been a while, ingots, bullets, adding tin

[johnstonab]

It has been a while since I melted some lead. Previously i was only casting for my 45s. a while back I went down to the local outdoors store to get some powder for my 223. While I was there I looked in there casting section and hiding in the 44 molds was 1 9mm mold. Couldn't resist being that my wife just got a 9mm, I have had a 9mm and 380 for a while now. I was talking to the nice, helpful, salesman and told him about my leading and where I was getting my lead from (range lead). He told me to drop some pipe solder (tin) into the melt, about 8-10 inches would work. So today I decided to melt the lead, bullets that have been cast and ingots. I was hard melting down all those bullets I had already cast but better than cleaning the lead out of my guns. After about an hour of making alloyed ingots I remembered I had that 9mm (.356 124gr) mold still unused on the reloading bench. got that all cleaned and ready to go. It made more sense to cast some bullets while I waited for the ingots to cool. Only got about 20 bullets cast when the wifey said it's time to go.

Not a bad day, only 20 bullets cast, but about 30-40 lbs of ingots remade with tin added.

[dtknowles]

There is so much wrong with this post. Are you sure you are not a Troll? You have been on this forum for 5 months and you acted one that advice? Did he ask you what your bore and groove dia. are? Did you describe the chamber throat? Did you tell him where in the barrel you were seeing the leading? What was the composition of the lead before you added the Tin? What was the diameter of the bullets that caused the Leading? What are you using for a Lube? In my opinion just adding Tin is unlikely too eliminate your leading problem. All was not lost as the bullets probably need to go back in the pot anyway. Answer my questions and someone here will be able to better diagnose your problem and help you find a fix. They will be curious about your reloading equipment so might as well share that info a well. You seem to have luck with your 45 so you are probably close to the right track anyway. Bullet weight and powder charge would be helpful too.

Tim

[ku4hx]

I've melted down previously cast boolits too. But only after I confirmed I just couldn't make them work for one reason or another. I think before I'd have recast the ones you had I'd have tried a few. Sometimes boolits will surprise you ... both ways. But the thing is you don't know for sure they'll lead your bore until you try them.

I like a little Tin in my booolits and I've used pipe solder just as you were advised. I think it's best to avoid the acid core stuff but that's just me. How much you use depends on the percent Tin you're aiming for in your final alloy. 8-10 inches didn't hurt anything but if that was in a full 20 pound pot it won't help much either if the melt was very low in Tin already.

[BubbaJon]

There is so much wrong with this post. Are you sure you are not a Troll? You have been on this forum for 5 months and you acted one that advice?
Tim
Feeling grumpy this morning?
Lemme tell ya about the "advice" from a relative newcomer perspective. First off - which advice. I challenge you to give me a consistent and definitive answer that everyone here will ascribe to on an alloy mix and/or cause of leading. Some folks say 1% tin, some say 3, some say whatever fills out the mold, some say "depends"... Some say the diameter is too small some would say too fat. Some would say wrong or not enough lube. The conjecture can be seemingly endless - and confusing.
Now he has a friendly known face down at the LGS that says he knows a bit about casting and loading and offers some advice. It wasn't any different that what he'd get from someone here - yes I have seen posts saying leading might be the result of the boolit not being hard/soft enough - add tin or lead to bring it up or down. Anyway - that guy has a face - unlike most of the folks here. Everyone here was new at one time and I'd bet we've all taken shaky advice on occasion or advice that seemed good at the time. I don't think calling him a troll is what Dale Carnegie would advise...
Just my 2 centavos - worth less than 2 cents...

[ku4hx]

Feeling grumpy this morning?
Lemme tell ya about the "advice" from a relative newcomer perspective. First off - which advice. I challenge you to give me a consistent and definitive answer that everyone here will ascribe to on an alloy mix and/or cause of leading. Some folks say 1% tin, some say 3, some say whatever fills out the mold, some say "depends"... Some say the diameter is too small some would say too fat. Some would say wrong or not enough lube. The conjecture can be seemingly endless - and confusing.
Now he has a friendly known face down at the LGS that says he knows a bit about casting and loading and offers some advice. It wasn't any different that what he'd get from someone here - yes I have seen posts saying leading might be the result of the boolit not being hard/soft enough - add tin or lead to bring it up or down. Anyway - that guy has a face - unlike most of the folks here. Everyone here was new at one time and I'd bet we've all taken shaky advice on occasion or advice that seemed good at the time. I don't think calling him a troll is what Dale Carnegie would advise...
Just my 2 centavos - worth less than 2 cents...

A worthy 2 centavos ... 8-)

[Love Life]

Cast some up and let us know how they do. It might be an alloy problem, it might be a size problem, it might be a lube problem. You didn't give much info to work off of.

Or do what I did. Get a gas checked 9mm mould and call it good.

[trixter]

I like a little Tin in my booolits and I've used pipe solder just as you were advised. I think it's best to avoid the acid core stuff but that's just me. How much you use depends on the percent Tin you're aiming for in your final alloy. 8-10 inches didn't hurt anything but if that was in a full 20 pound pot it won't help much either if the melt was very low in Tin already.

So I have been using range lead. In a 20 lb pot full of if I add 24 inches of lead free solder, will the results (hardness) change?

[johnstonab]

There is so much wrong with this post.grammer wise, probably Are you sure you are not a Troll?yup, I'm sure. You have been on this forum for 5 months and you acted one that advice? yes I did. I know that jacketed range lead is almost pure lead. no different than taking anyone on this forums adviceDid he ask you what your bore and groove dia. are? noDid you describe the chamber throat? noDid you tell him where in the barrel you were seeing the leading? nopeWhat was the composition of the lead before you added the Tin? range lead, mostly pure lead from jacketed bulletsWhat was the diameter of the bullets that caused the Leading?.451 What are you using for a Lube?liquid allox In my opinion just adding Tin is unlikely too eliminate your leading problem. All was not lost as the bullets probably need to go back in the pot anyway. Answer my questions and someone here will be able to better diagnose your problem and help you find a fix. They will be curious about your reloading equipment so might as well share that info a well. You seem to have luck with your 45 so you are probably close to the right track anyway. Bullet weight and powder charge would be helpful too.230gr, I would have to look at my notes that are 100 miles away to check powder charge.

Now that I answered your questions...

I will say that the bottom of the bullets did not have a perfect edge before tinning but the 9mm's i cast the other day with tin added looked pretty darn good. my melting pot is a 10 lb pot.

[dtknowles]

I am willing to take my medicine like a man. I was wrong to take the approach I used in my previous post, I apologize to the OP and the Forum.

The gunstore guy's advice to add tin to range scrap was good advice. It will help you cast bullets that are more completely filled out and that could help accuracy and maybe the leading.

Since I was a nitwit to start with I would understand if you ignored my advice but I would check your guns groove diameter and size at least 0.001 over groove diameter or just try 0.452 or maybe see if they will work without being sized unless that is what you are already doing. Are you using Lee TumbleLube bullets?

Tim

[johnstonab]

Tim,
no worries. they are TL bullets. I haven't tried without sizing, the next batch I cast i will try that rout. slug one thru the barrel and see if it works, after all, Lee claims that in a lot of guns sizing is not needed. I didn't think about them being to small causing the leading.

thanks and have a wonderful day.

Alex

[SyberShooter]

I recently got a Lee 45-200gr SWC tumble lube mold and the first batch I ran thu my .4515 sizer. They leaded and some of them tumbled. Then I did a batch without sizing but still used Lee Alox lube. They didn't tumble and were more accurate to boot. I still got a little leading but not as much as before.

[mikeym1a]

I recently got a Lee 45-200gr SWC tumble lube mold and the first batch I ran thu my .4515 sizer. They leaded and some of them tumbled. Then I did a batch without sizing but still used Lee Alox lube. They didn't tumble and were more accurate to boot. I still got a little leading but not as much as before.
I had about the same result. In my ignorance, I simply cast boolits with the lee 200 SWC microgoove 6 cavity mold. I never thought to measure or size them. I had read that the lee molds were very close to right and didn't require sizing. I used WW's + 50/50, tumble lubed, and loaded them and shot them. They were very accurate, no leading, and fun to shoot. I guess I got lucky. The only gun I've had to size for so far was for an H&R revolter in .32 SW Long. If I didn't size the boolits before loading, they were hard to get into the chambers. Never had a problem getting the empties out, and after loading sized boolits, no more chamber loading problems. I was lucky with my choices.