Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Alloy for 25-20

Just thought I'd ask others what alloy they use for the 85-86 gr fn nosed cast bullets for the 25-20 wcf..mb

Wheel weights will work. I used a homemade mix that ran about 9-10 BHN and that worked as well.

Open sights, old eyes....


Then I put my glasses on...

I'll give the ww's a try. Thanks Dan..mb

Bob, as with most things in my life, at my age I'm trying to simplify as much as I can. "We get too soon old and too late smart." More and more I rely on simple binary alloys of tin & lead. Mixing, matching, and conducting late night seances over the lead pot with range scrap + wheelweights + type metal + plumber's lead, etc. etc., more often than not leads to "usable" alloys but which can rarely be accurately duplicated. And further consideration must also be given to hardness shifting over time with antimony&arsenic bearing alloys (think wheelweights and type metal) - tin/lead alloys don't do that, what you get after casting them is what you still have forever more.

I can't help but think that our forebears got good results consistently with simple tin/lead alloys, before antimony and arsenic reared their ugly heads and "harder is better" became the cry across the land.

Tin isn't cheap, but a smart shopper can find deals. Mixing with dead soft (pure, or nearly pure?) lead at a ratio of 1:10 to 1:20 makes for a bullet that'll serve most of any man's needs. 1:30 and 1:40 alloys are surprisingly useful too if all you're shooting is low-vel rifle and pistol loads. (My .32-40 target rifles dote on 1:30, as do my .38's with wadcutters.) On top of that, when you hit upon the ratio that works, it is easily, and more importantly accurately, replicated in the next casting session, on and on ad nauseum.

All that said, my .25-20 work begins and ends with 1:20 tin:lead.

I got away from wheel weights long ago. I run 20-1. Use of a good lube is key. I use that for 45-70 and 50-70

Was curious about what others use. Got away from lino and # 2 alloy years ago. Use 1 to 25 for.my ppb's with my 45-70 & 50-140 , my 50-70 uses 1 to 30, 1 to 40 in my 40's and 1-50 in my 45-110 . I like lead and tin alloy also they are all paper.patch bullets. They are repeatable. Yeah tin is 18 $ a pound. Mb

Got my 25-20 back around the mid 1980's. Have been using WW for casting from a Lyman 65gr mold. When cast from my WW it comes out at 73gr. BHN 10.5. Drive them around 1500 fps with excellent accuracy. Powder coated on the left & traditional lube on the right, makes no difference. Excellent accuracy.

I use an alloy of 8# WW and 1# lino.

Been casting and loading for a Marlin 94 25-20 for close to 40 years. I've gradually softened my alloy and still have great luck with it. My main supply these days comes from range scrap I picked out of the berm at a local range. Mostly jacketed handgun bullets with a few percent cast, once in awhile a few cast large caliber rifle bullets. I've had a few batches tested when I smelted larger volumes and have averaged about 0.4% Tin, 1.4% Antimony. Add a bit of tin and it's become my normal alloy for most of my casting. This includes 45 ACP, 45 Colt, 25-20, and lighter loads in the 308. I do boost it up to just below WW level for heavy 308 loads up to 2300 fps. I've gone to powder coating most everything anymore, don't get the greasy mess on hands or clothes during the hot summer.

Lyman #2 works fine.