Buying hard cast-ing lead.

In that case, I'd cast straight "Hardball".
It should be plenty hard at that velocity.

If you want something even harder, add 4-5 'linotype nuggets' per pound, and water drop.
Let 'age' for a couple months, and then have at it.
 
SOMEwhere (=somewhen) I read that balanced alloy additions (3/3, 5/5, etc) of Sb/Sn (not antimony) resulted in far quicker (overnight) hardness stabilization/maintenance than those with differing proportions.

I could have sworn the article was in lasc, but cannot now dig it up.

Any others read/hear the same thing (or have differing data)?
 
Plain old wheel weights, dropped in cold water out of the mold and "finger lubed" with plain old NRA Alox-Beeswax. I've driven them to 1400+ fps with no leading and they penetrate like FMJ.
 
Thanks all. Got my order in to rotometals.

Ben, I live in Washington state, wheel weights are rare as hen teeth around here (the right kind) cause, you know, they kill schools.
 
Good purchase! It's still cheaper than buying jacketed bullets and you know exactly what alloy you are using then. Happy casting!!!
 
I haven't cast a bullet in many years. My favorite was straight Linotype. Some say don't but it would shoot in .44 Mag and .357, no gas check needed. I still have some .357 bullets made of Lino, still shoot well. I don't know if you can still get it, I used to get it at a scrap yard in Dallas. 30 years ago it was .50 a pound. It throws several grains lighter than #2 alloy. My 170 grain mold throws about 162 with Lino.
 
:D Chainsaw, "They kill schools?":D Guess I'm not in on the inside joke. "Splain it to vme, ploeez!:)

Pete, in the past I bought linotype from a local newspaper. But they converted to offset presses a long time ago. I haven't seen it anywhere except except metals dealers for many years. Too bad, really. It was great for rifle bullets. Bet I've fired 5 to 6 thousand 170 grain linotype bullets from my .30-30s, .303 Savage, and .30-40 Krag.
 
Washington greenies who (and this is coming from a pro environmentalist) some how make the jump that lead in the body being bad to somehow a little wheel weight sitting on the side of the freeway will kill everything in sight, even though its been proven that lead, unless in ridiculously high concentrations, will sit in soil being very benign and not moving into other sources.
 
Linotype is great, but harder than needed. Mix 4lbs Lino with 6lbs wheel weights, or 6 lbs Lino with 4 lbs pure lead and you get a good, quite hard bullet metal, less expensive than pure Lino..:)
 
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