Soft alloy ?

[Tomme boy]

A soft alloy will have less spring back when sizing right? I sized up some bullets the other night for my 350L and ran them through my 0.356" sizer. Before all my bullets came out 0.356" or 0.3565" depending on the lead. Now this time I used a really soft alloy. Not sure how soft but they came out this time @ 0.3545-0.355"

My guess is they are really soft. What I mixed was 40/60 range scrap to stick on WW lead. They seemed really soft. Today I shot some that were loaded at the same load the Lee 200gr bullet shot pretty good in. It was 21.3gr of h110. I got about 2.25" 5 shot group at 100yds. The Lee runs right at 1.5" groups.

I had a couple misfeeds as well with this RCBS clone 200 gr. When it did the bullet had huge gouges from feeding. I think this may be the cause for the misfeeds. Then if it misfed then still made it to the chamber the bolt did not lock up. Some of the lead got scraped back into the front of the case so no lock up.

I have tin(pewter) and linotype. I don't want to make it too hard. But I think I should just run the range scrap. It has worked well with the Lee bullet.

The other thing was when I shot these I could hear them hit the target. These have a little bigger face than the Lee bullet. I thought that was interesting. It must be the larger flat.

 

[RicinYakima]

Harder alloy will stop some feed problems. You will just have to experiment to find the right mixture. With your present alloy, I would consider 1/8 addition of Linotype.

 

[fiver]

A soft alloy will have less spring back when sizing right? I sized up some bullets the other night for my 350L and ran them through my 0.356" sizer. Before all my bullets came out 0.356" or 0.3565" depending on the lead. Now this time I used a really soft alloy. Not sure how soft but they came out this time @ 0.3545-0.355"

yep.
you could water drop them and see what you get from that, it might just be enough extra hardness and gain you a little diameter at the same time after the wait.

 

[Tomme boy]

Well I melted all the bullets I had made up ready to go. I melt all my lead into those SS condiment cups from walmart. I took out 2.5 cups of the soft lead I already had ready. I then put back in 2.5 cups of lino. I think it maybe too much. The cast diameter went from 0.358" to 0.360"!!! Air cooled.

I sized and installed checks on 20 bullets. I also am going to try these with some conventional lube. So they are ready to go except to wait a little bit before I shoot them. Tomorrow I will get the other bullets I made coated. Supposed to rain so what else to do.

Forgot. I ran a couple dummy rounds in the gun with this bullet tonight before I cleaned it. I pulled out a couple of slivers of lead out of the rim for the head space for the chamber. Pretty sure that was why it was not closing the bolt the last few rounds I fired. I think it is from when the bullets are getting scraped up during feeding. But no leading anywhere else????

I also realized I have not been trying to shoot longer range as much as I used to. I was having a heck of a time trying to get my heart beat down enough to shoot. Dang crosshairs were jumping about 4"! I have always had a harder time shooting a AR as accurate as a bolt gun. The gun just wants to roll all over the place. My good front adjustable rest got burned up a few years ago when our shooting shed was burned down. Lost a lead sled too. I don't remember the maker of the front rest but it had like 4 different screws to adjust besides the wheel for fine vertical. I need to get something else but a little more basic. I remember paying almost $150 for it 15 years ago.

 

[RicinYakima]

You now have Lawrence Magnum Alloy, 91/6/3. That will work but takes a lot of Linotype.

 

[Tomme boy]

Linotype I have. soft I don't. Going to try to head to scrapyard tomorrow to get some sheeting if they have any. I always dig through the cast aluminum area. I always find pewter plates, pitchers and other things. Found it in the plated copper area too. I'm down to about 10lbs of pewter. We did not get out to any of the thrift stores because of the bat flu.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I just bought a couple Batches of 50/50 solder bars myself! (Lucked into a bunch at a garage sale last weekend) I always wondered how folks can say what range scrap averages! I get some from our indoor range. Its 100% RF and ALWAYS real soft. Nearly dead soft. But I read many say it runs 10bhn. ??? Anyhow. WW for me usually are better then 10bhn. (Air cooled) so mixing those 50/50 shouldnt be too soft... (Shouldnt is relative as we just said) I agree in a 20# pit a hand full (1/2 cup or so) aughta bring it up a good couple Points.

I was suprized to see my older 50/50 bars only read 13 ish. While My new bars read a full 18. One of the guys here said that the tin alloy will soften s with time.

Im experimenting to arrive at a alloy I can shoot as cast air cooled and ten when harder needed just quench. My local suppler will read what that is and duplicate supplying me with that alloy every time 100% identical.

I need to give that RCBS 210 another look!! (I was under assumption RCBS was originator and others copied them?? )

Good luck!!

CW

 

[Reloader762]

My favorite alloy is 50% pure lead and 50% COWW with a pinch of tin added for fill out. Air cooled after powder coating its soft enough to get good expansion in my 38/357 or 45 ACP HP bullets and if water quenched after coating I've shot those bullets up to 2300 fps. in my 06 with excellent accuracy and no leading, I also run the same PC quenched bullets through all my other 30 cal. rifle including three SKS rifles and semi auto handguns where bullet expansion is not needed.