When my house burnt in 2007, I lost *all my bullet casting equipment and tin, lead, and antimony I'd accumulated over the years. I used to cast a variety of rifle bullets, and even shot cast bullets in the M1 Garand.
* = One non-steel mould (bronze) was salvaged by a friend for me, a double cavity specialty mould from Australia for the .310 Cadet.
So I get back into Swiss rifles and am having a time getting accurate loads for the M1889 Swiss (l-o-n-g oversize throat designed for paper patch bullets back in 1889). 2 friends that were either getting out of casting or greatly slowing down their casting gave me samples of a variety of cast bullets to try and get the 1889 Swiss going. Lyman 314299, a 200grain long bullet for the .303 Brit and 7.62x54R when sized to .314" and seated quite a bit long did the trick. Lyman 311291, a 173gr bullet worked well in the K31 Swiss. Picked up some used equipment from friends at attractive prices, and I'm now back into making rifle cast bullets.
Bought a 5 lb bar of true Lyman #2 alloy from a metals supplier/smelter (90% lead, 5% tin, 5% antimony) (expensive to buy if doing a lot of casting) so I could cast sample bullets and weigh them and get a "standard". I then mix my scrounged bullet metal with some linotype, keeping track of the amounts of each, until I get bullets of the same weight as the known metal. The resulting bullets seem to be of the same hardness and shoot the same with no leading, so that's good enough for me. For example: 1lb soft lead + 1lb linotype = ~#2 alloy in weight and hardness. 1lb wheel weights + 1lb of salvaged cast bullets from the berm + 1lb linotype = ~#2 alloy in weight and hardness.
In scrounging metal, I did find that lead wheel weights are going extinct. Checked with Vannoy's and was told steel and zinc WW's are cheaper to buy. Some states have outlawed lead wheel weights. A friend gave me a cat litter bucket of WW...sorting them I found that only about half were lead, the rest steel and zinc. Zinc ruins lead for bullet casting. Scrounging for metal can be kinda fun and rewarding itself. Example: Sawman had some lead he'd use long ago for simply the weight to hold some things down, and he gave it to me. Turned out to be 20lb of linotype which is great for making softer lead harder for rifle bullet making/shooting. It does help that I'm retired, so I have the time for the labor intensive bullet casting and preparation.
Top pic: Lyman 311291, 173gr 30 cal that is useful for both the Swiss K31 and 30/06, 308, and 30/40 Krag loads. I used to use the 311291 in several 30 cal rifles. Bottom pic: Lyman 314299, 200gr 303/7.62x54R that I'm using in the 1889 Swiss.
* = One non-steel mould (bronze) was salvaged by a friend for me, a double cavity specialty mould from Australia for the .310 Cadet.
So I get back into Swiss rifles and am having a time getting accurate loads for the M1889 Swiss (l-o-n-g oversize throat designed for paper patch bullets back in 1889). 2 friends that were either getting out of casting or greatly slowing down their casting gave me samples of a variety of cast bullets to try and get the 1889 Swiss going. Lyman 314299, a 200grain long bullet for the .303 Brit and 7.62x54R when sized to .314" and seated quite a bit long did the trick. Lyman 311291, a 173gr bullet worked well in the K31 Swiss. Picked up some used equipment from friends at attractive prices, and I'm now back into making rifle cast bullets.
Bought a 5 lb bar of true Lyman #2 alloy from a metals supplier/smelter (90% lead, 5% tin, 5% antimony) (expensive to buy if doing a lot of casting) so I could cast sample bullets and weigh them and get a "standard". I then mix my scrounged bullet metal with some linotype, keeping track of the amounts of each, until I get bullets of the same weight as the known metal. The resulting bullets seem to be of the same hardness and shoot the same with no leading, so that's good enough for me. For example: 1lb soft lead + 1lb linotype = ~#2 alloy in weight and hardness. 1lb wheel weights + 1lb of salvaged cast bullets from the berm + 1lb linotype = ~#2 alloy in weight and hardness.
In scrounging metal, I did find that lead wheel weights are going extinct. Checked with Vannoy's and was told steel and zinc WW's are cheaper to buy. Some states have outlawed lead wheel weights. A friend gave me a cat litter bucket of WW...sorting them I found that only about half were lead, the rest steel and zinc. Zinc ruins lead for bullet casting. Scrounging for metal can be kinda fun and rewarding itself. Example: Sawman had some lead he'd use long ago for simply the weight to hold some things down, and he gave it to me. Turned out to be 20lb of linotype which is great for making softer lead harder for rifle bullet making/shooting. It does help that I'm retired, so I have the time for the labor intensive bullet casting and preparation.
Top pic: Lyman 311291, 173gr 30 cal that is useful for both the Swiss K31 and 30/06, 308, and 30/40 Krag loads. I used to use the 311291 in several 30 cal rifles. Bottom pic: Lyman 314299, 200gr 303/7.62x54R that I'm using in the 1889 Swiss.
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