Lead free ammo .....Tin core ?

[Johnch]

The last 3 - 4 weeks , several local police dep. have been shooting at the indoor range where I salvage range lead

At least 1 of them , maybe more are shooting total lead free ammo not sure of the brand


I just found this out tonight , but it makes me wonder

Last weekend I melted down 400 lb of the range lead
I then used some of it to cast a bunch of pistol bullets , perfict fill out with no problems

Monday I weighed some of the 45 bullets
They normaly weigh 225 +- 1 gr
But the ones out of the latest batch of range lead are casting 219 - 220 gr
Also they are still pretty shiney , almost like a just cast bullet even after a week +


I was wondering what the lead free core is
If it was Zink , I would have thought it would have floated when I smelted the range lead
Also if I did melt in the Zink , it should have caused me problems when I casted the bullets

Would extra Tin let the bullet stay shiny ?
I know it would lower the weight .



John

[Bullshop]

Sure sounds like it could be tin. Tin cores would make that lead free ammo pretty expensive. When new foundry lead is $1.20 tin is about ten times that. I would think that would make lead free ammo about twice the cost of lead core ammo. With todays metals market so high all factory ammo is expensive. For about 40 years you could buy a box of 50 22 LR for a buck but no more.
I dont know where this will end up with China scrounging any scrap metals they can find and so doing driving up demand and price. When they finaly have all the recource and own our national debt how can we ever say no to anything they may ask or demand?
Wow guess I got off track there. OK yea sounds like tin and where does most of the tin being mined today come from? Dang! I did it again.
BIC/BS

[trooperdan]

Most lead-free ammo I know of is a pressed copper-tin powder mix. The copper would just be dross at normal casting temps but the tin should go into solution. Might be a boon for you!