I've been searching for a source of linotype to add to wheel weights and what a source I found. Today, I'm guessing that I stared at about 2 to 3 tons of the stuff in an old print shop a fellow bought. Heck, I was just looking for a hundred pounds of the stuff to learn something about it.

This linotype is in stacks of boxes full of letters, the small inch by two (approximately) letter plates not ingots. Is this something I should try to secure or just get my 200# and be done with it. If the fellow will let me haul it off, is it worth the trouble? If he wants something for it, what should I offer?

I'm a little overwhelmed by what I saw today. I don't even know how much I was going to add to my wheel weights... haven't got that far in my thinking because I didn't really expect to find any. Help me sort this out please...

An alloy composed of half wheel weights and half Linotype will make beautiful rifle bullets. Don't make him an offer right off the bat, just tell him you'd be more than happy to haul it away. If he asks you what the stuff is worth bear in mind that when it's in demand, it can go for 40 to 50 cents a pound. If he's got 2 tons, I'd probably offer him 10 cents a pound, assuming he's expecting to get paid for it. Good luck... where is this shop anyway?

44

I'd give you a hand hauling it if Saskatchewan was closer to Texas :D

It might not be linotype, but it's usable. Casters in some parts of the U.S. are having a hard time finding casting metal `cause of envitomental regs, so you should grab all you can.

..........................%Sn ...%Sb...%Pb...M.P.... BHN
Electrotype.............3........3.......94....570 ......14
Linotype................4........12.....84 ....475.....22
Stereotype.............6........14.....80.....500. ....24
Monotype..............8........16.....76......515. ...26
Foundry type......... 14......24.....62......605....32

A thermometer will tell you what it is and there's lots of recipies in the Lyman Cast Bullet handbook.

Bye
Jack

Considering the fact it's in type form and not ingot, I'd be willing to bet its Linotype. I didn't notice earlier that you were in TX; however, if you get it all for next to nuthin' I'll buy some from you at $.10 per pound plus shipping to Kalifornie, assuming the shipping isn't a killer.

44

Get all you can. Odds are, in an isolated rural area, you're doing him a favor hauling it off and avoiding the expense of an EPA-approved method of disposal.

Lifetime supply of bullet metal, mixed with wheel-weights......

Heck I'd drive to Cuero and get some if it was free, and that's probably close to 4 hours, one way....

Thanks fellows for all the adivce. I will try to secure this entire supply ASAP without appearing to really want it all. The place truely has a cleanup problem if someone in the know walked it. Lead shavings everywhere. As I walked around, I pointed a lot of things out... trying to show that the contamination possibilities abound. His wife seemed worried and she should be as they are a young couple.

As this place printed a lot of things, we found very large plates of lead with old maps on them, greeting cards, and even a plate with a notice of his grandfathers death... that's pretty strange. I told them I didn't want any of the plates, just the type and I believe there is several tons of that in the type cabinets.

I will keep you posted and remember your help. I was planning on working with a 50/50 mix of WW and LT based on what I've been reading. I'm new to this but learn quick. See my related post about wheel weights.

Thanks fellows for all the adivce. I will try to secure this entire supply ASAP without appearing to really want it all. The place truely has a cleanup problem if someone in the know walked it. Lead shavings everywhere. As I walked around, I pointed a lot of things out... trying to show that the contamination possibilities abound. His wife seemed worried and she should be as they are a young couple.

As this place printed a lot of things, we found very large plates of lead with old maps on them, greeting cards, and even a plate with a notice of his grandfathers death... that's pretty strange. I told them I didn't want any of the plates, just the type and I believe there is several tons of that in the type cabinets.

I will keep you posted and remember your help. I was planning on working with a 50/50 mix of WW and LT based on what I've been reading. I'm new to this but learn quick. See my related post about wheel weights.
Hey RD from your discription it is hard to tell what you have It sounds like several different types of type metal. I am south west of San Antonio about 35 miles and I think you are east of San Antonio is this correct? If so I might be able to help you by looking at what is there. I won't try to cut you out of any type metal you want I would like to try to pick up what you don't want the plates and things if this is ok let me know. Wes

Hammerhead...

Greetings to a fellow Texan and cast bullet shooter! I'm about 2 hours SE of San Antonio at Cuero. I ranch west of here on the San Antonio River just SE of Kenedy.

I spoke with the printer that the equipment belonged to and it is linotype. I have secured the entire supply... now I just need to move and store it. I will keep you and others posted. Might do some trading as wheel weights are tough to get around here.

http://www.baitshopboyz.com/forum/uploads/linotypevsww.jpg

Man oh man... are those Linotype bullets pretty! Linotype is on left and the wheel weights is on the right.

I started to haul it out of the place today. I figured out my Jeep can only carry about 560 pounds at a wack. I've got a trailer I will use tomorrow and beyond.

I also started molding ingots and of course had to try a 444 Marlin bullet. I tested it with the Lee Lead Hardness Testor within an hour of pouring int and it measured a BHN of 21. I will test them again in the morning after they've cured overnight. I even got a long ingot stamped with the Linotype logo and trademark!

Now for my next dumb question... My wheel weights and tin (97.5/2.5) has a BHN of 13. If I go to WW and Linotype as a 50/50 mix will I end up with a BHN of around 17 to 18?

BTW, the boxes are most likely what is known as a case in printer's circles. I don't know about Texas, but on the west coast they bring a pretty penny (sometimes as much as $125 each, depending on condition, etc) for use as trinket display boxes. I did the same thing here in AL & got $40 each from some cases, so you may have done better than you thought.......

hatch...
I just bought the lead, not anything else as the fellow who bought the building owns an antique shop.

Others...
I ended up hauling exactly 1 ton from the building! Yikes, my shoulders hurt. I had a couple fellows over last night and made sure that got a good supply of it in exchange for wheel weights.

Some of you have asked about getting some of it. I've checked several places and it will cost 60¢ to $1.50/lb just for shipping depending on the quantity or destination. What I want for it is wheel weights. They are not available within a reasonable driving distance any more and those that are available cost us locals 50¢ a pound. I'm willing to trade up to the point that I have 50/50 left and then I figure I will pretty much have a lifetime supply.

http://www.baitshopboyz.com/forum/uploads/Photo0006.jpg

I drove by this place for years going out to the ranch. Didn't know there was bullets inside that place!

Hey RD what all kinds of type metal did you come up with? Any foundry type? I might be able to trade some ww for lino or foundry type. I will have to check the storage unit. Sounds like you had fun hauling it off. Let me hear from you.....Wes

Ranch Dog,
I am happy to see that you are getting in to the bullet casting game! WELCOME!

In my limited experience, the few print shops that I visited back in the 1970's when I first got into bullet casting carried both linotype and monotype.

Linotype alloy is used in rows of letters/numbers.
Monotype alloy is used in single digit letters/numbers.
Stereotype alloy was typically used to make printing plates.

Jack has already given the composition of the various alloys.
There were actually several different Monotype alloys, some having an antimony content as high as 24%, but I understand the most common type is the one that Jack referenced.

Even though those were the typical values that Jack referenced (thank you) of those alloys, if the type metal has been melted, reused and mixed with other batches of alloys, and recast into letters, etc, the alloy composition may have changed. In other words all cast linotype, monotype and sterotype may not be the same.

Back in those days, printers that had remelted and reused type metals many times would send a sample of their alloy(s) to a foundry for analysis. Once the composition of the test sample was known, the foundry would make up a batch of "toning metal" that the printer would add to his alloy(s) to get the alloy back to its original composition state.

As a double check to be reasonably sure that one has the proper alloy for one's bullets, the best thing to do is to first make pure lead bullets, well filled out, from a selected mold.
The best source of pure lead is probably the lead round balls for muzzleloaders as offered by Hornady and Speer.

Making pure lead bullets is easily done by making them in conjunction with a regular casting session by putting the round balls in a ladle and placing it on top of the melt in your pot. Pour the pure lead bullets at intervals during the session and set them aside to be weighed later. I like to make at least 5 and use the heaviest weight for calculation purposes.

Once you have the weight established for the pure lead bullets, the weight calculation for other alloys would be as follows:

wheelweights - .989
50/50 ww/lino - .964
linotype- .936
monotype- .890

A 200 gr. bullet in lead would then weigh 187.2 grs. in Linotype or very close to it (200 x.936).

Anyway, have fun!

Again, welcome to the world of making your own cast bullets.
Life will never be the same......................

John

Thanks John for the info. I'm having a blast with the casting so far. Didn't get any of the lapping done on my 444P because I was hunting and then called to work this afternoon... the real work that pays for all my fun.

When I retire in a few months, I will have spent 40 years in the printing industry. Suffice it to say that I've seen some alloy over the years. The company I work for had used stereotype, usually cast into individual lines of type, along with a few offset presses that used aluminum plates. The stereo alloy was used over and over, sometimes fluxed and sometimes skimmed off, which I always assumed really changed the alloy composition.
On occasion, as is mentioned above, the metal was brought back into specs by adding some bars of corrective alloy sent in from the foundry. But, with having tons and tons of metal in house, certainly not all the alloy had the same composition. However all of it was very hard.

Enter modern times. Twenty or so years ago, we began to phase in photopolymer plates. A few presses at first and now the entire plant prints from plastic!!

What happened to all the stereotype metal? It was sold it to a scrap dealer, or at least the bulk of it. I and a few of my friends bought all we wanted @ 10¢/lb.!! No, I don't want to double my money. I probably have 2 tons left so I mix it 2-1 with wheelweights. Makes very hard bullets with virtually no leading in either my 30-30, 38-55, or 44's. On some Contender barrels I see leading but these are usually very rough T/C bores.

Pity the next generation of bulletcasters, they will have no sources of typemetal and those photopolymer plates don't lend themselves to moulding.

hammerhaed, southwest of SA about 35 miles? Would that be anywhere around Hondo? My daughter lives in Castroville. Got any really good places to shoot down there? Next we come, we can hook up. I usually don't have alot to do while everyone else is visiting. By the time I say hi and how are ya, my conversation is about exhausted. sundog

Sundog I live about 20 miles from Hondo and about the same from Castroville. Little burg by the name of Devine. Not many good places to shoot that I've found. Hammerhead

"Now for my next dumb question... My wheel weights and tin (97.5/2.5) has a BHN of 13. If I go to WW and Linotype as a 50/50 mix will I end up with a BHN of around 17 to 18?"

I answered my own question. I molded some bullets last night and the 50/50 mix measured 15.4 this morning. Can't wait to see how they shoot.