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Like title suggests, I'm looking for a paint that mirrors the Leadbelcher/Boltgun color that has a better money-to-volume ratio.

P3 Pig Iron is nice and it is what I use for that shade of metallic. For anything darker I use Vallejo Model Air Black Metal and any lighter, VMA Steel or VMA Chrome.

There are plenty of paint comparison charts on the web Vallejo do one and have the courtesy in theirs to match all the common ranges together for cross referencing. This includes older GW paints, Rackham, Tamiya, Humbrol and Vallejo itself of course.

Download it and you will have a comparison guide for pretty much any paint on the market. I dont know if it has been updated with P3 and newer GW paints, I havent had cause to check the site for several years.

then there is this its not as comprehensive but tells you most of what you need to know:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

I hear P3 Pig Iron is a good match for the colour/shade, but apparently the coverage isnt as good. There's also Army Painter's version (think it's called Plate mail?) that is apparently quite good and is the usual go-to as a GW alternative.

Either way, both come in 18ml pots, and SHOULD be cheaper than GW's pots (which are 12ml pots), so either way it's a better money-to-volume ratio, as both ranges are better than GW on both fronts.

 Ronin wrote:
I hear P3 Pig Iron is a good match for the colour/shade, but apparently the coverage isnt as good. There's also Army Painter's version (think it's called Plate mail?) that is apparently quite good and is the usual go-to as a GW alternative.

Either way, both come in 18ml pots, and SHOULD be cheaper than GW's pots (which are 12ml pots), so either way it's a better money-to-volume ratio, as both ranges are better than GW on both fronts.

The coverage with P3's Pig Iron is just fine, in my opinion. I am painting some new Chaos Raptors as Word Bearers and I am doing all the trim with Pig Iron and it covers fine... I thin every paint I use and can cover the red basecoat in two layers, easily.

Pig Iron covers just fine, I have found that Army Painter's Plate Mail with a drop of black ink is a really close match as well.

 Orlanth wrote:
There are plenty of paint comparison charts on the web Vallejo do one and have the courtesy in theirs to match all the common ranges together for cross referencing. This includes older GW paints, Rackham, Tamiya, Humbrol and Vallejo itself of course.

Download it and you will have a comparison guide for pretty much any paint on the market. I dont know if it has been updated with P3 and newer GW paints, I havent had cause to check the site for several years.

then there is this its not as comprehensive but tells you most of what you need to know]

Oh I've done that but I do want testimonials from people. A picture on the internet is different from the actual product.

Ah, well thanks for clearing that up ScootyPuffJunior, darefsky. Never tried it myself, so was only going off what others have said, so that's a relief. Either way, OP was looking for cost-to-volume ratio, so either of the two lines were better than GW's.

Well its more than just being cost effective, I am looking for color that matches as best as possible, asI need to paint about 3.5k worth of Necrons and use Leadbelcher in the color combination I have. And here GW pants are $4.50 a piece, so I'm trying to be efficient with my money.

 darefsky wrote:
Pig Iron covers just fine, I have found that Army Painter's Plate Mail with a drop of black ink is a really close match as well.

Army painter also do gunmetal as of fairly recently, which is an exact match to old GW boltgun. I use it for all my silver metallics and it's great.