Linotype bullets

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Ironman0731

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Yesterday i picked up what i know now is linotype, ive already cast it all,260lbs, into ingots. Being new to casting and all, would they make good pistol bullets? Or should i go buy some pure lead to mix it with? I pid $1.25 a lb for it, is that a good price? If it is ill go buy the rest of it.
 
Linotype by itself make a very very hard bullet. I would definetly mix it with pure lead. I did the something many many moons ago and they were even hard to pass through the sizer die. Melted them all down again and mixed 1/4 Lino with 3/4 pure it was okay. Now that I have a lead hardness tester I would;d shoot for Lyman #2 hardness.

Ken.
 
Linotype is quite brittle - unlike lead, you can break a bar of pure lino with a hammer if you lift and support one end of the bar on a solid support. It works well for target use but has limited use for hunting in the pure state as it will shatter when hitting bone at higher velocities - OK for small varmints. For hunting, mix it with lead (or WW) and water cool to harden if desired. This is not from my experience, just what I've gleaned from Google sources.

I use pure linotype for casting small calibre bullets such as .22 and .25 as it fills the mould so well and seldom produces a defective bullet.

You got it at an excellent price as pure Linotype sells for $2.50 / lb and up. Hardness of pure Linotype averages around 22 BHN (see variations found on Castboolits http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?170085-Hardness-of-Linotype-very-inconsistent ) . Some babbitt material is also quite hard but will have differing melting points compared to pure lino.
 
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Nice score on the Lino. Linotype is pretty brittle all by itself. A 50/50 mix of Lino/Pure Lead with a bit of Tin will give you somewhere are around 16 BHN air cooled a mix of 25% Lino and 75% Lead will drop the BHN to around 13. Most all my rifles dont have a slow enough twist to warrant casting with straight Linotype so a 50/50 mix or less and a gas check is all I need,I pretty much just use Lino or Monotype as a hardening agent as I have more pure lead.
 
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Lino makes beautiful bullets. They fill out very well and look like brand new nickels. They can shoot very well without leading, but are harder than necessary. A few years back, I was loading some for an M1 Garand and put a very slight crimp on them to reduce the flare. Some cases were a bit longer than others and the crimp bit into the bullet just a hair. A few made a tiny 'ting' sound on seating that really didn'the register with me. Later, we found that the bullet was slightly fractured and could break off the front end of the bullet with just thumb pressure.
This past year, I alloyed all my lino half and half with wheel weights.
 
Ironman0731 said:
Yesterday i picked up what i know now is linotype, ive already cast it all,260lbs, into ingots. Being new to casting and all, would they make good pistol bullets? Or should i go buy some pure lead to mix it with? I pid $1.25 a lb for it, is that a good price? If it is ill go buy the rest of it.
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That's a great price - I'd nab it all while you can.

You can shoot it "straight", or mix it with softer less expensive alloys. I tend to mix it 50/50 with Wheelweight. Beautifully filled, shiny bullets result.
 
What is the test to identify linotype?

I'll be sorting unlabelled cast bullets and raw materials in the next year or so as I help an old shooter convert stuff into cash. He was progressive enough to use both materials for casting, and I know he sought out linotype whenever he could. The easy part will be the pails of raw lead range splash and salvage.
 
Brittle ?

I have cast pure lino in 44 mag, 240 gr semi wad cutter, medium load, 8.2 gr titegroup.
Fired out of super black hawk 7 1/2" bbl
To prove bullets will not bounce off tires, shot thru tread ( steel belted ) then it went thru the rim, then hit a 2" steel pipe post welded in center of rim and made a large about 1/2" deep dint.

Tried pure lino in 444 & 44 mag rifle with micro groove , was to hard no accuracy.
 
I've used quite a bit of linotype some years ago. No more as it's not available here. It appears frequently in the winners circle at the National Tournament. But it's true it's too hard for hunting.
Grouch
 
OK, I'll ask a different way.

I have two cast bullets. They don't look the same. I know the shooter who made them used linotype for some casting jobs. I know other shooters will want to buy either cast lead or linotype bullets, but not mixed together in the same baggie. How can I tell the difference between lead and linotype cast bullets?
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
OK, I'll ask a different way.

I have two cast bullets. They don't look the same. I know the shooter who made them used linotype for some casting jobs. I know other shooters will want to buy either cast lead or linotype bullets, but not mixed together in the same baggie. How can I tell the difference between lead and linotype cast bullets?
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The lead bullets will be heavier, much softer and will be less shiny than those made of linotype. The same characteristics shown by linotype will be evident with bullets with a significant tin or wheelweight component but will not be as hard.

You'd need a chemical analysis to know for sure, but the above could at least separate lead from "other".
 
Edited - Is there a reloading hobby acknowledged test? I've got quite a bit to sort.

(There are lots of paint test kits on the market and some other swab processes that take a minute per test.)
 
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If you can separate the slugs by looks alone from one group to another then finding what is WW and what is Lino will be easy...put one bullet from each group base to base in a vice then squeeze them, the WW/more lead content ones will start to squeeze much earlier than the Lino. The softer higher lead content slugs will mushroom much more before they start to crack but the lino will show cracking almost as it starts to deform. it wont give you a Brinnel # but sure will show witch one is softer.
 
Your price is better than very good, unless the lino is dirty. Anything under $3 per pound is cheap IMHO

As far as a mix goes, 15% lino is good for up to 1800fps without leading but still needs to be lubricated. I use a 15% mix for just about everything I cast for other than the old Snider, I have a special batch mixed at 5% for it. Lino makes for well filled molds without exclusions. It also seems to cast bullets that don't need to be sized for my rifles, using my molds. Lucky me.

Mike Venturino of RIFLE/HANDLOADER magazine sees himself as a dedicated long range competitor with firearms that require cast bullets and he states he has a friend with a couple of tons of Lino and does't mix it with lead at all. Claims it's more accurate with Black Powder than pure lead.
 
bearhunter said:
Your price is better than very good, unless the lino is dirty. Anything under $3 per pound is cheap IMHO

As far as a mix goes, 15% lino is good for up to 1800fps without leading but still needs to be lubricated. I use a 15% mix for just about everything I cast for other than the old Snider, I have a special batch mixed at 5% for it. Lino makes for well filled molds without exclusions. It also seems to cast bullets that don't need to be sized for my rifles, using my molds. Lucky me.

Mike Venturino of RIFLE/HANDLOADER magazine sees himself as a dedicated long range competitor with firearms that require cast bullets and he states he has a friend with a couple of tons of Lino and does't mix it with lead at all. Claims it's more accurate with Black Powder than pure lead.
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It was actually pretty much spotless imo, a bit of dirt in the bottom of the buckets, i finally got all i could, another 700lbs worth. I got the rest for $1/lb on the basis i took it all.
Ive been casting 9mm and .45 as a 3:1 pure lead/lino mix. So far the bullets are coming out great. Probably a little harder than needed, but ive literally got 2 tons of lead to go through now.
 
The mix I settled on 30 years ago after lots of tests, and that has has proven itself universal in both rifles and handguns for match work was 8 lbs. reclaimed range lead (pretty soft), with 8 lbs. of wheelweights and 3 lbs. of lino. This can be driven up to 2000fps without leading and expands just right for all purposes.
 
Ironman0731 said:
It was actually pretty much spotless imo, a bit of dirt in the bottom of the buckets, i finally got all i could, another 700lbs worth. I got the rest for $1/lb on the basis i took it all.
Ive been casting 9mm and .45 as a 3:1 pure lead/lino mix. So far the bullets are coming out great. Probably a little harder than needed, but ive literally got 2 tons of lead to go through now.
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Unless you're getting "pure lead" cheap as well, just go for wheel weights. With wheel weights I mix 10% lino or pewter. Gives me a 20-22 BHN measure which is just fine for anything under 2000fps with good lube.

By the way, it's frowned upon by several here but I go to my local hardware store and pick up the toilet seal rings that are the cheapest. They aren't pure beeswax anymore but they do contain petroleum jelly to keep whatever is in them fairly soft. They melt down easily and make a great bullet lube that doesn't leave any hard to clean residue behind. For some reason bullets with gas checks work best with this lube. I have also been melting it down and mixing it with Safflo vegetable oil for patch lubricant on muzzle loaders. It's every bit as good as Spit Patch.

I find "pure lead" tough to find at decent prices. Most of what people are selling is a mix of scraps.

Also, I don't worry about wheel weights with zinc in them if I'm only plinking paper. If I'm going to hunt with the bullets, I'm much pickier and use my hoarded stock of pure lead with a 20% mix of lino or pewter. Unless I'm hunting with a muzzle loader where I use pure lead for everything along with a patch, even with maxis. Cloth patches don't work well with maxis so I use paper.

I'm off topic here. Sorry.

If you're plinking, that lino you're blasting down range can be turned into cash or make wheel weights and lead go a lot further at much lower cost. If cost isn't an issue IMHO the pile of lino you picked up is a one off occurrence. Those finds are few and far between. The last BIG batch I picked up was appx 300 pounds and that was several years ago. Now, I check out the junk shops and places like Value Village and the Thrift shop for Pewter mugs for a buck apiece. Pewter has at least 85% tin, usually more with a bit of copper and antimony and some other trace elements which does exactly the same thing as linotype.

I did a fair amount of cast lead shooting before with so so results. Consistency was a big problem.

Some of the replies from folks like jethunter and a few others contained some very good information that directly related to what I was doing wrong. It became quickly apparent that if you wanted consistent accuracy with lead bullets you have to have consistent bullets. I found that as long as diameter was a few thousandths of an inch over bore diameter (maybe a bit more but not less) accuracy would be good. Then I had to figure out why accuracy would change from lot to lot. Of course, consistent hardness was the biggest albeit not the only factor.

I also found that when cartridges were designed for black powder and the rifles they were being shot in were meant for black powder, then use black powder for the best results.

I'm sure there will be a lot of differing opinions.

I've been looking for a .360in or slightly larger hollow base mold for a long time. Even a wad cutter will work. Some pistols and rifles just shoot better with hollow base projectiles.
 
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