Casting lead bullets....advice needed,please

[targetman]

I am considering getting back into bullet casting....I have a number of obsolete calibre rifles.

I used to cast soft lead for paper patched Martini Henry bullets and for the Snider.

I now want to cast some hard lead for smaller calibres...

So, where do I get Antinomy and Tin.....?

And, I was looking at a Lee 4 Production lead Pot......any observations...?

(I used to use a plumbers lead melting pot on a gas ring....now long gone)

Thanks

[kennyc]

I am considering getting back into bullet casting....I have a number of obsolete calibre rifles.

I used to cast soft lead for paper patched Martini Henry bullets and for the Snider.

I now want to cast some hard lead for smaller calibres...

So, where do I get Antinomy and Tin.....?

And, I was looking at a Lee 4 Production lead Pot......any observations...?

(I used to use a plumbers lead melting pot on a gas ring....now long gone)

Thanks

give Andy Allwood a call, he usually has ingots of casting lead around the place

[dromia]

What do you mean by hard lead?

I use mainly range scrap which is too hard and cut with lead flashing. Hard boolits along with poor fit are the two main causes of inaccuracy and leading with cast boolits.

[ukrifleman]

I use a Lee pot and find it perfectly adequate for my needs, although, the largest bullets I cast are 185gn.
If you are thinking of casting 400-500gn bullets, you could find its 10lb lead capacity is a bit small.
ukrifleman.

[dodgyrog]

Tin can be had from lead free solder

[targetman]

Thanks chaps......antinomy and tin have been sourced as has melt pot etc.

Dromia.....I shall be casting larger calibre soft lead bullets for original black powder rifles..ie Martini, Snider, Trapdoor Springfield etc.,.....but wanted some harder (about 1-30) for smaller calibres for the Kropatschek and a couple of Rolling Blocks for smokeless loads with a bit more velocity.....soft lead strips too easiliy.

Plus I need harder lead (say 1-20) for my 45-100 Rolling Block.

[dromia]

For those BP calibres then the antimony isn't necessary or desirable as it will inhibit obturation.

I just use soft lead flashing and such like with no more than 5% tin. Works fine for load up to around 1400 fps so long as the boolit fit is good.

For smokeless for loads over 1400 fps I just use range scrap softened with flashing.

I like to keep things simple.