Finally got to Cabela's on Sat. in all the rain to pick up my Lee Elect melt pot and and an ingot mold (four 1 lb ingotd) as i'm melting down the linotype that i have into ingot form, my wife posed a question" how much is that worth in ingot form" answer i don't know so HOW MUCH IS 1lb OF LINOTYPE WORTH does anyone know is there a set price
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I pay about a buck a pound for it. Makes good bullets.

I don't know about the cost, but it does shoot well. Got a couple of tons when the local newspaper went from hot type to plastic. Speer bullets bought the rest. Thats been 30 years ago and I'm still shooting it.

You can cut that 50/50 with lead or wheelweight either one and get a very shootable alloy that will streach the shooting you get from that linotype. Stuff is getting less and less common and more and more expensive.

I bought 50lbs of lino from another state for $33 but after paying the shipping, it was almost $1 a pound. This was before the flat rate shipping. I had just gotten a Saeco hardness tester and when I melted down my lino into ingots, I cast a few flat nosed bullets to test. Mine tested out as monotype 27-28 bhn instead of lino at 22 bhn. That meant I could mix it with more ww's or range scrap to make it go fruther. In any case, mix your lino with other lead to make it last longer and make a little softer bullets. I've cut mine quite a bit but still am casting bullets from 18-20 bhn.

Bill

I recently sold 600 pounds of montype for 35 cents per pound.

By my Midway catalogue it runs approximately $1.39 per lb. and you would still need to add shipping and handling. MSC might be cheaper.

I bought 1800# of linotype for .05/lb. This was in various forms from individual typeset to the large, long ingots. It costs about $1/lb to ship anywhere in the lower 48.

I now have about 30 lbs of linotype in ingot form it look's hard to the touch, does anyone know what the hardness should be.
it's a mix of mono and linotype

The chart that came with my Saeco tester claims linotype is about 22bhn and monotype is 27-28bhn.

Bill

Depends on the source. Ferguson use to sell it for about a dollar a pound not including shipping. He bought it in very big lots from a foundry. Art Green buys used linotype from print shops. Just as good as new. Much lower price.

I pay 30 to 50 cents a pound around here when it can be found. But its getting tough to find. I think ive cleaned up the area.

Where in PA do you live, I may have an outlet for you

Do a search on ebay; there is quite a bunch of it listed.. One guy has 22# listed and if you use the Buy It Now option he will sell you 44# and ship for $8.00. I was considering buying it but I have over 200# and I mix it with lead so it should last a little while. Emery

i aquired from the local print shop one of the long linotype ingots awhile back... how would one most efectively go about cutting it up? my friend and mentor said the best way is with an ax or hatchet or something sharp to whack it with... any ideas??


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i aquired from the local print shop one of the long linotype ingots awhile back... how would one most efectively go about cutting it up? my friend and memtor said the best way is with an ax or hatchet or sometime sharp to whack it with.... any other ideas??



JJB,

Find someone with a bandsaw, machine shop will have one. With the correct blade, the bandsaw will make quick work of those ingots. Remember to cut them into pieces small enough to fit the melting pot. If you have to pay a few bucks it will be worth the trouble. I used this method several years ago after purchasing several 70 lb ingots of linotype.

Hoopie,

If it is linotype, it would be pretty tough to chop into pieces. What I do is set it on a piece on concrete with a "fulcrum" point positioned under the bar, and break the long bars into smaller pieces. This method is not a precise way of dividing it, but the ingots can be broken into about two pound chunks.

A simple and cheap hacksaw will do the job just fine...before i had any serious powertools, thats what i used to cut up long peices of linotype before i stuck them in the melting pot to be formed into ingots.

And to be honest, i havent used Linotype in years and i dont really miss it. Ever since i learned the value of heattreating wheelweights, which makes the alloy just as hard if not harder than linotype, i just havent had a use for it anymore!

Jeffro,

I have a question about heat-treating. Are your ht'ed bullets as brittle as using a lot of antimony? You may not know or have tested this. I used to buy the Laser Cast bullets that are hard but when shot into heavy steel, they would shatter.

Also, when heat treating, do you add any arsenic, like from magnum shotgun shot, or do you use straight ww's?

I have a cheap little toaster oven I bought just for lead use but got some lino and haven't used it much. I was told to heat my bullets up to 450 for an hour, if they didn't sag, then water quinch them.

Bill

They are pretty darn hard averaging about 20-22 on the brinnell scale...i usually use straight wheelweights, but they will harden even more when adding things like arsenic. They dont shatter and ive even gotten some decent expansion out of them to boot...but it depends alot on your alloy, what heat your casting them at, and what temp water your cooling them with. With the straight wheelweights, i cast them just at where they start to frost over and drop them in a cool(60 degrees maybe) bucket of water....the hotter you cast them and the colder the water you use ive found makes them harder, but more prone to shattering.

I recovered about a half dozen of them after shooting them out of my 444 at about 2000 FPS at various objects and most of them were still quite intact and had excellent weight retention with good expansion....not the typical explosion like you get with lino.

Jeffro,

Thanks for your experiance. Since I got the lino, I've been trying to mix in enough range scrap and ww the bring mine down to between 17 1/2-20 BHN but would like to make some hunting bullets that would be more shatter-proof. I've got plain based and gc'ed molds for the .357 but am using the 245grn Keith for my .44 and it's plain based.

I think it depends on if your bullet is gc'ed or not about how hard the lead needs to be. I haven't had any trouble with leading in my Marlin 44 if I keep the bullet at 17 1/2 BHN or higher and that with full loads of LilGun or H110. But the Marlin is ballard rifling and 38" twist so that may help a little. I think a pure ww bullet might do fine for hunting if it had a gas check. I'll just have to experiment a little and see. If I can run into a big haul of ww's, I'll keep my ingots seperate and do more of the heat treating myself. Seems there is always a thing or two waiting to be tried with cast bullets and handloading.

Bill