What alloy do I have?

[Randall]

I was given some flood salvaged shotshells from which I ended up with around 300 lbs of alloy. Its harder than pure lead and softer than ww. I have been using 1 part pure,1part shotshell lead and 1 part ww. I get a really nice casting alloy. Does the shotshell lead have lots of tin? Should I be using less of the shotshell lead? I am casting for .45 auto and .357 and.44 mag plinking loads.
Thanks, Randall

[Larry Gibson]

Randall

That alloy will no doubt work fine for the plinking loads. It is a very soft alloy. I no of no regular shot that will have tin in it. Most has a little antimony if they are trap or the cheaper "game" loads. "Hard" shot has around 3% antimony in it wich is what makes it hard when water quenched. The "hard" shot makes a fine hunting alloy with GC rifle bullets when WQ'd. It maintains good accuracy up through 2200 fps and yet is ductile enough to expand instead of shatter. Add tin to it and you get a whole different alloy that mostly will not expand if WQ'd to harden.

Larry Gibson

[runfiverun]

you should find out what type of shells these come from the cheaper the brand the less "stuff" will be in the shot alloy.
you may even have a bit of arsenic in them.