*** Loading Photos Added *** Bullet Lead Lyman #2 ordered

[Walksfire]

Howdy and Seasons Greetings.
While my buffalo arms mould is being custom made for my orig 1860 spencer, I did a lot of research on what is the preferred bullet material for shooting these ancient 150 year old guns. Many online posts point to a lead alloy with lino type added. I found a company online called Zip metals http://www.zipmetals.com/Certified-Lyman-2-Bullet-Casting-Alloy-Ingot-5-Sn5-Sband-90-Pb-Price-per-Pound_p_166.html

Lyman 2 Bullet Casting Alloy consists of 5% tin, 5% antimony and 90% lead. Each ingot measure approximately  2"x3"x15"   and average 28-33 pounds  or you can upgrade to the 8-1/2" x 1" x 2" and weighs 5-6 pounds and has 4 Notched blocks that are easy to cut through on the low sections or bend back and fourth
 The Tin provides great castability (fills out the molds)of the bullets, the Antimony allows the bullets to be sufficiently hard to prevent barrel leading. This is one of the most popular casting alloys out there. BH hardness of about 16.5.

Straight lead is too soft apparently and causes loading and shooting problems. So some add lino type to the boiling pot of lead to get a hardness level of this Lyman 2 alloy. I started by trying to get straight lino type to add to some questionable wheel weights. So instead being cheap, I went with a mix already done. I had to buy 30 pounds of it though. I am trying to figure out how many bullets that will make, probably a lot. I only have 100 brass coming, so hopefully, I can re-use the brass a few times over.

I will share my foilbles as I journey down this path of bullet making. It is harder than making .223 bullets with my Dillon Press. I bought a used red press with a round turret to make my spencer bullets 56/56.

[Ranch 13]

You would of been better off with 20-1 or 16-1 alloy, but #2 does work.

[Ibgreen]

I shoot wheel weight melt.  As to your brass.  With the low pressures when shooting black powder, I have reloaded mine at least 12 times.  I almost believe the brass will last into the hundreds of reloading a if proper care is taken.  I would think the primer pocket will be the first thing to wear out.

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[rbertalotto]

1-20 from RotoMetals.com is my GOTO lead alloy for just about everything. If the bullet fits the bore properly, zero leading and excellent accuracy.

I just recently came into a few gallon cans of Linotype that I made into gas check bullets for my 32 Winchester Special. I mixed 20% pure lead to make them less brittle but I still get BN of about 20.

Good luck with your project. I love this stuff......

[Walksfire]

My 56-56 Moulds from Buffalo Arms arrived and they are a thing of beauty. CNC machining. The snow and sleet stopped early this morning, so I was able to fire up the propane burner and melt a 5 pound block of Lyman #2 lead.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I shoot wheel weight melt.  As to your brass.  With the low pressures when shooting black powder, I have reloaded mine at least 12 times.  I almost believe the brass will last into the hundreds of reloading a if proper care is taken.  I would think the primer pocket will be the first thing to wear out.

UBgreen, and IBcheap!  I use WW as much as possible. As lead is becoming an endangered species I have about 200 pounds stockpiled. It cost me a few cases of beer at my local auto repair shop. If you add some 50/50 bar solder to WW (About 1 to 10) metal you can get close to #2 alloy. I only use the #2 for bottleneck military calibers like .303Brit.  Everything else gets the cheap stuff.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Walksfire; You will enjoy casting your own bullets, and reloading. I bet that you will lose track of how many reloads per case long before you start to get damaged cases. If that 100 cases would get you through a weekend match, then that is enough. Keep your eye open for more, down the line.

How many bullets per pound of lead? Simple arithmetic; divide 7000 grains by the weight of your bullet.

e.g; 7000  : 350 =  20 bullets per pound

Added 26/01/15;  Divide 7000 by 360 = 19,444r bullets per pound

[Walksfire]

Walksfire; You will enjoy casting your own bullets, and reloading. I bet that you will lose track of how many reloads per case long before you start to get damaged cases. If that 100 cases would get you through a weekend match, then that is enough. Keep your eye open for more, down the line.

How many bullets per pound of lead? Simple arithmetic; divide 7000 grains by the weight of your bullet.

e.g; 7000  : 350 =  20 bullets per pound

Well The first 5 pound ingot melted down easily and in a matter of minutes, I had a nice silvery bowl of liquid metal. My machinist and I starting pouring into the mould. But at 450 degrees heat measured by the heat gun in 40 degree outside temps, the first had a snake like etching going on the outside of the ones that popped out of the mould. Then we raised the heat to 600. Those turned out great. We re-melted the bad ones and got 60 good ones from the 5 pound bar. There was still some left over but the big ladel could not get the dregs out of the bottom. There was also some slag that formed on top that we scooped out that was getting in our way towards the end. Total time for our first time was an hour and 20 mins.  They weigh about 360 each.

My Loading Photos:










                                                     (Photos Added by Two Flints)

[Walksfire]

Thanks Two Flints for the photo assist.

The top two photos show a bullet that was pushed through the barrel, and you can see the lands and grooves marking the center of the bullet. It almost looks like nut that you could put a wrench on, in person. The mould with the release agent worked well. I thought the release agent was for the bullets. But the Directions with the Mould told me that it went on the top only, where you shear off the sprue.  After pouring the metal into the mould, I would watch it start to harden, about 30 seconds. Then I would push the shear plate over to cut the tops off. I would wait another 30 seconds to open the mould. Sometimes they would drop out and sometimes I would have to tap the back of the Handles with the wooden end of another ladel.

I measured the new bullets and wrote down the specs if anyone is interested.

Next on the agenda is setting up the press, and fine tuning it. The devil is in the details...

[KEN S]

get an old bath towel, fold it twice and drop the bullets on that.  dropping them on a hard surface will dent them.
  don't drop them in water though, they harden too much. 
   I use pure lead and put some tin in the mix.  I get 3 inch or less groups, centered, at 50 yds. from my Burnside spencer.
  fun to shoot.  I use 2f 33 grains, a hard card wad and two paper wads over that.  keeps the hard wad from sticking on the bullet.  and it WILL do that.  go look downrange and you'll see them all over the place.  put the two paper wads, and they all come off in front of the gun...
     Ken

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I load hot with an electric pot. I plum wore out an RCBS, so am relegated to using a LEE bottom pour 10 pounder. They come out frosty. but that never hurt nothin', and they are much easier to get a good fill.

Tip; Open the mould over a coffee can, and the real bullets on your bath towel for easier sorting. I use a cardboard tray, but the principle is the same. occasionally dump the sprues from the can, carefully, into your pot.

Old clothes, safety glasses and THICK leather gloves of course!

Cast outside, or in a WELL ventilated place. NOT in the rain or snow.

[KEN S]

I agree about NOT in the rain.  you only want to get a drop of water ONCE in the lead pot. 
   You'll be going to Church a lot more often.....Ken

[Walksfire]

Thanks for the tips guys. I went for round two this weekend when the temp went up from 2 degrees to 40 outside in Maryland. Dropping them on a towel worked. Hitting the back of the mold with wooden down freed the bullets out of the mold rather than beat the mold up by hanging in on the table. One bullet bounced off the table while hot and hit a pile of snow. What a sizzle that made. Yes old clothes for sure and thick long welders gloves, as the occasional splatters of hot lead do apparently happen. And yes to being outside with lots of ventilation.

There were two of us working the process. One dipping the lead with the new smaller dip with a hole in it, as well as manning the laser temperature gun. He poured while I held the mold handles over the caldron of 600 + temp lead.

I found that if I had a slight tilt forward to the top of the mold that as bullet one was filled the excess ran off into the pot. The moved the mold level for pour number two bullet. Leaving the mold level the whole time, tended to partially fill bullet two while trying to fill bullet one. It was important the keep the mold level after I removed it from the heat source and caldron of lead. Otherwise the back of the bullets would not completely fill and be slanted.

Some of the bullets came out frosty in appearance and I have no idea why. It was easy to remelt the non-perfect bullets, and sprue. We went through 10 pounds of lead this time. I need more brass, I guess.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Frosty bullets indicate hot lead. It does NOT present a problem. In my experience, frosty and shiny bullets weigh the same; (check it out.)  Pin holes, especially in the base are a problem, and they get remelted.

For pistol & carbine bullets I visually triage them when cool.  Holes and poorly filled out grease grooves go back to the pot. Perfectly shaped and filled bullets are for regular use. I use the almost-good bullets for personal practice when nobody is looking. (I've never seen one of the practice bullets go too far from where they were intended to go.)

Rifle bullets are sorted visually, then the good ones are weighed, then sorted. Most will be within 2-3 grains of each other. Anything heavier or lighter gets remelted or use for rapid fire practice. The standard you use depends on the use to which the bullets are intended.