 (MP81) - $ 34.01 kg;
TEGOSTAR®738 - $ 36.63 kg;
Babbit 55 - $ 24.52 kg;
Babbit 10 - $ 9.40 kg; e
Babbit 5 - $ 7.07 kg.
3) Tin Solder:
Solder Bars 20: - $ 10.85 kg;
Solder Bars 30: - $ 14.63 kg;
Solder Bars 33: - $ 14.73 kg;
Solder Bars 40: - $ 18.31 kg;
Solder Bars 50: - $ 22.09 kg;
Solder Bars 60: - $ 25.78 kg;
Solder Bars 63: - $ 26.94 kg;
Solder Bars: - 62x36x2Ag: $ 35.08 kg;
Solder Bars: - 94Sn x 6Sb: $ 39.73 kg; e
Solder Bars: - 97Sn x 3Ag: $ 52.33 kg.
If you need this, please contact me! Looking forward to working with you!
__________________________
Prezados Senhores,
Tem consumo de Estanho, Metal Patente ou soldas no processo produtivo?
Caso tenha por favor me incluir nas próximas cotações.
----------------------------
Cari Sinhori,
Siamo una fabbrica brasiliana e produciamo stagno e suoi derivati (leghe di stagno).
Possiamo scambiare Tin (Sn) in base al prezzo LME.
Si prega di restituire questo contatto se si consumano questi prodotti che produciamo.
grazie per l'aiuto
----------------------------
Dear Sirs,
Have a consumption of Tin (Sn), Babbitt ASTM-B23 in the production process?
If so, please include me in your next purchases.
Sincerely, Atenciosamente,
Adriano Nervis
Commercial - Anda Metais
Tel: +55 11 2228 3319 - Cel: +55 11 98666-3969 WhatsApp
central@andametais.com.br