Curing the 30 Caliber Blues... Part II
Posted: 02 Feb 2016 07:51
Yesterday afternoon I was able to clear enough ranch chores, or ignore them, to set up and start casting for this project. Since my "Part I" post I've been digging through storage closets and shelves as I'm came to realize that I've been here before. I started casting with linotype better than 15 years ago because that is the alloy I had.
When I became interested in casting, I checked into an abandoned, small town printing press. I contacted the owner and offered to haul all the lead away. They countered with me doing the work and paying them 5¢/lb as someone else had just contacted them as well but they didn't want to pay anything for it. It took me four days of picking up the cast type and $100 but I had moved 2,000 pounds of this premium alloy to my home!
I started casting with it directly and had problems with crumbling bullets. At the time I was communicating with Marshall Stanton and Pete Thornily concerning the 444 Marlin and they suggested that I add 5% lead to my mix. That was easy as I hung out for coffee every morning at an old school hardware store that still sold pure lead for plumbing in 1 lb bars for $10. The store owner hadn't sold any in a long time so he cut the price 50% and sold me his 20 remaining bars for $5/each. As I recall, I had him order another 10 lbs and I remember being a bit surprised at the price as it was $15/lb.
My initial interest in cast bullets was to use an alloy that would allow me to use the 444 Marlin at jacketed bullet velocities. With the supporting advice of the two individuals it was easily achieved once I had a .432" bullet but that is another story. With the 95% linotype/5% Pb I was able to drive a 265-grain bullet on target at 2460 FPS.
Initially I had a lot of old school casters tell me that the mix would come apart on critters but it didn't and that is why I've always been a non-traditionalist when it comes to casting as they were wrong. The experience taught me to put the old stuff aside and forge ahead. Here is a nilgai that I killed with the 265-grain 95LT/5Pb bullet.
The bullet when through both shoulder bones on this critter and stopped in the 1/2" thick hide on the opposite side. When the animal was skinned, the bullet had totally separated the hide from the meat on the exit side quarter. I would like to have had a high speed video to see how far from the body the hide stretched. Here is the bullet. The linotype did not blow up, fragment, or experience any kind of failure.
I've always been a bit OCD with my casting and loading notes mainly because I have a very short memory. So, I used spiral notebooks to record everything that I do and I've had a enjoyable couple weeks of reading my past.
As I started my mold business I had to get away from linotype and start using wheel weights as few have the better alloy. Everything is different with the wheel weights, it is a lot harder to work with, and the results at the casting table through a critter laying on the ground is different. All that linotype has sat right where I put it until now.[hr]
Enough background talk. I used the 95% linotype/5% lead mix to cast my TLC311-170-RF, TLC310-165-RF, and TLC310-180-RF designs.
I cast roughly 100, after culls, of each design.
Linotype is really an easy alloy to work with. It pours like water and leaves silver bullets in it's wake!
I air cooled the bullets on a towel and the BHN is up where I need it. The picture shows the BHN slightly over 20 but it it was slightly under, 19, just like the calculator predicted. I think the camera lense was below level on the scale, viewing slightly upward.
A 5# mallet was applied directly to a few of the culls, the same mallet I whacked bullets with over 15 years ago on the advice of the two fellows I mentioned. I hit them as hard as I could, there is not much give to the alloy. The bullet on the far right is another spent critter killer, a 444 Marlin bullet cast of linotype.
Today, all the bullets will be heated in my little oven and cold water quenched. They will also be check and sized as soon as they are out of the water.
When I became interested in casting, I checked into an abandoned, small town printing press. I contacted the owner and offered to haul all the lead away. They countered with me doing the work and paying them 5¢/lb as someone else had just contacted them as well but they didn't want to pay anything for it. It took me four days of picking up the cast type and $100 but I had moved 2,000 pounds of this premium alloy to my home!
I started casting with it directly and had problems with crumbling bullets. At the time I was communicating with Marshall Stanton and Pete Thornily concerning the 444 Marlin and they suggested that I add 5% lead to my mix. That was easy as I hung out for coffee every morning at an old school hardware store that still sold pure lead for plumbing in 1 lb bars for $10. The store owner hadn't sold any in a long time so he cut the price 50% and sold me his 20 remaining bars for $5/each. As I recall, I had him order another 10 lbs and I remember being a bit surprised at the price as it was $15/lb.
My initial interest in cast bullets was to use an alloy that would allow me to use the 444 Marlin at jacketed bullet velocities. With the supporting advice of the two individuals it was easily achieved once I had a .432" bullet but that is another story. With the 95% linotype/5% Pb I was able to drive a 265-grain bullet on target at 2460 FPS.
Initially I had a lot of old school casters tell me that the mix would come apart on critters but it didn't and that is why I've always been a non-traditionalist when it comes to casting as they were wrong. The experience taught me to put the old stuff aside and forge ahead. Here is a nilgai that I killed with the 265-grain 95LT/5Pb bullet.
The bullet when through both shoulder bones on this critter and stopped in the 1/2" thick hide on the opposite side. When the animal was skinned, the bullet had totally separated the hide from the meat on the exit side quarter. I would like to have had a high speed video to see how far from the body the hide stretched. Here is the bullet. The linotype did not blow up, fragment, or experience any kind of failure.
I've always been a bit OCD with my casting and loading notes mainly because I have a very short memory. So, I used spiral notebooks to record everything that I do and I've had a enjoyable couple weeks of reading my past.
As I started my mold business I had to get away from linotype and start using wheel weights as few have the better alloy. Everything is different with the wheel weights, it is a lot harder to work with, and the results at the casting table through a critter laying on the ground is different. All that linotype has sat right where I put it until now.[hr]
Enough background talk. I used the 95% linotype/5% lead mix to cast my TLC311-170-RF, TLC310-165-RF, and TLC310-180-RF designs.
I cast roughly 100, after culls, of each design.
Linotype is really an easy alloy to work with. It pours like water and leaves silver bullets in it's wake!
I air cooled the bullets on a towel and the BHN is up where I need it. The picture shows the BHN slightly over 20 but it it was slightly under, 19, just like the calculator predicted. I think the camera lense was below level on the scale, viewing slightly upward.
A 5# mallet was applied directly to a few of the culls, the same mallet I whacked bullets with over 15 years ago on the advice of the two fellows I mentioned. I hit them as hard as I could, there is not much give to the alloy. The bullet on the far right is another spent critter killer, a 444 Marlin bullet cast of linotype.
Today, all the bullets will be heated in my little oven and cold water quenched. They will also be check and sized as soon as they are out of the water.