92-6-2 good target and hunting alloy ?

Hello all, new to casting and have an alloy question. I contacted a local commercial caster, who was kind enough to offer to supply me with his alloy at a good price (1.50). It is 92-6-2 and 15-16 BHN. I intend to use this as my only alloy for now, to keep things simple. The following boolits will be casted and Powder Coated: 44 and 45 WFN, 250-280gr range, 900-1100 fps, 9mm 147gr 1000 fps. The 44's may see velocity up to 1400 or so in rifle. These will be for targets and hunting, no hollow-points at this time. All plain base boolits for now. Will this be an appropriate "all purpose" alloy for me ?

Most people new to casting are well served by a known casting alloy. As you gain experience, you might find that for hunting type loads, a softer alloy will better serve your needs. That is just a matter of adding scrap soft lead to your present alloy selection. Better to get started now, and let your experience show you if you need to alter a basic alloy. Most of your shooting will be target or plinking and that alloy selection is not critical. Good luck and enjoy a consistent alloy for developing the skill.

92-6-2 is commonly known as "hardball" and is great for targets. Add 2-4% more tin and it makes a tougher bullet for hunting.

A much better alloy is Lyman #2 Alloy. Mix 1% lead and 3% tin into your 92-6-2 Hardball alloy to get Lyman #2 alloy. The BHN will be 14-15 and the #2 alloy, being better balanced in Antimony and tin will be more ductile and will cast better bullets. For your uses you can then further mix the #2 alloy at 50/50 with pure lead to get a 95-2.5-2.5 alloy which will also be excellent.

My hope was that I could simplify my initial efforts by using this Hardball alloy without messing with adding to it, etc. It will come in ingots ready to cast. As I'm not needing any expansion, I guess my only concern is bullets being too "brittle" and shattering on heavy bone. At 1000fps on deer and pigs, is shattering even a concern ?

What gun? What caliber? What diameter are you wanting to size to? 92-6-2 is a bit on the hard side, and unless your cylinder throats are of sufficient diameter, you may get leading if they are tight.

A lot of people here, myself included use 50/50+2% COWW, pure soft lead, and 2% tin. This alloy works good in so many different guns and calibers, it's very well regarded as an all around and an excellent hunting boolit. It has a well earned reputation.

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Originally Posted by 6.5X284ever

My hope was that I could simplify my initial efforts by using this Hardball alloy without messing with adding to it, etc. It will come in ingots ready to cast. As I'm not needing any expansion, I guess my only concern is bullets being too "brittle" and shattering on heavy bone. At 1000fps on deer and pigs, is shattering even a concern ?

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Bullets shattering with not enough tin to balance out the antimony can be a problem. But you can find out for yourself. Cast some bullets, clamp them in a big vice, then hit it with a big hammer. There is a good chance it will break and not mushroom. Then add 2% tin or pewter and see the difference.

But don't worry about this for now and start casting with the hardball alloy as is and develop your loads (and have fun). When you find a load you want to hunt with recast a 10 pound batch with 1/4 pound extra tin or pewter. Check them for accuracy (but I doubt anything will change) and confidently hunt with them. Use your pure hardball loads for range time then the higher tin for the few pounds of bullets you shoot at game.


PS. At $1.50 per pound you found an awesome deal. It is getting difficult to find even range scrap lead to cut it with for that price.

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Originally Posted by Delkal

Bullets shattering with not enough tin to balance out the antimony can be a problem. But you can find out for yourself. Cast some bullets, clamp them in a big vice, then hit it with a big hammer. There is a good chance it will break and not mushroom. Then add 2% tin or pewter and see the difference.

But don't worry about this for now and start casting with the hardball alloy as is and develop your loads (and have fun). When you find a load you want to hunt with recast a 10 pound batch with 1/4 pound extra tin or pewter. Check them for accuracy (but I doubt anything will change) and confidently hunt with them. Use your pure hardball loads for range time then the higher tin for the few pounds of bullets you shoot at game.


PS. At $1.50 per pound you found an awesome deal. It is getting difficult to find even range scrap lead to cut it with for that price.

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Thanks, that sounds like good advice. I assume when the time comes Rotometals would be the best source for tin ? I'm picking up #240 of the Hardball alloy tomorrow. I guess every area is different, but lead scrap and/or COWW are hard to come by around here. Most of what is available gets scooped up by the offshore fishermen for weights and jigheads. I have some feelers out, but for now will be Hardball alloy and whatever I need to order from Roto.

When I began this rabbit hole, I dove into learning about alloys, mixes, calculations, etc. I arrived at a mix whereby I could use SOWW’s, which were plentiful at a local shop, and Hardball from Rotometals. I mix them at 7#:5.25# and arrive at SN 1, SB 2.57, PB 96.4. This is approx. 11.3 BHN. I get some expansion into a wet berm and plenty penetration. I’ve so far killed coyotes and hogs with this mix in 10mm and 38-55.

For what you are paying for that particular alloy get as much as you can and work with what you have to get your loads established and then do a bit of hammer testing and shooting testing. That alloy is over 3.00 a lb. at Rotometals. Tin is around 27.00 a lb. last time I looked and lb. will go a long ways if you decide to use it. Also watch on the S&S section here for people selling pewter, which is close enough in the casting world to pure tin. Usually a lot cheaper than pure from Roto.

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Originally Posted by Rickf1985

For what you are paying for that particular alloy get as much as you can and work with what you have to get your loads established and then do a bit of hammer testing and shooting testing. That alloy is over 3.00 a lb. at Rotometals. Tin is around 27.00 a lb. last time I looked and lb. will go a long ways if you decide to use it. Also watch on the S&S section here for people selling pewter, which is close enough in the casting world to pure tin. Usually a lot cheaper than pure from Roto.

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As time goes by, I am realizing how hard to get and expensive metals can be. I plan on buying as much of my friend's hardball alloy as he will sell me, at least until I have a substantial pile. I can always soften it up if needed, but it should give me a good base to work from. I do have a few pounds of pewter on the way, and a bucket of COWW to sort thru. My alloy friend also gave me an old toaster oven he had in his attic, to use for my PC. Win/win!

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Originally Posted by Larry Gibson

A much better alloy is Lyman #2 Alloy. Mix 1% lead and 3% tin into your 92-6-2 Hardball alloy to get Lyman #2 alloy. The BHN will be 14-15 and the #2 alloy, being better balanced in Antimony and tin will be more ductile and will cast better bullets. For your uses you can then further mix the #2 alloy at 50/50 with pure lead to get a 95-2.5-2.5 alloy which will also be excellent.

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I agree a little extra tin might make your molds fill out better, good old #2 is what most molds used as a testing constant for weight and size.

Clip on wheel weights will not help with what you have. They will add a lot more antimony and very little tin. But they are good to use by themselves with just a little bit of tin added. Straight wheel weights was what a lot of people shot as is for many, many years.
And all the other stuff you are getting this is a good friend to have!!!

You have received good advice. I will “pile on”, with Rickf1985…buy as much of the alloy as you can. I am old and have plenty of alloy and would buy another 2000 lbs of 92-2-6 at $1.50/lb. It has been over 15 years since that alloy has been near that price.

Never had 92-6-2 shatter. It needs nothing added for good fill out. It's the fool proof alloy for casting good bullets. Run it about 725 degrees.

6.5X284ever: You mentioned fishermen in your previous post. That means that you must be relatively close to water. There are many sources for scrounging lead & alloys for bullet casting. ie: scrap yards, lead pipe and cable sheathing, roofing materials, mining the berm at shooting ranges, medical isotope containers, etc. One of the places that some folks have gotten lucky is lead scrap from the keel of sailboats. If you've got any boatyards near you it might be a good place to snoop around. Two things though - the lead in boat keels could be practically anything because it's used as weight, and there isn't the concern with specific alloys like we want for bullets. Second thing - if you do find a boat keel it's a lot of lead. Some folks have had to use a chainsaw to cut up keels into chunks just so they could haul away the material. Anyway, this is just a suggestion for a place to look for some possible lead.

Boatyards have caught on to the lead supply need. Keel lead is selling for over a dollar a pound around me and I live close to the coast and also many rivers and bays. It is out there but expensive any more.

No sailboats in this area, water way too shallow