AN 'ALLOYED' SUBJECT - GUN METALS

Important Alloys in shooting:

When I was thinking about lead, the aspect of linotype being a particular alloy that was great for bullet casting struck me as worth following-up. - So, the first thing to discover was that the long obsolete linotype machine worked by assembling a line of letter moulds (up to 90) and then casting them as a 'slug' of letters - that was easier and quicker to handle than single letters. This 'hot metal' or type metal was a mix of lead(74%), antimony(16%), and tin (10%) - these percentages might be varied depending on the length of print run planned (hardness of type needed) and is called "a Tripolar eutectic mix" (Oh No!) – the eutectic bit means it has a sharp melting point.

                                                               A Linotype 'slug'
 

I should say at this point that I don't know any of this stuff that I write about – I research it as a way of finding-out how things work, and try to pass it on if I think it's interesting. - "I didn't get where I am today without Wikipedia" - All this is really because television has now become so bloody awful - that after watching it for the last sixty years I've now learned to turn-it-off and try something else!

Bullet casters loved to mix their scraps of lead with linotype as it made for much better castings, the metal flowing better than the usual re-cycled wheel-weights and old plumbing lumps did.

So alloys are a mixture of a metal with other elements that perform better than the original metals do by themselves. - Think about Steel, which is a mixture of Iron with carbon, or manganese, molybdenum, nickel, chrome or vanadium. - How important is that 4140 steel in your barrels eh.

The Brass used in cartridge cases is specifically alloyed with 30% zinc to give the cold-working strength needed to perform over and over when re-loaded, until eventually failing by cracking from fatigue. Bronze is copper alloyed with Tin. - Gunmetal is copper with 5% tin, 5% lead and 5% zinc.

Alloy Wheels on our cars are such a familiar usage now that no-one bothers to say 'aluminum alloy wheels' any more – but the original pure aluminium metal is much too soft and malleable to be useful unless alloyed with copper or magnesium, manganese, silicone or zinc, to become stronger.

Just to remind you about 'Comstock Scoring' and the gold & silver awards waiting for your top scores in competition – Did you know that there is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver called "ELECTRUM" - known to the ancients as 'green gold' - that was used for early coins?

                                         Your medals await your success in competition !

The path to success may open to you by using the best of reliable equipment such as a Glock - with tested and proven ammunition - and careful preparation alloyed with practise ! 

Marty.