What is ya'lls favorite alloy? 30-1. 25-1 or what do you think of 20-1. I ask because I have a bunch of 20-1. Can I use it to make 32-40 bullets?
Marsh

Marsh,
  What I've found over the years, and many others have to, is that 1-25 seems to work well in most calibers considering the MV's we're using in Schuetzen.

  But my .38/55 likes 1-20 best so if I had a lot laying around I'd go ahead and use it.

  There is one other thing you can do. Can't help you here, but some on here can tell you how much Lead to add to a specific amount of 1-20 to get 1-25, or any other alloy that you finally determine works best in your gun. Brent comes to mind as he helped me with this a while back on a bunch of 1-30 I wanted to convert over to 1-25.

PETE

I have been using 20-1 in my 32-40 with great success! 

I sure would give it a try if I were you!!

Just for the record, I mix batches of pure lead to pure tin at a ration of 25# lead to 1# tin.  I try to keep ingots of this on hand and just melt these known ingots to start a casting session.  All of this reminds me, though that I am running low and have to mix up some more. 

GF

Marsh
I also have used a Hoch base pour I got from CPA and a nose pour as well. I hope that you didn't give up after trying only 25 bullets if it was a new mold? I remember it took a while before both were broke in to cast excellent bullets. I use both 20:1 and 25:1 in my Hoch molds for my CPA 32/40. Both alloy mixes have shot well in my rifle, and I'm still trying to determine which mix is better; as I can't tell any difference when shooting either one in my particular rifle.
Bob

Marsh
Try raising the temp to above 800. I cast at 875, at that temp I cast about 10 to get the mould up to temp. them I can cast till my back starts to scream. Nose pour moulds need a hotter alloy than base pour.
40 Rod

Marsh
I agree with you that there is a broad range of "Right" tempers that shoot well in schuetzen. The work is in finding the right combination of Mould, Temper Lube, and powder. that work in your gun. The broader and shallower the lands the harder the bullet temper wants to be. Its pretty subjective as to what is a "good" load. 
How ever on the subject of antimony I remain firm as far as bullets go there is nothing good that happens when it is added to a alloy. The only reason that it is used is that it is a cheap way to harden lead. When you add antimony you loose ductility. The alloy becomes more brittle and crumbly. At extream hardness small pieces tear off. Also in casting it goes through a slushey stage that increases voids as the metal cools. 
Try an experiment take a bullet cast in linotype and a lead:tin bullet of the same size. Crush them in a vise take them out and examin them with a magnifying glass or loop. Then tell me which you want to shoot.

40 Rod

40_Rod,
  I'm not sure I can entirely agree with your summation that Antimony in a bullet is not good.

  Probably a majority of the shooters in the CBA would also disagree. Many of them like to take wheel wgt.'s and thru quenching and annealing like to get their bullets as hard as it is possible to get them. I'd hate think of how many Lino and wheel wgt. bullets I've shot..... with higher velocities and far better accuracy than we can get with plain base bullets.

  Your test of squeezing a Lino bullet in a vice to show how it fractures is true but I don't think it really reflects what happens to such a bullet under internal forces on ignition. The confines of the barrel keep these bullets from "spreading" out such as happens in a vice. I have dug out many a Lino bullet from the bank that was broken in two, but I didn't notice any extra holes in the target, so would assume this happened on impact. Many of these bullets have also been recovered that were bent or distorted, altho they didn't have the mushroom look that Tin/Lead bullets do. In fact many look like they could have used again.

  Personally I've found that the alloy you use will be dependent on caliber and the velocity you plan on shooting it at. Schuetzen calibers and their MV's seem to shoot best with some kind of Tin/Lead alloy. But once you get up into the 1800 fps + range then you need an alloy harder than you can achieve with a Tin/Lead one. The only reason for this is to keep the nose of the bullet from slumping and making for a lop-sided bullet which wouldn't give any accuracy at all.

PETE