I have about 40 pounds of soft lead and a pound of tin for casting. Wondering what is a good mixture or if i should get anything else to add for casting 350 gr for a 45-70. Any other suggestions for someone new to casting would also be great
Tips for making a harder lead alloy.
- Thread starter GcG166
- Start date
Burton Urnie
Regular
- Location
- Near Woodstock New Brunswick
If you had an old Snider to load for, I'd save the pure lead and find some wheel weights for the gov't.
just having some fun
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
if it is pure lead ..... it will not harden with out adding tin and Antimony
if it is wheel w you can add a bit of tin and water drop
or trade it to a black powder guy for something closer to what you need
you can do the pencil test to tell you how hard it is
if it is wheel w you can add a bit of tin and water drop
or trade it to a black powder guy for something closer to what you need
you can do the pencil test to tell you how hard it is
You could make 20-1, about 10BHN, as opposed to 5BHN for pure lead. 20 pounds lead to one pound tin.
I've used 20-1 for 45-70. Great alloy to cast with. Good for moderate velocity in that caliber. If you want to crank up the speed, antimony will be helpful. Keep it under 1500FPS or so and 20 to 1 will work very well. Also you could consider powder coating the bullets, as it allows a bit softer alloy, and greatly reduces the chance of leading the bore.
You don't need super hard bullets for the 45-70.
Stomp
I've used 20-1 for 45-70. Great alloy to cast with. Good for moderate velocity in that caliber. If you want to crank up the speed, antimony will be helpful. Keep it under 1500FPS or so and 20 to 1 will work very well. Also you could consider powder coating the bullets, as it allows a bit softer alloy, and greatly reduces the chance of leading the bore.
You don't need super hard bullets for the 45-70.
Stomp
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Add tin to lead to make the melt a bit more "runny" - fills out the little grooves in the mould better, while keeping melt temperature down in more "normal" casting range. But you need antinomy - as mentioned above - to be able to make the lead hard by "water drop" method. From local scrounging, much easier to find wheel weights, than it is to find pure lead - at least out here in rural small town Manitoba and area. Might want to save or sell that pure stuff rather than use to make an alloy?
How fast are you pushing them?
I ran into a large lot of pure lead once and hardened it very easily with lead shot for reloading. It was very high in antimony and had a bit of tin as well. In order see the benifit of adding it you have to water drop them but that’s how I made my 300gr 460 Mag Bullets until I replenished my COWW’s.
hardness went from 6 BHN to 24!
hardness went from 6 BHN to 24!
From what im seeing here i think ill take a few pounds and play with changing the hardness and cast a few for low speed rounds and see if i can make a trade locally for someone for wheel weights.
I did have a source for wheel weights and lots of them melted to ingots. Then i moved to a different province
I did have a source for wheel weights and lots of them melted to ingots. Then i moved to a different province
hatman1793
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I’m driving the LEE #90373 340 grain SWC flat nose bullet around 1600 fps. Using a medium hard cast powder coated bullet sized to .459, its about a 11-12 BHN. Marlin model 1895 lever in 45-70.
The bullet is indoor range lead with a bit of pewter mixed in, to be exact, its 5 mimi-muffin ingots with a mini-muffin wafer added.
If. I do my part, its pretty accurate. Tuck in hard or get the nasty recoil sting.
The bullet is indoor range lead with a bit of pewter mixed in, to be exact, its 5 mimi-muffin ingots with a mini-muffin wafer added.
If. I do my part, its pretty accurate. Tuck in hard or get the nasty recoil sting.
I have lots of soft lead if you want to trade
don't need it, have enough soft myself but willing to help out OP so he does not have to go through a lot of trouble trying to harden it.
