lead safe casting

[redleg]

Ok I have search the site. I HAVE NOT read every post ( a whole lot of them, but not every one ) I have several questions.
1. Can you cast using this lead free stuff?
2. If you can, do you need to do it by itself, or can you mix it right in with the lead..lead?

[imashooter2]

Welcome aboard!

What "lead free stuff" are you talking about?

[Down South]

Probably bismuth. Expensive stuff too. I don't know the castibility of this metal but from what little I have heard it's not worth the trouble or expense.
Zinc would be another choice and some progress has been made in this area. I believe you could buy commercial cast zinc bullets at one time.

[Shiloh]

Bismuth or tin would be your choices. As far as scrounging for scrap tin or bismuth, virtually non-existent.

Shiloh

[Bill*]

Does he mean lead free solder?

[markinalpine]

If you mean 95% Tin/5% Antimony, you're talking $12 to $20 a pound. Too rich for my wallet. :confused:
Mark :mrgreen:

[Tom Herman]

So it should make excellent casting metal, other than being ungodly expensive. No worries about mold fillout...

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[redleg]

Thanks for the welcome!! I have been reading about lead safe, and lead free bullets, and the old gray matter got to thinking. I have seen the solid copper bullets, and the lead safe copper coated. I thought the safe ones were just FMJ, or is it TMJ. I thought they had come up with a substance that resembled lead, but with out all the nasty, nasty side effects. I was just trying to plan ahead, and buy what ever it was, the fake lead stuff, before it was the only stuff out there and everyone was buying it. There are 2 stores here local, that sell reloading components, and the shelves are bare. Well I guess I will keep the eyes open and the ears pinned back for anything new. I got a feeling if any new stuff does come out, this site will be talking about it! Thanks!

[redleg]

OK an update on the quest

This is from the Navy News at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_greenammo_110708/

The recent manufacture of lead-free cartridges represented an evolutionary shift for Lake City, the largest producer of small-arms ammunition used by the U.S. military. The slugs, instead of being made of lead — a metal used for centuries — now are being manufactured with a bismuth alloy.
That alloy has a density roughly equivalent to lead but without lead’s toxicity.

[mongo-az]

Here's a place that sells it:

http://www.huntersbismuth.com/home.html

Kinda pricey at $7.50/lb - compared to .15 to .30/lb I've been getting wheel weights for. But hey - if you can't ban it, price it out of existence I guess is the new mantra? :???::-?:neutral:

[redleg]

Thanks for the site mongo. I went there and asked them for some info. Will see what they have to say. I dug up some info on bismuth rounds, and it looks like they will be good for plinking, but not so good for defence. Here is what I found

· Replacement for lead in shot and bullets. The UK, US. and many other countries now prohibit the use of lead shot for the hunting of wetland birds, as many birds are prone to lead poisoning due to mistaken ingestion of lead (instead of small stones and grit) to aid digestion. Bismuth-tin alloy shot is one alternative that provides similar ballistic performance to lead. (Another less expensive but also more poorly performing alternative is "steel" shot, which is actually soft iron.)
· Bismuth core bullets are also starting to appear for use in indoor shooting ranges, where fine particles of lead from bullets impacting the backstop can be a chronic toxic inhalant problem. Owing to bismuth's crystalline nature, the bismuth bullets shatter into a non-toxic powder on impact, making recovery and recycling easy. The lack of malleability does, however, make bismuth unsuitable for use in expanding huntin

[TAWILDCATT]

if enuf shooters buy into the LEAD POISON the antis will have won.I am 85 and cast since1937,I aint poisoned yet.they have been several studies proving you will die from lead poison,but nobody has yet.I shot in a indoor range from 1969 to 2000 and did not get lead poison.
If you want to get excited about it go ahead I am not.:coffee::-D

[redleg]

Hi Wildcatt I am with you on that. I use to fish a lot as a kid, I bet you did also, how did you put the sinker on the line? I use to squeez it shut with my teeth. I don't know of a better way to get.. poisoned... then that. I think it is nothing more then.. control. They want to control us. They are afraid. We must be getting to much say in things. United we stand, divided we fall. I think by the time we get united, it will be as slaves.