questions for the casters

[red_zr24x4]

I've been casting for a little over a year, my cousin has been casting for years. We use wheel weights, recently I got a bunch (300-400 lbs) of straight lead and I'm trying to figure out at what ratio I need to mix my WW lead and straight lead.
Any suggestions would be great, I haven't had a chance to look over on cast boolits yet.
Thanks Kenny

 

[straight-shooter]

I've been known to mix a 80/20 ratio and have had no leading problems. With my cast loads I keep them on the low side of velocity and tune for accuracy. I wouldn't recommend this for magnum loads but if you have an abundance of soft lead then have at it.

Might also be an excuse to purchase some black powder pistols and venture into another area of the hobby. Black powder loves soft lead. You can also cast up some .45 Acp bullets and load them into sabots for a muzzleloader.

 

[pny4318]

What you are casting for can make a great difference in how you will need to mix lead/wheel weight alloy. I assume the wheel weights you have been using are clip on style, not stick on type which are already pure lead. Watch for newer zinc wheel weights as these tend to ruin your alloy and make it very hard to cast.

 

[jtb]

Pure or near pure lead is much desired by the black powder crowd and worth more that antimony alloys. I would be swaping the stuff and ending up with more casting material.

 

[Mark in GA]

What cartridges are you casting for? It really does make a big difference.
Many people think harder is better. In reality, most commercial cast bullets (not swaged) are too hard for the lower pressure cartridges like 38 Special, 44 Special, 45 Auto, etc. Even the magnum rounds like 357 and 44 only require a 16-18 brinnell hardness to reach full power loads with minimal leading. Straight WW alloy cast and air cooled usually runs brinnell 10 or so and is fine for up to 25,000 psi loads. Water quenched WW can do well for 25,000 to 35,000 psi loads. In my experience these two are all that's needed for general use.

I wouldn't mix the pure lead at more that 20%. Better yet get some tin and mix it with the pure lead in a 1 to 20 ratio. That should get you a great alloy for practice loads.

Mark in GA

 

[Corky]

Some good information on lead alloys.
Check the other pages also, there's a lot of good stuff.

Cast bullet reference on lead alloy's, min / max pressure, lube, shrinkage,

Cast bullet alloys, characteristics of CB alloys, maintenance of CB alloys

 

[noylj]

Back when men were men and wheel weights were real wheel weights, I would mix 50WW:lead50 for non-magnums, plus a little linotype to get the Sn content up to about 1%. Needed lead for flow and didn't need more than about 8-10 BHN.
For magnums, I would mix 96 WW:4 linotype.
Find black powder shooters and trade them your lead for more WW or whatever good lead alloys they have.

 

[DNRrangemaster]

Cast boolits

The latest Lyman Cast Bullet Manual is a great source of information for loads and alloy recipes.