I've pretty much decided that for my rifle bullets I am going to buy premixed alloy. The reason why. I have a few wheel weights and I get several different hardness reading's. This gives me different size bullets as well. Some will chamber with ease after sizing,some fail to chamber at all. Any thoughts on this.plus I'll get several bullets out of 5 lbs...
Do you buy your alloy ?
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- Last Post 21 February 2024
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Rotometal - I've bought Schuetzen alloy from them for years. Their product is clean and reasonably priced.
When I lived in Illinois, I bought from a scrap yard in Genoa, Illinois who mixed 1400 pounds at a time to get consistent alloy. I do not know if he is still in business, he may have retired.
Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest
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So, how's everything down on the farm??? - I have little information on farming today, only 3% of the population is engaged in farming today versus 30% when I was in high school (1963). First went to John Deere after high school as a machinist and then as a layout inspector. This was to work nights and go to college days. Then into aerospace with General Dynamics, McDonnell-Douglas, and Boeing (Seattle) after my son graduated from high school.
The Hugo Awards in the mid-1060's had a short story about a man who was being replaced by a "black box" and he then got a job making black boxes. When Boeing went to offloading work, I went to Information Technology Global Collaboration for a long-term career here in the Pacific Northwest.
The added benefit was the CBA and ASSRA matches here in the Pacific Northwest. From March to October, there is a match almost every weekend somewhere in Washington, Oregon and Montana.
Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest
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I've bought many, many pounds of lead from ebay at very good prices. I am finding though that the prices on ebay now are higher or at least equal to Rotometals. So . . . I'm buying from Rotometals now. With rotometals I know for sure that the lead is pure. I always buy my tin from them. The tin I buy comes in flake form and in 1 pound bags. I like it that way as it is easier to weigh out what I need. Tin is expensive but a pound goes a long way when my pistol alloy that I make is 99% Lead/1% Tin. I find that alloy works well in all of my handguns. Ed Harris turned me on to that alloy quite a few years ago. Thanks Ed!!!
If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.
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Interesting. I get from rotometals as well. I need to stick with one or two alloys. Always changing. Not good. Causes me grief..thanks..
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2Frogs - I am sure a hardness tester would be a useful piece of gear, but I don't own one and have not yet been sufficiently tempted.
I take a more direct approach to determining alloy, which is to go on density. Bullet weight is a proxy for density. Compare bullet weight of the unknown metal with the same bullet made of a known alloy (e.g. lino), or of whatever you've been using. This method is not subject to changing numbers as the metal ages.
Antimony and tin are of similar density, and both are less dense (lighter) than lead, so comparative bullet weights will tell you about the "non-lead" part of your alloy. Antimony:tin ratio will remain unknown, though most of the time it will be nearly all antimony. If the unknown is derived from hardball or lino scrap you will have a better idea of antimony:tin.
In practice, I have a supply of lino, some range pickups (mostly hardball) and some softer sundries. Occasionally someone gives me a block of "lead" that had originally been destined for fishing sinkers. I have my supplies, and my leftover ingots, labelled with bullet weight. I blend to get the weight I want, determined by performance on target and game. With the mould that I mostly use, my lino (supposedly 16% non-lead) casts 164.5 gns, hardball about 173, and soft lead about 180. My target weight is 170 gns, which corresponds to about 11% non-lead.
Works for me.
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Missouri Bullet Co sells 92Pb-6Sb-2Sn for $2.48/lb in 66 lb lots. Plus MFRB postage. They give a 5% discount to gun clubs.
https://missouribullet.com/results.php?category=12
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Roto has free shipping on on orders over 140 bucks
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