I LOVE MY.45 CAL 'SHROOMS !

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  • SOMDSHOOT

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Nov 18, 2009
    5,601
    Indian Head
    I recovered these samples from my bullet trap while doing some shooting yesterday. These are my cast .45 Colt bullets sized to .451 final 340 grain and inserted in Harvester Crush Rib .50 sabots. Also using 100 grains of Hodgdon RS at 50 & 100 yards. I simply love the way they mushroom. I shot abut 75 rounds yesterday and this weekend I shall cast many more.

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    booker

    Active Member
    Apr 5, 2008
    776
    Baltimore
    Care to give up your secrets with a brief "how-to" on your melting, mixing, casting, annealing/hardness process?
     

    SOMDSHOOT

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Nov 18, 2009
    5,601
    Indian Head
    Care to give up your secrets with a brief "how-to" on your melting, mixing, casting, annealing/hardness process?


    No secrets here. I melt my lead in a lyman pot over a Crab Cooker burner. I add 2 bars of pure clean lead and 1 bar lead with 3% Antimony. All 1 pound bars. I keep my lead clean and pour fast. The rest is purely the mix of lead and Antimony. Using pure lead just folds over into a blob. 3-4% Antimony per pound bar seems to do the trick. I've tried up to 10% and anything above 6% is no good.
     

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    4570inMD

    Western MD Hooligan #007
    Jan 26, 2011
    1,337
    West Virginia
    "I melt my lead in a lyman pot over a Crab Cooker burner."

    Do you maintain a specific temperature with that rig?

    Which mould number?

    TIA,

    4570inMD
     

    lee2

    Banned
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    Oct 8, 2007
    19,012
    i noticed some creases in your bullets, have you considered adding tin?
     

    SOMDSHOOT

    Banned
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    Nov 18, 2009
    5,601
    Indian Head
    i noticed some creases in your bullets, have you considered adding tin?

    I would love to debate those creases, but, they don't affect accuracy. Only a few of these are first casts, so, it's not as though the whole batch of 100 have creases. They are just fine.
     

    SOMDSHOOT

    Banned
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    Nov 18, 2009
    5,601
    Indian Head
    This would put you at 1% antimony in your bullets, not 3%. The 3% is getting diluted into 3x as much lead.

    ? HUH ?

    If you have 3 bars of lead and one bar has 3% Antimony in it...

    you still have 3% Antimony. The Antimony doesn't evaporate.

    Never at any time did I say I had 3% Antimony in each bullet. That is the basis of your mathematics in your reply. Your math is well, but, you miss the point of the added Antimony. It's Overall in the mix, not, individual bullet.
     

    new_shooter

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 26, 2010
    1,220
    A lead bar which is 3% antimony has about 15.5 ounces of lead, and about .5 ounces of antimony.

    If you melt that in a pot with 2 more bars (32 ounces) of pure lead your mix now has 47.5 ounces of lead and just that same .5 ounces of antimony.

    In other words, your final mix is 1% antimony.

    It's still fine, as your mushrooms are what you want them to be. But, you're getting that result at 1%, not 3%.
     

    SOMDSHOOT

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Nov 18, 2009
    5,601
    Indian Head
    Again. Everyone's math is fine. yay.

    Now, back to the point, I only have 3% Antimony in my overall mix of 3 bars, do we understand part ? Ok.

    I'm not here to debate the % of antimony down to a fraction. I add 3% Antimony to my total mix of 3 bars in the pot. That's all. How that 1%, that everyone is hung up on gets where it goes, I do not care, it is there.

    When I said "HUH?" I was merely questioning why the statement was even made. Numidian stated, "This would put you at 1% antimony in your bullets, not 3%" My final point is, I never said I was getting 3% Antimony in my bullets. I know it is diluted by the additional Lead.

    I'm trying make everyone understand that I have 3% Antimony total on the three bar mix. I think I have said that 3-4 times now and that should enough ( I only pray ).

    Where were we...
     

    Half-cocked

    Senior Meatbag
    Mar 14, 2006
    23,937
    Again. Everyone's math is fine. yay.

    Now, back to the point, I only have 3% Antimony in my overall mix of 3 bars, do we understand part ? Ok.

    Nope, you had 3% antimony / 97% lead content in your first 1 lb. bar. By melting that bar, and mixing it with two more 1 lb. bars that were 100% lead, your overall resulting mix was 1% antimony, 99% lead.

    I quote:

    "No secrets here. I melt my lead in a lyman pot over a Crab Cooker burner. I add 2 bars of pure clean lead and 1 bar lead with 3% Antimony. All 1 pound bars. I keep my lead clean and pour fast. The rest is purely the mix of lead and Antimony. Using pure lead just folds over into a blob. 3-4% Antimony per pound bar seems to do the trick. I've tried up to 10% and
    anything above 6% is no good."

    Your bullets don't have 3% antimony in them, they have 1% antimony.
     

    Numidian

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Jul 25, 2007
    5,337
    Shrewsbury, PA
    I never said I was getting 3% Antimony in my bullets. I know it is diluted by the additional Lead.

    I'm trying make everyone understand that I have 3% Antimony total on the three bar mix. I think I have said that 3-4 times now and that should enough ( I only pray ).
    These two sentences contradict each other. In the first you claim to not have 3% (which is correct because you have 1%) and then in the second you just want us to understand you have 3% LOL.

    I don't mold bullets, so I don't care if you have 1%, 3% or 30% antimony, but I just want it to be clear to anyone who might want to replicate your results. I don't even know how much of a difference the antimony makes.
     

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