casting bullets??

[novass]

I just found a 25# roll of 50/50 lead tin solder.Can i melt this down with pure lead (i have a bunch of phone line casing that i was told is pure lead)and cast with it?Will i need a hardness tester? I am just starting casting so i dont have one .

[ar15newbster]

Check this site out.
Castboolits.com

[VooDooV]

Make sure you get all the flux/resin out of the pot from the solder or you will learn a whole new level of rusting and leading of the barrel.

[novass]

oh no that would be bad I dont think that it is flux core but i will check.I wount melt it in my good pot the first time.

[novass]

ar15 that site is great thanks just what i needed.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

[bobomb]

seems a bit tin rich find some wheel weights to mix in

tin seems to make the mold fill better and since its more expensive than lead so you want to use just enough to help i think its the antimony that makes it harder

but what are you loading that you need harder than a tin lead mix

[novass]

I dont need it harder i wont to cut it with pure lead but i dont know how much i need to dilute it.

[Cowboy T]

Personally, I'd go with a 40:1 mix of lead to tin. That means 97.5% lead, 2.5% tin. The resulting alloy will be around BHN 8-9 or so, which is pretty good all-around for most handgun applications. About the only thing it might be too soft for is .454 Casull territory.

Since your solder is 50:50, and you have 25 lbs of it, that means 12.5lb of that is tin. At a 40:1 desired mix ratio, you want (12.5 x 40) lb of lead, which is 500lb of that phone line casing lead. So, subtracting the 12.5lb of lead already existing in your 50/50 lead/tin mix, you should add 487.5 lb of that pure lead.

If you'd like it a little harder, say, for .454 Casull and similar rounds, you can also throw in some clip-on wheel weights. These contain antimony. I would suggest going with a BHN of about 11, which would mean a 95/2.5/2.5 mixture. Typically, wheel weights are a 96.5/0.5/4 mix of lead, tin, and antimony. That means that the mixture would be as follows:

300lb wheel weights
175lb pure lead
25lb of your 50/50 lead/tin mix

This should get you right around a 95/2.5/2.5 lead/tin/antimony mix. What's good about this mix is its response to water-quenching, if you're going to use it in rifle loads as well. It's already plenty hard enough for handgun loads using standard air-cooling, and that's how I do use it in my handgun loads, up to and including .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum power levels.

[novass]

In my midway flyer i see they have Lee hardness testors for $53.Are they any good?Do i really need one to cast or just run with the numbers and cast?I guess im just kind of ify because i loaded some cast bullets i bought one time and they leaded up my .357 really bad.

[Tom Towns]

In my midway flyer i see they have Lee hardness testors for $53.Are they any good?Do i really need one to cast or just run with the numbers and cast?I guess im just kind of ify because i loaded some cast bullets i bought one time and they leaded up my .357 really bad.

Get yourself a Lyman cast bullet handbook...I'm gearing up to start casting myself & my first thought is that the bullets you used might have been on the small side. Most of the recommendations I've read are to run a bullet diameter .001 larger than your bore.

[Tom Towns]

I just found a 25# roll of 50/50 lead tin solder.Can i melt this down with pure lead (i have a bunch of phone line casing that i was told is pure lead)and cast with it?Will i need a hardness tester? I am just starting casting so i dont have one .

Another good read if you're just getting into it is here... http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm

[CSACANNONEER]

I've cast over 50K bullets and only worry about the hardness of my roundballs. But. I don't push my cast bullets too fast.

[klewan]

In my midway flyer i see they have Lee hardness testors for $53.Are they any good?Do i really need one to cast or just run with the numbers and cast?I guess im just kind of ify because i loaded some cast bullets i bought one time and they leaded up my .357 really bad.

It works, especially nice to have if you heat treat your slugs. This involves getting a coffee can of water, rubberbanding a cloth over the top and slitting the cloth. Now when you drop the bullets out of the mould, they slip thru the slit and don't splash water out and into your lead pot.

If you're buying Lee, try F&M reloading. I've bought 90% of my Lee stuff from them. Killer prices, flat rate shipping, not a gouge. Only drawback is then can be slow. Not the place to buy if you need it yesterday. I think my hardness tester was about $45 from them last year.

Just checked at F&M, it's up to $49.95.