Ok I am a newbie at this casting stuff. I got about 40 lbs of 60/40 tin/lead from a radiator shop. Is this ok to cast bullets with this mixture or do I need to add wheel weights? Should I just make the 60/40 into ingots and then add one ingot to a certain amount of wheel weights?


Thanks,

It will make a very light bullet, about 80% of the weight of a wheelweight bullet. Adding about 2% by weight of tin to wheelweights makes a pretty good bullet alloy. 60/40 is 60% tin, so figure it from there. I don't know how well a 60/40 bullet would cast or shoot.

Bye
Jack

Don't use that solder as is, you'll be wasting it big time. Save it for casting OTHER THAN pistol bullets. Use straight WWs for pistol bullets and turn the heat up for a good fill out. Tin is about 6-8 bucks a pound, so keep it for when it's really needed. Or like Jack said, no more than about 2% if you need to get bullets to fill out better. sundog

Bullets cast from your alloy are way too rich in tin. Add wheel weights, which contain antimony for hardness, until the tin content drops to 2-3%. Suggested casting temperature should be around 775 degrees F. or hotter if needed.

I agree with Jack M and sundog....tin is expensive. Add 6-7 lbs to 90-100 lbs of wheel weights. That will make for a hard alloy for most handgun/rifle needs. It should be close to Lyman #2.
If you are into the Sharps BP Cartridge thing....Just add some more pure lead to get to a 20 to 1 ratio for the big boomers.

I really did well. I went to a big name tire shop and they gave me somewhere from 6-700 lbs of wheel weights. I guess the tin will come in handy now. I will cast for rifle. Do I need to find antimony to harden it a little more?

Shouldn't, unless you have some real high-pressure loads. Wheelweights ought to have enough. You want as little antimony as possible, or they get brittle. Some tin and you're good to go.

You did good!!!

Way cool. If you want to harden some bullets try adding tournament grade shot for added antimony and arsenic. Or, you can try the water drop thing, but be sure your drop is away from the lead pot. Water quenched bullets can be considerably harder early on, but will return to their natural BHn after a year or so. Lyman #2 alloy will serve the majority of uses. sundog

I just bought a Remington 760 in .270 Winchester. Will the #2 alloy work for that round or it is too fast?



Thanks to all that have helped me out by posting answeres to my questions.


Rck

I bought one of those Saeco hardness testers and it came with a little chart to match the tester number and what the BHN is.

Pure Lead bhn 3-5

WW's bhn 9

1:20 tin/lead bhn 10

Taracorp Magnum Lyman #2 or 1:1 lead/linotype bhn 15

Linotype bhn 22

Monotype bhn 27-28

I bought 50lbs of Linotype and cast a few pure bullets to use in the tester. Mine tested out as monotype or 27-28 bhn and I'm have to mix a lot of range scrap and ww's to bring it down to 17 1/2-20. I have some sheet lead that has tested as pure lead and I'm cutting that up to melt and mix with the other stuff to stretch it as much as possible.

Another thing I've been doing is to weigh the bullets I cast on a little digital scale I have and compare that with what the mould will normally drop bullets at with alloyed ww's or whatever I've been using.

Bill