tailfeathers

I have 2 or 3 Mauser actions and I was thinking about building with an Idea toward resale potential. Any thoughts on chambering/barrel length?

http://www.gunsandammo.com/2011/05/27/tips-when-stopped-by-police/

 

this is very informative.

 

Karl

Good common sense way to handle it.

In my experience I've found 1-2% tin works fine for me. Tin does add a little hardness but if you want hard bullets you need antimony. I add just enough tin to get a good fill out in my bullet mold. Generally clip-on wheel weights run apx 2/6/92, tin, antimony and lead. That mix will usually provide good castability and shooting for most handgun loads. With clip-on weights especially you have to watch out for weights made out of zinc. Stick-on wheel weights are usually close to 100% lead but I have come across a few made of zinc. Zinc will turn your mix into mush and bullets come out undersized. One caution, antimony is poisonous. The best way to work with it is to use lead/antimony bars already alloyed that melt apx 650 degrees. You can buy powdered antimony dust that melts about 1100 degrees but like arsenic it just isn't worth the risk fooling with, in my opinion.

 

A good place to buy bullet casting alloys.

 

ROTO METALS

I agree 100%. When I posted I was half asleep and did not feel up to a lot of detail. It's really difficult to alloy pure antimony because of the temp involved. I've used Rotometals and they offer a wide variety of alloys suitable for bullet casting. Good service and high quality.

I bought lead on Auction Arms. Don't know if it has tin. Can't remember, is the ideal 10% tin?

It depends. 90/10 lead tin can be used for hard cast bullets like you would load for 45acp.15/1 can be used for revolver loads because you don't have to be concerned with the possibility of deformation during the cycling of the action. Black powder cartridge rifles can show a preference for 20/1 or 30/1 lead/tin.

It is more than just brass and copper. Have you priced lead lately? The Red Chinese are buying up our scrap metal driving raw material prices up. A few years ago while sitting n a Grand Jury. A good percentage of our cases involved tweekers doing major damage to businesses, forcing many to close their doors a few days. The low-lifes would steal a few dollars worth of copper destroying air-conditioning units or causing major flooding. Many businesses have been spray painting their brass fixtures with aluminum spray paint to try and disguise the brass.

The last time I bought tin, I paid $9/lb. I got an email from my supplier and now it's running around $17/lb. The good thing about using this supplier(Roto Metals)is $100 order or more is free shipping. The bad news is you can reach that level far too quickly. It's going no where but up, and it's not gonna go bad sitting on the shelf, so buy what you can.