Linotype as casting material

[Snake-eye, SASS#45097]

I have access to a quantity of Linotype and was wondering if it would be a good substitute for the wheel weight material I have been using for casting bullets for CAS. Any input would be appreciated.

[G W Wade]

works great/  Lynotype is quite a bit harder than WW    Casts very nice bullets and works great for higher velocity.    Very good for adding to plain lead to harden the mix.    GW

[Waimea]

Too hard by itself.

You should mix it with pure lead.

 

Too hard lead will have poor accuracy and end up leading your barrel.

It leads your barrel bc it does not expand and fill in the grooves. So gasses end up escaping around the sides of the bullets.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Linotype is valuable enough that using it "straight" is kind of a shame.  A great mix for Cowboy is about 1 part of linotype and 9 parts of soft lead.

 

It does not make a great cowboy bullet by itself.  Would take chamber pressure close to what centerfire rilfes use to prevent leading with pure linotype.

 

Use it where you need to harden a cast bullet.   If you have been casting wheel weight alloy for cowboy matches, you don't need to even add any linotype to that. 

 

Where I use linotype most often is making bullets for Wild Bunch Bolt Action Military (BAM) matches.   Since that velocity and pressure requires a fairly hard bullet, linotype mixed in with wheel weights works well there.

 

good luck, GJ

[J-BAR #18287]

If you can get the Linotype at a cheap price, buy it and then swap it for pure lead with someone who needs it for Non-CAS shooting.

[Deadwood Miner, SASS # 45575]

58 minutes ago, Waimea said:

Too hard by itself.

You should mix it with pure lead.

 

Too hard lead will have poor accuracy and end up leading your barrel.

It leads your barrel bc it does not expand and fill in the grooves. So gasses end up escaping around the sides of the bullets.

+1000

[Warden Callaway]

Years ago I shot long range handgun silhouette with a Thompson Contender in 35 Remington in 14" barrel. I used a 200g cast made out of mostly linotype. They made me stop using it because it was putting dints in the targets at 200 meters.  It was the only gun on the range that would reliably take down the rams at 200 meters.  

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

I use pure linotype to cast bullets for my 30-06 Springfield. Running about 1,900 fps and no leading. Very accurate using 5744 and gas checks.

[G W Wade]

12 minutes ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

I use pure linotype to cast bullets for my 30-06 Springfield. Running about 1,900 fps and no leading. Very accurate using 5744 and gas checks.

Trick is as usual   Proper sizing        Ran a lot thru my 38 Super and Ruger 44 Mag for IHMSA        GW

[Waimea]

44 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

Years ago I shot long range handgun silhouette with a Thompson Contender in 35 Remington in 14" barrel. I used a 200g cast made out of mostly linotype. They made me stop using it because it was putting dints in the targets at 200 meters.  It was the only gun on the range that would reliably take down the rams at 200 meters.  

 

Warden 

Your post reminded me that I have a myopic view of bullets.

I think in terms of slow moving cowboy bullets. Hardness should be around 12 bhn.

High speed bullets 1200 fps and above need to be harder 16 bhn.

If soft bullets are used in high speed applications then leading will occur.

And all of this info doesn't take coating into account.

I don't do coating.

 

Waimea

 

 

[Warden Callaway]

15 minutes ago, Waimea said:

 

Warden 

Your post reminded me that I have a myopic view of bullets.

I think in terms of slow moving cowboy bullets. Hardness should be around 12 bhn.

High speed bullets 1200 fps and above need to be harder 16 bhn.

If soft bullets are used in high speed applications then leading will occur.

And all of this info doesn't take coating into account.

I don't do coating.

 

Waimea

 

 

 

I remember using gas checks.  This was long before anyone thought of coated bullets.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Quote

I remember using gas checks

 

I still do use gas checks - on most rifle bullets.   Makes base much more uniform and resistant to gas cutting.  Accuracy matches with cast bullets at 100 to 300 yards by Cast Bullet Association has shooters almost universally using gas checked bullets.  Almost no one using powder coated slugs, BTW.

 

good luck, GJ

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

9 hours ago, Waimea said:

Too hard by itself.

You should mix it with pure lead.

 

Too hard lead will have poor accuracy and end up leading your barrel.

It leads your barrel bc it does not expand and fill in the grooves. So gasses end up escaping around the sides of the bullets.

 

6 hours ago, Waimea said:

 

Warden 

Your post reminded me that I have a myopic view of bullets.

I think in terms of slow moving cowboy bullets. Hardness should be around 12 bhn.

High speed bullets 1200 fps and above need to be harder 16 bhn.

If soft bullets are used in high speed applications then leading will occur.

And all of this info doesn't take coating into account.

I don't do coating.

 

Waimea

 

 

 

^^^^ THIS ^^^^

 

Take it from a guy that casts for a living.

[Griff]

For a good hardcast bullet, mix linotype by one part linotype to 6 parts wheelweights.  This produces about 16 -18 Bhn.  I use that mix in my .30-30 shooting at above 2,000fps.  I can run these gaschecked bullets just as fast as a factory round with no degradation in accuracy or leaving lead in the barrel.  Linotype by itself makes a beautiful bullet that will shatter on impact.  

[Michigan Slim]

If you were close I'd swap you alloys. I use a lot of linotype from .30 Carbine to .45-70. I get soft and wheel weight lead frequently.

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

Kinda strange, I was just telling the wife this morning about taking type setting tapes to a caster just a bit of a walk from my downtown vocational high school and bringing the linotype slugs back to school when they were ready. We had IBM tape punching machines for setting up copy to run the linotype sets. They looked just  like regular type writers.

[Waimea]

2 hours ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:

Kinda strange, I was just telling the wife this morning about taking type setting tapes to a caster just a bit of a walk from my downtown vocational high school and bringing the linotype slugs back to school when they were ready. We had IBM tape punching machines for setting up copy to run the linotype sets. They looked just  like regular type writers.

 

I was a part-time photographer for the local newspaper while in HS.

They used to take those tapes to Buffalo every week. Come back with the newspaper from the prior run.

 

[Lazy Eeyour]

Works well for non-pistol caliber rifle. If you size it take some effort, Lyman and RCBS. Still a lot of effort but push through sizers, Redding, works better.

[largo casey #19191]

Anybody have an idea on mixing for shot.I have pure lead-tin-& linotype.

                                                                                                                                         Largo

[Michigan Slim]

48 minutes ago, largo casey #19191 said:

Anybody have an idea on mixing for shot.I have pure lead-tin-& linotype.

                                                                                                                                         Largo

I add a pound of lino to ten pounds of WW for my shot dropper. It likes harder alloy.