Or use it to cast 67,000 230 grain 45 caliber bullets....(actually, more than 67K after you added the tin and antimony (5% of each by weight, which is the time tested Lyman #2 formulation, to get the hardness up).
If you're going for cheap, hell just cast the plain lead for your 230 grain 45s. I experimented around and found that 230 grain 45s are going slowly enough that even pure lead seems to work ok, especially for just your plinking and blasting ammo.
You can use pure lead for your other chamberings too but yeah you will get all kinds of leading and the boolits not spin-stabilizing if you don't harden them up with the other alloys. If I was short on alloy, I would save the wheel weights and the good stuff for the 9mm cast boolits and throw whatever I had into the 230 grain 45s.
Pure lead, as in "swaged bullets" (meaning formed under pressure from lead wire) tends to lead (meaning "coat the bore with lead from the bullet") at higher velocities, e.g. >650-700 FPS. Pure lead is about 5 on the Brinell scale.
At 45 ACP velocities (230 grains Mil hardball = 860 FPS, lighter bullets can go faster) you need something harder, at least a 10-12 on the Brinell scale. Unless you really like scraping lead from the bore (see: Lewis Lead Remover).
Move up to Lyman #2 and it's about 18 on the Brinell scale and you can push it as fast as 1700, maybe 1800 FPS without leading (or, more likely, very little). Faster than that is why paper patched bullets were invented.
If you've been shooting pure lead at anything near hardball velocities in a 45 it would be beneficial to inspect your bore.
Or use it to cast 67,000 230 grain 45 caliber bullets....(actually, more than 67K after you added the tin and antimony (5% of each by weight, which is the time tested Lyman #2 formulation, to get the hardness up).
ReplyDeleteSome would say you are minting your own currency.
DeleteIf you're going for cheap, hell just cast the plain lead for your 230 grain 45s. I experimented around and found that 230 grain 45s are going slowly enough that even pure lead seems to work ok, especially for just your plinking and blasting ammo.
ReplyDeleteYou can use pure lead for your other chamberings too but yeah you will get all kinds of leading and the boolits not spin-stabilizing if you don't harden them up with the other alloys. If I was short on alloy, I would save the wheel weights and the good stuff for the 9mm cast boolits and throw whatever I had into the 230 grain 45s.
A 2000 lb cube of gold is about 14” on a side. That almost 30,000 Troy ounces. At about $1800/Toz that’s just about $54 million.
ReplyDeleteI saw that cl ad. Even at $1.15/lb he'll probably have those for a while.
ReplyDeleteI want to see the Mini with that in the trunk!
ReplyDeleteAnd if you got that chunk of lead in a Mini Cooper trunk you would have a Mini worth $2462
ReplyDeleteUh, no.
ReplyDeletePure lead, as in "swaged bullets" (meaning formed under pressure from lead wire) tends to lead (meaning "coat the bore with lead from the bullet") at higher velocities, e.g. >650-700 FPS. Pure lead is about 5 on the Brinell scale.
At 45 ACP velocities (230 grains Mil hardball = 860 FPS, lighter bullets can go faster) you need something harder, at least a 10-12 on the Brinell scale. Unless you really like scraping lead from the bore (see: Lewis Lead Remover).
Move up to Lyman #2 and it's about 18 on the Brinell scale and you can push it as fast as 1700, maybe 1800 FPS without leading (or, more likely, very little). Faster than that is why paper patched bullets were invented.
If you've been shooting pure lead at anything near hardball velocities in a 45 it would be beneficial to inspect your bore.
FYI, Brownells sells the Lewis Lead Remover.