Rifle alloy

[Brad]

I decided to mix up some alloy for rifle bullets. I want to get away from heat treating as mch as possible just to eliminate a step.
My range scrap does pretty well but tend to need heat treating to get much over 1800-2000 fps. Since I have lots of range scrap in ingots that was my base metal.
I mixed 50 pounds range scrap, 5 pounds monotype in letter form, and 1/2 pound tin from Rotometals. Alloy calculator shows it should be right at 2% Sn and 3% Sb. Should cast really well and shoot well too.
I will stick to range scrap for handgun use and stuff like my 45-70. The 375s will see this with heavier loads as will the 06.

I made up 3 batches today for a total of 150 pounds.

 

[Ian]

Busy busy! It's good to have pre-alloyed ingots on tap, keeps things consistent when adding to the casting pot.

 

[Brad]

Having it on hand for adding to the pot was exactly why I did it this way.

I need to get busy and melt down another bucket or two of range scrap. I am probably down to 250 pounds of it in ingots now. Good thing I still have 4.5 buckets to melt down. Probably close to 800 pounds of ingots waiting to be poured in there.

 

[Ian]

Had you thought about buying some Superhard and bringing up another batch to something akin to 92-6-2? If you are trying to eliminate heat treating for rifle, that's a pretty good alloy for it.

 

[Rick]

Good advice Ian. I think I would make some small batches of a few alloys and see if they do what I intended them for before making a 150+ pound batch of something I hadn't tried in anything. That said your 95/3/2 is only about 1% more Sb than I use air cooled in rifle very successfully to 2000 fps. Don't know about at higher velocities, I haven't gone there but it would still heat treat well if needed.

.

 

[Brad]

Had not thought of going to 92/6/2. May give that a good hard look.

A couple years back I made a batch of similar alloy, I just added the Sn this time. The 50/5 alloy worked pretty well in everything I shot it in. I had the Sn on hand and figured adding 1% more wasn't too bad a thing to do.

I have no doubt this alloy will shoot quite well air cooled in about anything I own to 2K fps. Above that a heat treat will work for everything else.

I may take some of my range scrap and add 1% Sn to it. That would give a roughly 1.75% Sb, 1.2% Sn alloy. Fill out would improve on some bullets.

 

[fiver]

if your gonna do some 2/6 alloy you might as well go all in and try the 4/6 alloy I use.
give it a side by side accuracy run in your 30 cal rifles at the 19-2000 mark.

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

When you are talking Range lead. Do you melt everything together that comes out of the ground (jacketed, cast pistol bullets, 22 rimfire) Or do you separate the different bullets found?
I just joined my first gun club this year. The other day I was inspecting the pistol berms. There are spots that spent lead is laying multiple layers deep. I can't wait tomorrow I am going to do some serious lead mining.

 

[KHornet]

I melt everything, skim off the jackets and you are ready to pour ingots after you flux.

 

[Brad]

I do not separate. I see no need. In my opinion the alloy comes out pretty consistent batch to batch. The berms generally contain a pretty standard mix of bullet types so the alloy reflects that.
I would love more cast and fewer jacketed as it makes for fewer jackets to skim off but hey, it's free.

 

[9.3X62AL]

I have used 92/6/2 alloy as my "default metal" for rifle--magnum revolver--and 9mm/40 S&W applications. BHn runs about 14-15, and life remains great in all of these applications to 1800 FPS. I suspect 90/6/4 would cast with even more beauty and detail, if my dalliances in Lyman #2 (90/5/5) are any clue. But 92/6/2 does a lot of things very well for me.

 

[popper]

For those of us without the free range scrap, I use 2% Sb for 40 & 9,AC.; 3% Sb/0.5% Cu for PB @ 2100 in AAC; 4% Sb/0.5-1.0%Cu H.T.d GC for 308 @ 2700. All are coated. I did shoot my replacement for copper solids, they did fine and put a dent in superhard when squished - in case you have some black rhino to drop. Did find a # of 2400 I forgot so I can try the PB 170 in the stubborn 30/30 - maybe 1800 fps?

 

[JWFilips]

Brad,
I like torture I guess. On my range ( Pistol berms) I get about 30% commercial hard cast ...with the rest being jacketed.
In the past two years I have ( with the help of my dear wife ...who likes a challenge) sort out all the Commercial cast from the jacketed stuff.
Yes it is a pain but when I smelt I know what I have up front. Commercial cast at typically 18 bhn alloy and Jacketed at around 8 bhn alloy give or take.
From these clean smelted ingots I develop my Rifle alloy ( I use the CB alloy calculator ) Most times adding a bit more tin
Since I don't shoot rifle fast I try for a 12-14 bhn mix
However For my 243 win I may heat treat this because everything is fast in sub 30 cals
This is my life, post "no wheel weight" options!
Jim

 

[Chris]

I'm a range scrap hound too. Actually, who isn't?

I try to stick to something like 94-4-2 as close as the spreadsheet allows. Nice alloy for me. I shoot only rifle, no pistol, and water quench from most molds. I use WW, pure lead, monotype, and a high tin Babbit in combo as needed, but for me the trick is to add magnum shot for the arsenic content and a source of antimony. I have a periodic supply of what appears to be mag shot (reclaimed) from a wealthy club. You can really see the effect of the antimony on hardening rate and grain/hardness. If you haven't tried it, procure a little mag shot and see what it does.

Anyway, for me 94-4-2 is at this time a nice alloy that I can slide up and down the toughness scale by diluting or heat treating, so for me it provides some flexibility.