Min % of tin I should use..

[rosewood]

Hello,

Edited to add: I like frosting when using tumble lube. The increased surface area holds more lube and probably helps it stick. While it may cast smaller -- and this isn't always the case -- it's still plenty big enough to size to uniform diameter. JS

Powder coating adds more than enough diameter to compensate for any shrinkage. I easily got the size I wanted for the 45-70 Buffalo Classic after powder coating and then running through the sizing die. Couldn't get enough diameter to fit the barrel with the Lee mold I have until I started coating.

Rosewood

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

I don't like the variation caused by frosting. I keep my alloy as close to 650 - 700 degrees and except when casting for my 45/70 where consistency is more important, I cast with 2 - 3 molds when by myself and 3 - 4 molds when casting with a partner.

The molds are, as much as possible, 4 - 6 cavity and rotating between molds prevents opening a mold too soon.

Considering that some of my bullets are gas checked, bullets that very in size are NOT good as even with the crimping verity of check they tend to fall off the bullet.

I also cast from an open 40 - 45lb. pot using a rowell bottom pour ladle. I'd need multiple of the typical electric pots running at the same time to keep up with the open pot and my old Coleman gas stove.

Glad I live in a dryer climate as I have none of the excessive oxidation that Josh is seeing.

That is good, as tumble lubing would be a pain in the keester.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[David2011]

I have some lino that I bought as ingots. When it arrived I emptied my pot, melted down 2 bars, poured them up as .430 310 gr bullets, except being mostly tin they are light.

Umm, not really. If it is mostly tin it would not be Linotype and the boolits would be VERY light From Rotometals.com: "The Linotype alloy consists of 4% tin, 12 % antimony and 84% lead."

You have 3 times as much antimony as tin but still 84% lead. The density of lead is 11.35. Antimony is 6.68 and tin is 7.31. At 50% tin the boolits couldn't weigh more than about 254 grains if my math is correct.

[Defcon-One]

Minimum is Zero, Nada, None!

Minimum for easy casting is 1%!

I like about 2% for general shooting/handgun loads (2% Tin, 3% Antimony, 95% Lead). Lyman #2 (5% Tin, 5% Antimony, 90% Lead) for everything else, including Gas Checked rifle bullets.

That always works good for me!

[David2011]

I have some lino that I bought as ingots. When it arrived I emptied my pot, melted down 2 bars, poured them up as .430 310 gr bullets, except being mostly tin they are light.

Anytime I am casting and want a really good clean bullet I reach down and grab one of those and drop it into the pot. A little goes a long long ways.

But I have to admit I mostly use mine on rifle. The pistol is easy, as long as the bullet is big enough range scrap or WW will do.

Hello,

With pure lead, I can turn my furnace up as high as it will go, get the mold very hot to the point it takes 30 seconds before I can cut the sprue without smearing, and it still won't frost.

I add a little tin and it frosts.

I am sure that, if I were able to make it even hotter, I could get pure lead to frost. But not using this equipment - I've tried!

Regards,

Josh

Edited to add: I like frosting when using tumble lube. The increased surface area holds more lube and probably helps it stick. While it may cast smaller -- and this isn't always the case -- it's still plenty big enough to size to uniform diameter. JS

Josh,

I'm not sure what the advantage of cranking the pot up so hot would be. If it's taking 30 seconds for the puddle to freeze that's just lost time and the lead will be so thin that making the puddle pile up a little thicker is nigh impossible. A thicker puddle/sprue is necessary so the cavities remain filled as the metal cools. You can see a divot appear over the center of each cavity when this happens. DO you know how hot you're getting the metal, by a thermometer? I don't recall if this was answered previously.

It's easy to permanently damage your lead by getting it too hot. You can burn the metal causing a yellow powder to develop that will cause all sorts of problems and if taken too far cannot be repaired by fluxing with sawdust.

You are right in that you don't need especially hard boolits for .45 ACP (or Colt for that matter) since the velocities are under 900 fps for both if replicating standard loads.

Your best results will probably come from being as consistent as reasonably possible rather than trying to get frosted boolits at excessive temperatures.