Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Casting Question

I've got 5lbs of pure lead and 1lb of tin pellets and I'm wanting to cast some 230grain bullets for my ,45Long Colt.
It probably doesn't matter but I'll be using Trail Boss at around 800fps from a Henry Lever gun and a couple of Vaqueros.
Any suggestions on how much tin I should melt with the 5lbs of lead? I'm going to make ingots first then cast the bullets a pound or two at a time.
Thanks in advance gang.
Bart

Bart,

A third pound of tin should do up that 5 pounds of pure (It would be Elmer's old 1-16 alloy).

A quarter pound of tin/ 5lbs lead would make 1-20 alloy and duplicate Winchesters old blackpowder alloy.

I'd run 1-20 with pressures under 15,000 psi/cup for best results..but they shave and dent easier in the seating step, so take er easy.

1-16 is what I was thinking about doing. Now I just need to figger out how to measure 1/3 of a pound of these tin pellets.
All I have is a powder scale.

You need 2,333 grains.....

Thank you Sir.
You are a Gentleman and a Scholar.

No prob.

You now need another ten pounds of pure lead....

I don't mix 2333 grains of tin in with the 5 pounds of lead to get 1-16 ?
I could hit a curve ball as good as anyone when I played baseball but in bullet casting...Not so much. Why ten pounds more?

Yes, you do. 2,333 grains is 1/3 of of 7,000 grains, or 1 pound (weight).

For two more 1-16 batches, you need ten pounds more pure lead for 1-16 alloy to use up that tin.

If you had 15 pounds of pure lead you'd have your one part tin (one pound) for basically 1-16 (or 1-15, rounded).

I redid the math and figured you were messing with me with math and using up the rest of the tin.
Thanks again Hawk. I'll post pics as I progress.

Tin is phuggin expensive; would never do that!


I make a schitty mathman, but I ain't gonna make a feller waste tin.

Keep us posted for sure!

That's why the new versions of the old alloy formulas use antimony in combination with the very minimum percentage of tin to achieve the same hardness.

They wouldn't use any tin at all except that a small amount is necessary to enable the antimony to mix. You can't really add straight antimony, but you can add some lead with antimony already in it to expand your supply. I recall some suppliers offering that.

Very true.

Straight WW metal is pretty darn close to 1-16 as far as hardness.

Dumb question....
When you use wheel weights,do you pull the clip off of it before you melt it? The clip is the harder metal that holds it to the rim(I think I worded that right)????

Nope; it will float to the top along with the dross, grit and crud.

Try to melt WW's until alloy is slumpy, not a full liquid, to skim the dross and clippings. Zinc coatings can contaminate the alloy or worse yet, your melting container. I do my ingots with a cast pot on a Coleman.

I also had someone tell me here to not melt your weights in the pot you are casting from; lots of trash and dirt can mess up a bottom pour pot spout. A ladle pour with a Rowell ladle, it doesn't matter.


No dumb questions, there are a lot of variables that need clarified. Once clear, its pretty straightforward.

I would point you towards Lymans Cast Bullet Handbook.

Thanks abunch Hawk.
My go-to book has been the Lyman 47th and I have other Lyman books on casting and BPCR. My Pop died and took an amazing amount of reloading,bullet casting,and BPCR knowledge with him. Unfortunately,I never paid much attention to him when it came to casting bullets. But luckily,I was involved in reloading since I was in kindergarten and wiped 45LC's and he let me prime them. I was in heaven.

Quick question....are the stick on wheel weights less desirable than clip ons? I have 3 5 gallon buckets of just pure stick ons and 1.5 buckets of the clip ons. I have heard that it's a softer lead but we will be shooting paper with them and they wouldn't be driven hard out of 44's and 45 Colts.

Well, there you go!

Casting isn't hard at all; you'll figure it out quick and probably remember some of the stuff your Dad did.

The stick on weights have less antimony for flexibility, more lead, so yes, they are somewhat softer but harder than 1-20 and certainly pure lead.

Good question,I'd like to know too.

Hawk, do you have the tool that gauges hardness of the lead alloy? I forget what the name of it is.