Rossi Rifleman

Hello-I've been casting for probably 6-8 months and am really enjoying it. So far I've been using old wheel weights that I sorted through and removed all the zinc ones. But I recently acquired about 100 lbs of what I consider to bee pretty much pure lead. It was used as chinking(SP) in the joints of old cast iron sewer and water mains. I've melted it down and fluxed the stuff and poured into ingots. Next weekend I'm getting a bunch of lead pipe. I know I will probably have to harden this stuff up but what is the best way to do it? I shoot moderate Trail Boss loads in both of my 45"s. Target shooting is all I do so far and next summer cowboy action. I've heard that linotype will harden the pour and it's available on ebay. Any help or ideas will be appreciated. Thanks

If you are keeping your loads at 1300-1400 fps or less, you should get by with using a mix of 2 pounds of pure lead with 1 pound of linotype. By using a good lube you should not get any leading in the barrel. I prefer using White Label BAC or 2500+ lube. If your loads are up the area of 1500-1700 fps, try a mix of 1 pound linotype to 1 pound of pure lead. You may want to add about 1-2% pure tin for good fill out in the mold for both mixtures. I have used straight wheel weights up to 1500 fps with no leading in my barrels.
For pistols loads around 800-1000 fps I have used a mixture of equal weight clip on wheel weights to equal weight of pure lead and added 1% tin and got excellent results in several calibers. also if your loads are 1000 fps or lower, mixing pure lead at 3 to 1 ration with linotype will give you a good load for most pistols. Getting pure lead like your cast iron pipe lead and pipe lead is far cheaper then getting linotype or even clip on wheel weights. The above mixtures will help you to stretch that expensive linotype. Her in CA. lead wheel weights have been banned for several years and it is hard to get them and getting expensive if you find them. Might be different in your state. Straight clip on wheel weights make a excellent pistol bullet by itself. Stick on wheel weights are almost pure lead if you run across them.

Last time I hardened up some soft lead, I got a few "super hard" ingots from Roto Metals. It's 30% antimony so it does not take a lot of it per the amount of lead.

Then to get better fill out of the mold, I get lead free (tin) solder from home depot, or like the last time, i got a couple of pounds of tin chunks from roto metals.


If you want to make a specific mixture, you should look on the Cast Boolits forum in the "lead and lead alloys" section. In one of those MANY stickys , is a chart thing that shows you how to mix any alloy you can think of.

Hey guys thanks for the replies! I'm really wet behind the ears as far as casting goes but learning. I'm getting really nice casts from my wheel weights-couldn't be happier! Right now I'm grabbing all the lead I can while it's still available. So far the most that I've paid was 30 cents a pound and my wheel weight lead was free. My loads are mild-under 1000 fps and eventually I'll get the mixes figured out. This has become a fun little hobby that started with the Rossi 92 and my Uberti revolver. Thanks again

If you really want to see what a good looking bullet looks like, get you a roll of lead free solder and mix some of it into your next pot full of wheel weights. I have an old Lyman #61 with a 10 pound capacity. I take a 1/2 lb roll of solder and spool it all off. Fold it and cut it, then fold both pieces and cut it again so I have four equal pieces, which I guess must be 2 ozs. I mix one 2oz piece in with a pot full of lead, and boy does it make them come out with really sharp corners and edges.

Thanks Don for the tip and I'm going to try that. So far I'm really happy with my wheel weight casts but there's always room for improvement and I might have a source for free tin. My new neighbor is an engineer for one of the local electronic firms and they have the waste tin solder collected in buckets. He's also a shooter and belongs to the same gun club. I'm going to try to lay my hands on some of this stuff. Where I live we have a grocery store chain called HyVee. As a service once a week they put out a little paper called the HyVee Trader where you can advertise Wanted Or For Sale items. My Wanted ad is in there and that's where I find my lead. I just got a call from an 80 year old gentleman who says he has at least 250 lbs of at least 10-15 year old wheel weights. But he wants to dicker. So far I offered him 40 cents a lb but I'll have to look at them. Right now I have a lot of lead but if we keep getting the same kind of politicians that we have now who knows how long it will be around. Thanks again for the tin tip. Dave

I was happy with my wheel weights only bullets too, for a lot of years. Then last year, I finally tried the tin because I had some soft lead in the mix. Now I can never leave it out again!


Looking for lead in the want adds, good idea.

ddj wrote:Hey guys thanks for the replies! I'm really wet behind the ears as far as casting goes but learning. I'm getting really nice casts from my wheel weights-couldn't be happier! Right now I'm grabbing all the lead I can while it's still available. So far the most that I've paid was 30 cents a pound and my wheel weight lead was free. My loads are mild-under 1000 fps and eventually I'll get the mixes figured out. This has become a fun little hobby that started with the Rossi 92 and my Uberti revolver. Thanks again

Hey ddj. Yep, it's cool when you start with a pile of stuff and turn it into bullets ain't it. I've been doing it since the 70s and I STILL think it's cool! ;~)

Ok, 1000 fps...pure lead is just fine. At least from my experience. Anything that's sub sonic in a pistol should shoot using even pure lead without fowling at all. SO, since the rules for cowboy shooting are pretty specific about bullet speed, and increased velocity equals muzzle flip and muzzle flip equals slower recovery times, which equals slower overall times, it shouldn't be a problem since you want the slowest, most accurate round you can shoot for the courses you shoot. Whew...that's a mouth full. ;~)

ALL.....that.....said, if you intend to alloy your rounds, the most important thing for getting a consistent load is that the alloy is consistent. That requires a couple things. Large batches are best and then don't just throw batches in together. Do as big a batches as you can, you can recast them into smaller ingots, but do your alloying in as large a batch as possible, and then cast whole runs of bullets out of them. That way you can count on how that bullet will preform every time for competition.

And then temperature control. Zinc has a melting point that is nearly 200 degrees higher than lead, 800 and 600 respectively, more or less. Tin is about 100 degrees less than lead and so when you heat, you need to make sure that the temp is in a range that is high enough to melt the stuff you WANT in your alloy, but cool enough that the other impurities won't and then held there long enough for them to float to the surface so they can be skimmed off before you start. And with wheel weights, they ALL have impurities in them. ;~)

Then you can crank the heat up so it doesn't skim as bad every time you dip and start pouring. But if you just crank up the heat, melt up a bunch, start casting and then add more as you go, you may well end up with some kind of nasty, barrel damaging junk in a bullet or two. That's why understanding the melting point of the alloy metals you are using is important. I have actually found little flakes of rusted steel and chrome in the edge of ingots where I didn't pay enough attention. ;~0

ANYway, sounds like you've got it figured out and the guys have got you squared away tin alloy. Just wanted to throw in my thoughts on heat to control purity and batch size effect on accuracy. Doesn't have a huge effect, but when you can't shoot any better than I can...you'll take every advantage ya can! ;~)

jdb wrote:

ddj wrote:Hey guys thanks for the replies! I'm really wet behind the ears as far as casting goes but learning. I'm getting really nice casts from my wheel weights-couldn't be happier! Right now I'm grabbing all the lead I can while it's still available. So far the most that I've paid was 30 cents a pound and my wheel weight lead was free. My loads are mild-under 1000 fps and eventually I'll get the mixes figured out. This has become a fun little hobby that started with the Rossi 92 and my Uberti revolver. Thanks again

Hey ddj. Yep, it's cool when you start with a pile of stuff and turn it into bullets ain't it. I've been doing it since the 70s and I STILL think it's cool! ;~)

Ok, 1000 fps...pure lead is just fine. At least from my experience. Anything that's sub sonic in a pistol should shoot using even pure lead without fowling at all. SO, since the rules for cowboy shooting are pretty specific about bullet speed, and increased velocity equals muzzle flip and muzzle flip equals slower recovery times, which equals slower overall times, it shouldn't be a problem since you want the slowest, most accurate round you can shoot for the courses you shoot. Whew...that's a mouth full. ;~)

ALL.....that.....said, if you intend to alloy your rounds, the most important thing for getting a consistent load is that the alloy is consistent. That requires a couple things. Large batches are best and then don't just throw batches in together. Do as big a batches as you can, you can recast them into smaller ingots, but do your alloying in as large a batch as possible, and then cast whole runs of bullets out of them. That way you can count on how that bullet will preform every time for competition.

And then temperature control. Zinc has a melting point that is nearly 200 degrees higher than lead, 800 and 600 respectively, more or less. Tin is about 100 degrees less than lead and so when you heat, you need to make sure that the temp is in a range that is high enough to melt the stuff you WANT in your alloy, but cool enough that the other impurities won't and then held there long enough for them to float to the surface so they can be skimmed off before you start. And with wheel weights, they ALL have impurities in them. ;~)

Then you can crank the heat up so it doesn't skim as bad every time you dip and start pouring. But if you just crank up the heat, melt up a bunch, start casting and then add more as you go, you may well end up with some kind of nasty, barrel damaging junk in a bullet or two. That's why understanding the melting point of the alloy metals you are using is important. I have actually found little flakes of rusted steel and chrome in the edge of ingots where I didn't pay enough attention. ;~0

ANYway, sounds like you've got it figured out and the guys have got you squared away tin alloy. Just wanted to throw in my thoughts on heat to control purity and batch size effect on accuracy. Doesn't have a huge effect, but when you can't shoot any better than I can...you'll take every advantage ya can! ;~)

Thanks for the info jdb. I actually sort through each and every wheel weight to get the zinc ones out. Its a royal time consuming pain but I get it done. I do keep my wheel lead and soft lead separate and infact I cast them into different sized ingots. I do have some tin solder on hand so I'm going to try Don's tip on my next casting session. Next year sometime I'm going on a hog hunt in Texas with a buddy so I'll have to come up with a stout load for the Rossi. Don't know if I'll buy those bullets or cast them myself. I would just as soon cast them myself

donhuff wrote:

Looking for lead in the want adds, good idea.

Yup-so far that works really well for me Don. Picking up that pipe lead tomorrow