Lead and Tin

[deepskyridge]

I am new to boolit casting, I am not new to shooting.

I have some WW that I will be melting and making ingot's.

I am looking for some info on adding Tin to lead. How much tin ? I have searched on this board but have not found a good explanation of the process/amounts.

Any info would be helpful.

Thanks
Gary

[cf_coder]

I guess the answer isn't quite as simple as "add this much". There is an entire universe in-between your question and the end result...

What are you going to shoot your boolits out of? Rifle? Pistol? Have you tried casting without adding tin? How did the boolits look? good, sharp edges? Rounded? Some folks can cast just fine without tin, others need it...

You might want to search on this site for a member named Bumpo628. He has an Alloy Calculator that is pretty good at getting you to a specific hardness, or telling you what your hardness is close to based on what you put in... Here is the link to the calculator (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=105952)

[gbrown]

Go down to the bottom of this page. Look at Cast Bullet Notes from LASC--click on that and look at alloys. Click on Cast bullet alloys/ Alloy maintenance. Buuuttt, I'm +1 with cf coder. Just what do you want to do? WW alloy water cooled is usually quite adequate for the hottest pistol loads. You probably need to read Glen Fryxell's book or publication--found on this site--From Ingot to Target. I'm kinda in the same position as you. Did this 40 years ago, but forgot most of the stuff. Am re-learning. Read, go slow, experiment, watch the threads on this forum. Read the ones that have the same questions as you. The knowledge base here is in centuries, not decades.

[deepskyridge]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I mostly will be casting for handgun shooting, 45 acp and 9mm Luger, mabye 38 special. No rifle rounds at this time.

I will study the info you have pointed out.

Thanks
Gary

[odfairfaxsub]

this may sound trivial but ww is almost enough. if i have a mold thats not filling out that well i add 12 inches of lead free solder from HD and it works well generally

[Larry Gibson]

If your WWs are clip on with not adding any stick on WWs simply add 2% tin to the COWWs and you'll come out with a very good alloy. BHN for AC'd bullets after 7 - 10 days of aging will be 14 -17 with 16 - 17 being the most prevailent. That alone will be excellent for all 3 of your cartridges. You could ad 20 - 30 % lead or stick on WWs (after adding the 2%tin to the COWWs) and still have an excellent alloy for all 3 cartridges.

Larry Gibson

[Grandpas50AE]

+1 what Larry said. My ACWW (clip-ons) were running 14.5 with 2% tin added, and was more than sufficient for .45ACP up to full-house .44Mag loads. Without the tin, which I did for many years, it was probably a bit more, say about 16 BHN. Worked just fine for standard target work. I recently got a Mihec HP mold, and at .45ACP velocity the expansion probably wouldn't be very good, so I adjusted the alloy to get 9.0 BHN which still works well (50% COWW and 50% pure lead with 2% tin added) and should produce good expansion for .45ACP at least. More important than the alloy is fit and lube. For .45ACP most lubes are going to work just fine, and BAC or Javelina 50/50 both do very well. Slug your barrel to determine size for proper fit - sbhould be .001 to .002 over groove size.

[largom]

+2 on Larry Gibson's advice. Newer clip-on WW can be lacking tin so just weigh your ingots and then add 2% lead free solder.

Larry Miller

[gbrown]

One thing I would add, is get some type of hardness tester, if you don't already have one. I have a Lee, but I would not bet on its preciseness (accuracy). In my mind, it is an estimate. Its not going to be way off, but it just gives me an idea of what I am dealing with. I used 19.8 wheel weights and .7 pewter (old stuff) and it came up to about 14.

[40Super]

With the ww that I have I will add maybe 1 to 2 oz per 20# pot and get really nice ,filled out bullets, no more is needed.

[Larry Gibson]

With the ww that I have I will add maybe 1 to 2 oz per 20# pot and get really nice ,filled out bullets, no more is needed.

This is correct in so far as "fill out" if that is your only goal. However, by better balancing the ratio of tin to antimony the antimony mixes better in solution with the lead and a better alloy is the result. The reason for 2% added tin is for more than just "fill out".

Larry Gibson

[40Super]

2oz for 20# is 1%, with WW generaly having 2-3%antimony(maybe) and maybe 1/2%tin , it is keeping the ratio good. Now if I was putting in Lino then I would have to add way more tin.

[a.squibload]

Gary, FYI:
I noticed use of the term "AC" above, means "as cast"
or "air cooled". That's as opposed to water-dropped
or heat treated boolits.

Edit: on 2nd thought, as cast would mean not sized,
so air cooled is more likely in this thread.