bullet weight

[jwinks]

I read in one of the posts from " Dick Dasterdly" i think, where he mentioned using straight wheel weights sometime and the going to a mix at other times. Mind if I ask how much differance in wheight you see going from one to the other? Then i got to wondering, is there some way to judge the alloy by the weight of the bullet your getting?

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy the fire,

It sounds simple enuf, but it ain't.  Different metals cast slightly different size boolits, both in diameter and weight.  Some metals are just more dense than others and some really fill out a mold easily, but shrink back a quite a bit when they cool.  So, it's not a constant volume that yer dealin' with.  For that reason, it's only one possible indication of the alloy used in the boolit.

A far better way to know is to mix your alloy from known pure ingredients.  In a less perfect world, go with wheel weights, especially for SASS main match distances.  One thing you might want to get is a hardness tester.  That's not going to tell ya whut's in an alloy, but it'll give ya a pretty good idea of how soft it is and so how to use it for yer boolit casting.

Also, get yerself a casting thermometer.  Otherwise yer shootn' in the dark.  Some of yer boolits will be well filled out and others will have wrinkles etc.  Pretty soon, yer shootn' junk.  One big advantage of castin' yer own is that you have control over the quality.  One big disadvantage of castin' yer own is that you have control over quality.

DD-DLoS

[hellgate]

J Winks,
What DD just said is true. Some folks blend because they need a softer alloy for BP or they just want to use up what they have laying around. For those that want higher velocity for long range shooting theyll want harder alloys like the straight WW or linotype. The harder alloys tend to cast lighter bullets of larger diameter than pure leadwhich will be heavier but shrink to a smaller diameter. The mols makers usually state somewhere in their instructions which alloy they used to get whatever diameter they state the mold will throw.

DD's idea of a lead tester is a good one.The following is a way to "test" your lead hardness with a rather inexpensive method I got years ago, saved it to repost, and I use myself:

To lead scroungers everywhere,
I think I got this info off the black powder or mlml list 1-2 years ago[1995 or 96]. I
would like to thank whoever originally posted it and offer my apology for
losing the original credits.
You can go to an art supply store and get a set or select individual pencils
whose core varies from [softest] 9B,>>>1B, HB, F, 1H, >>>9H[hardest]. Lead
will run about 4B or 5B, depending on purity, and linotype will run about HB,
or F. The hardest pencils will test aluminum alloys and are too hard for
lead. About 6 to 8 pencils will cover the range needed for informal casting.
To use, shave the wood away to expose the "lead" core without cutting into it
with the knife exposing 1/8-1/4". Hold the pencil vertical and sand the end
flat on fine (about) 400 grit sandpaper. Hold the pencil in a normal writing
position, and try to push the lower edge into the lead surface. If the
graphite core is harder than the alloy, it will cut into the metal or at
least seriously scratch it. If the metal is as hard  or harder than the
graphite core, it will not be able to gouge. The hardness is ranked as the
hardest graphite core that will NOT cut in. If your bullet is resistant to
pencils from 6B through 2B, but B scratches it or peels up a small shaving,
the hardness is 2B.
This isn't as exact as a Brinnel tester but cost effective enough for me. You
can reproduce your hardness but not necessarily the same cost, or castability
but all I want to know is whether it is REAL HARD, sorta hard, somewhere in
between, soft, and REAL SOFT (i.e. Smokeless rifle lead, smokeless pistol, 38
special lead, and 2 grades of black powder lead). I bought 8 pencils: H, HB,
B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, & 6B.  I found that my various ingots of lead were not
sorted  so well once I pencil tested them. Wheelweights and MY BLEND of #2
alloy are about 2B and my soft cap&ball lead is 4B&5B. Be sure to use a fresh
surface as some of the heavier grey corrosion will resist the pencil core but
the underlying lead will scratch.

Hellgate SASS#3302

[Dick Dastardly]

Hellgate, that's a great post.  If your information ain't already in the "Dark Arts" library, it ought to be.

Thanks,

DD-DLoS

[jwinks]

Finally have a few things figured out through trial and many, many errors. Used to try to keep the pot full by adding alloy whenever there was room, natcherally the temp was up and down like a yo-yo. Weights showed it. Nothing to get 10 - 12 grns varience. Poured monday, filled pot, brought temp to 770 and kept it there for 100 boolits. Wa-La maybe 1.5 grns lighest to heavyest but all about 10 under the 535 that I was looking for. Must be almost pure wheel weights HUH? I used to try to weigh the boolits as I poured them and add more lead or w/w to get the weight where I wanted, of course this changed the temp..... what an exercise in frutillity. Thanks for the advice, 'preciate the responses. Jwinks