Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Bullet casting improvements
unfy:
--- Quote from: 66bigblock on April 15, 2013, 09:03:21 PM ---Not to hijack here, but why do you need lead free solder?
66bigblock
--- End quote ---
We've mentioned mold fill out and hardness and other stuff.
Here's an example of the mold fill out.
While the color / shiny-ness of the metal is different, that doesn't really matter.
Note on the lube groves, shoulder to bearing wall joint, and hollow point noses that the tin-ified alloy has sharper corners than just the wheel weight.
For hardness stuff.... I attempted a 3LB sledge drop to demonstrate a difference, but that didn't work out so well heh... and I was afraid of breaking concrete.
Anyhoo, hardness ratings:
Element | Brinnel Hardness | Shear Hardness
Lead - 38.3 MPa | 5.6 GPa
Tin - ~350 MPa | 18 GPa
Antimony - 294 MPa | 20 GPa
As you can see, tin & antimony have much higher brinnel & shear hardness values. let alone what they do you when you alloy them ;)
unfy:
Oh, and just for a pointless instructional / demonstration pic, when a mold is too cold vs when a mold is way too blazingly hot.
Cold on the left (note the "fat layers" look), hot crappy pot metal appearance on the right (let alone deformed). The way too hot mold bullets are also far lighter (weight) than they should be....
358156hp:
Guys, if you're casting hollowpoints with an alloy much harder than about bhn 10, your alloys too hard to allow expansion with most calibers. Often times, the bullets will simply fragment without allowing much penetration. Consider about 1:20 alloy for cast hollowpoints. Tin doesn't really harden lead alloys that much. Tins greatest benefit is that it reduces surface tension in lead-based alloys, allowing the moulds to fill out better at lower temps. Most of my cast hollowpoints end up around bhn 8-9, which is about the area for 1:25 alloy. I cast my regular bullets from range scrap with about 2-3% of 95-5 lead free solder to make it flow better, and I cast hot with most moulds, usually in the 800 degree range. My Hensley & Gibbs moulds seem to demand 650 for some reason.
unfy:
Don't believe bkoenig has any hollow point molds ?
I might be the only one that I know of ?
I won't go hunting with cast bullets, and I won't be using any for self defense purposes. My primary reason for the HP mold was to make powder coating easier :) ... thus punching holes in paper.
But, I'm running 20:1 for it at the moment and will prolly just use 20:1 as my generic alloy for most things.
358156hp:
The only reason I mention it is because I recently encountered a fella who was casting hollowpoints from linotype, and was bothered because the bullets disintegrated when shot into water jugs. He was a bit proud of himself for believing he has discovered a cheap source of Glaser Safety Slugs. The guys an optimist, I have to give him that.
20:1s a pretty good all around choice, you'll be pretty happy with it.
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