Does anyone know the best mix for ww lead and linotype? just came into some linotype and have plenty of wws. Looking to get bullets that are hard but not brittle.
thanks, Mike

Does anyone know the best mix for ww lead and linotype? just came into some linotype and have plenty of wws. Looking to get bullets that are hard but not brittle.
thanks, Mike

You can get the desired tough bullets with just WW. Set a 5 gal bucket, half full of water on the ground and after cutting the sprue drop them into the bucket of water.
A cautionary note, please don'r get water into the molten lead, things can get real exciting real fast should this the molten lead and water mix.
You can use the linotype as a tin source. I've got several hundred pounds of the stuff laying out by the loading shed that I've not used. I lucked into a pile of stubs of 50/50 bar solder that I use for 'sweetening' my alloy.
Jim

Does anyone know the best mix for ww lead and linotype? just came into some linotype and have plenty of wws. Looking to get bullets that are hard but not brittle.
thanks, Mike

To tell the truth I've shot a lot of linotype and never had a problem with it. Wheel weight works good to. Usually I'll just cast what I have and if it's not to soft I don't worry about it.

I've killed a bunch of black bear and quite a few deer with straight linotype with the 44 mag. 255 grain gas check Kieth style bullet 1350 fps.

Main thing I don't like is lead to soft that leads at these velocities. I'm pretty much a Lee swirl lube person and though I've sold my 44's I now shoot a 41 mag with Lee's 210 bullet designed to use the liquid alox and shoot it without a gas check. It's cast from straight linotype or straight wheel weight and has been very accurate and no leading. It runs at 1150 fps from the 4 inch taurus.

A cautionary note, please don'r get water into the molten lead, things can get real exciting real fast should this the molten lead and water mix.
As another new caster, I can attest to the no-water rule. I had my lead-mixing spoon too close to my quench bucket. A few drops of water had splashed into the spoon and when I then went to give the lead a stir I head a muffled pop and had about 1/2 cup of lead launch itself EVERYWHERE. Fortunately I only had a mess to clean up and no injuries. Needless to say I'll be much more careful in the future. Make sure you're wearing eye-protection at all times!

On the other hand, I've found this to be a wonderfully enjoyable past-time. I've cast about one thousand bullets this week in several different weights for my 44 magnum and 444 marlin. I've been casting a half and half mixture of wheelweights and linotype and dropping them from the mould into a bucket of cold water. They are hard! As I get a little more experience I am going to go down to about one-quarter linotype to three-quarters wheel weights. They'll cast a little heavier and still be plenty hard with the water quenching.

You can use the linotype as a tin source. I've got several hundred pounds of the stuff laying out by the loading shed that I've not used.

arkypete, would you be interested in getting rid of some of your linotype?

Just remember that (contrary to popular belief) harder is not always better. Bullets that don't bump up - the six-dollar word is obturate - into the rifling will lead horribly. And the harder they are, the worse it gets.

Bullets that lead the barrel near the chamber are too hard and/or too small. Those that lead the barrel near the muzzle are too soft or the lube is wrong.

It's too long to describe here, but if you divide your chamber pressure by 1400, you get the proper Brinell Hardness Number (BHN) for the bullet. So a .38 Special or .45 Colt running at 14,000 psi should be fed a bullet with a BHN of about 10 - which is quite soft. Pure lead is BHN 5 and I believe that most wheelweights are about 15.

Thanks guys I did some casting with just wws and 50/50 solder at 9lbs to 1lb ratio quenched in water. they turned out quite well and passed Marshell's hammer test also.

Mike