Can you make your own jacketed bullets?
You can even make your own jackets from common materials such as copper tubing, copper strip, or fired . 22 cases, and produce bullets that outshoot anything you could buy off the shelf (since you can control the bullet weight, shape, and style precisely for the best result in your particular firearm).
Do you have to lube cast bullets?
Cast bullets require lubrication to prevent leading. Bullet lube serves not only to lubricate the passage of the bullet down the bore but also to seal the propellant gases behind the base. One of the most important properties of this lubricant is that it must be able to flow to be most effective.
What lead is best for casting bullets?
One of the hardest and most accurate alloys for casting bullets is linotype metal, which is 4 percent tin and about 11 percent antimony. It can be bought at some print shops or as scrap. It is usually a good bit more expensive than scrap lead, but it makes great bullets if you want top accuracy.
What temperature do you cast lead bullets?
Re: Bullet casting temperature. I cast 16+1 lead/tin at about 720-730 F Works for me, also dipping in Lyman Magdipper pot.
Does tin Harden lead?
Specifically, in one study of possible binary lead alloys it was found that the following elements, in the order listed, provided successively greater amounts of solid-solution hardening: thallium, bismuth, tin, cadmium, antimony, lithium, arsenic, calcium, zinc, copper, and barium.
Why are bullets jacketed in copper?
The higher pressures and temperatures produced by smokeless propellants were more than plain lead could support. This was overcome by adding an outer skin of harder metal to lead bullets. Since pure copper is difficult to cold-work, copper alloys became the standard jacket material.
Can I use wheel weights for bullets?
Wheel weights can be found anyplace that sells tires and are perhaps the most available and inexpensive material for bullet casting. They rank 9-13 on the Brinell scale and about six on the Saeco hardness tester. That’s hard enough to work for most cast pistol bullets and for low-velocity rifle bullets.
Does quenching lead make it harder?
Water quenching (dropping bullets straight from the mould into a bucket of water) will harden your lead, antimony, arsenic alloy but as the lead pot and mould temperature varies so does the final hardness of the bullets.
How much tin do I add to lead for bullets?
Depending on pistol calibers, you may want a bit of antimony to harden those bullets. A mix of 80% lead, 20% linotype, and 1% tin added to that mix has worked well for me in a variety of pistols and rifles-.
What to add to lead for bullets?
Adding Alloys A good all-purpose alloy for both pistol and revolver bullets is 10 parts lead to one part each of tin and antimony. Depending on your source of lead, which might be scrap cable sheathing, lead pipe or odd scraps of lead of unknown alloy, you can make a good workable alloy by adding one part tin.