"Elvis" 61 grain in the AR 15 thread

[Mitty38]

I have the corbin too and it's fine with jacketed bullets, but I have 2 others that are super simple little tools that will easily roll cannelures on cast bullets.
I don't know who made them [shrug] maybe ch4D, maybe corbin?, but they are just a bent piece of rod with a little wheel on it and a set screw for the length.
waay less complicated than the fancy CH one

I was looking at those thinking.... I could make a simple, single grove maker, by modifying a tubing or brake line cutter. Same principle. Just a thought...

 

[Spindrift]

Before introducing the extra workload of making a cannelure on the bullets, I would try to just crimp them as they are with the Lee factory crimp. I would make sure the case necks were carefully deburred on the inside, as the inside case neck becomes the «cannelure tool».
A bit crude, maybe. But it might work. And if it does, it saves you time and money.

 

[Ian]

^^^^^^ Occam's Razor for the win.

 

[462]

If Occam were alive today, would it be called Occam's Shaver?

 

[Brad]

He would have a beard, that would fit his razor best.

 

[Ian]

In Occam's time it was called Lex Parsimoniae.

 

[Mitty38]

^^^^^^ Occam's Razor for the win.

We country folks have a phrase that just about rounds up all that philosophy into 1 easy to understand concept.
You ready for it.....
Here it is, now this is a deep thought, so don't let me loose you....
" Keep it simple stupid"

 

[Mitty38]

Ok help me out guys .....I have just made 25 lb of 11 BHN.
It is a mix of WW with, super hard dipped in it just long enough to eat the corner of the bar, then about 2 % tin, and a few pounds of some rifle alloy I had left over.

I want to use 15 BHN +or - 1 as a starting point. Have to start somewhere.

Want to keep this simple and reproducible. So no quench just powder coat.

At the moment for tonight any way, all I have for hardening is a bar of Super hard that JohnG. Sent me.
I am getting ready to melt it down into 4 oz bars right now .

So how much by weight, of the super hard do I use to get me from 11 to 15????

 

[fiver]

believe it or not your gonna double your antimony content to go from 11-12 to 15.
let's assume 3% antimony [your basic ww and 2% tin alloy] is 11 BHN.
hardball alloy is 2% tin and 6% antimony [or linotype cut in half with pure lead] and comes out BHN 15 air cooled.
lyman number-2 is also 15 BHN, and it's 5%-5%.
10% tin is also 15 BHN, 5% [or 20-1] is same BHN as ww alloy.

 

[Mitty38]

Ok so Super Hard is 30 % antimony. I need to add enough to bring my mix up another 3%.

Figure my tin percent is around 2.5 %, So I should have enough to compensate for the volume added by the Super Hard.
So now I just have to do the math.
I hate math.

 

[Mitty38]

Ok did a rough figure an figure I need to add a lb of Super hard for every 10 lbs total of my alloy.
That should get me in close enough. If it comes a little low a very small amount of tin should bring me right in there.

 

[fiver]

how I figure simple alloy additions.
1 lb of ww alloy is 3
1 lb of lino is 12
1 lb of super hard is 30.

so if I mix 3 lbs of ww alloy and 1 of lino, the math is 3+3+3+12=21
divide that by 4 [4 parts total] and 5.25 is the amount of antimony I have.
close enough to 15 BHN for my world.

 

[Mitty38]

So (3x9)+30/10 =5.7 close nuff.
Pretty much the same result I got but my brain was not in algebraic mode at the time, so I went the expanded route. Took a whole sheet of paper. Looked like a college calculus math test answer. LOL

 

[fiver]

yep.
it just depends on what you think your ww's have.
2.5 or 3 is close enough for now day's.
it doesn't have to be perfect just close-nuff [we ain't working with foundry alloy] and you just make sure to short yourself on the tin calculation so you don't overshoot.

 

[Mitty38]

Ok,
spent half the night blending and reblending in my little tiny pot on the hot plate.

So should have 75 lbs of consistent Alloy. So that's where we are starting with the 61 Grain " Elvis"
Since I am dealing with COWW and Real Lino for a base my formula might be a little different from my estimate. But should be....
Approx. 90% lead, 3%tin, and 7% antimony. So basically Hard cast, or lyman #2 accept antimony is heavier then tin content.
Should come out 15 to 17 ish BHN range.
Will let it settle in a couple days then test to give me a point or reference to start from.
Or stick with if it works ok.
What ever it is, that is what we will be using to start. Then we will go from there.

 

[Mitty38]

Been about a week since I made my alloy.
Tested it. It is staying right a 15 BHN with no growth, or anything weird going on.

Big Thank you fellows who have contributed the various types of lead for this project.
Thanks to fiver for tutoring me, on making alloy what I want it to be.

There is a little bit of everyones lead in this. cept for Ben.
I am saving his stuff just in case I need a bump up.

Now to get to work on that new mold, cast 3 bullets for hardness testing, last week, and noticed the spru plate is scratching the top of the mould. So taking it off and doing a little deburing, before I get to hammering out bullets.

 

[L Ross]

Been about a week since I made my alloy.
Tested it. It is staying right a 15 BHN with no growth, or anything weird going on.

Big Thank you fellows who have contributed the various types of lead for this project.
Thanks to fiber for tutoring me, on making alloy what I want it to be.

There is a little bit of everyones lead in this. cept for Ben.
I am saving his stuff just in case I need a bump up.

Now to get to work on that new mold, cast 3 bullets for hardness creating last week and noticed the spru plate is scratching the top of the mould. So taking it off and doing a little deburing, before I get to hammering out bullets.

Before I cast a single bullet with a new aluminum mould I heat it up and take a Q-tip dipped in synthetic 2 stroke lube and carefully wipe the top of the mould. Then reheat it and take a paper towel, wipe it, reapply, wipe it, bake it on a couple of times. I hate seeing that arc inscribed on the top of the blocks almost as much as an arc scratch on a 1911.

 

[Mitty38]

Before I cast a single bullet with a new aluminum mould I heat it up and take a Q-tip dipped in synthetic 2 stroke lube and carefully wipe the top of the mould. Then reheat it and take a paper towel, wipe it, reapply, wipe it, bake it on a couple of times. I hate seeing that arc inscribed on the top of the blocks almost as much as an arc scratch on a 1911.

Arsenal said their mould came ready to cast, and needed no break in or, spru plate adjustment, like other moulds. So I took them to heart.
Needed some bullets to test hardness not really worried about how well formed so.
Pre heated it lubed the pins the spru screw and the top . Then cast 3 bullets, 1 pour.
When I closed the spru back, I could feel a drag. I opened it back up and three scratches across the inner cavity. Thinking it may be a burr in the spru plate

 

[fiver]

I think I've scratched the top of almost every aluminum mold I have.

 

[Mitty38]

Ok was not a burr. The area directly around one spru hole was dented out a little, on the bottom side.
So got out the file and the wife's nail file and flattened out the under side of the spru plate. Then polished it up.
Got it on the hot plate right now heating it up will lube it again then letting it cool, wipe it off heat it lube it again then cool it.
As per @L Ross .
Then if I can manage to get up early tomorrow the casting is on.