tin?

[tcrocker]

where can I get tin at? I wonting to harden up some of my 45-70 cast bullets. So where can I get some at and how much do I need to add to my ww?:lovebooli

[docone31]

It is lead free solder. 95-5. I get mine at Ace Hardware. It comes in rolls with 1/8 dia wire.
I use three inches per 20lbs when I use it.

[uncle joe]

Grainger had some that they were discontinuing. I bought a few pounds for under 7 bucks each.
WOW now some of it is over 40 bucks. Wish I had bought more now.
UJ

[Bullshop]

tcrocker
You aint gonna harden them WW much at all by adding tin. If you want them harder either quench them or add antimony.
docone31
What is the weight of a roll? I think they are 1 pound. If you are adding a 3" piece that aint much to go with 20lb WW. Figure this, one of the most comon alloys for BPC is 20/1, thats 20lbs lead to 1lb tin ( a whole roll). WW only have about one half a % of tin on a good day starting out. That little bit may be enough to improve fill but it aint did nothin to harden them WW's.
BIC/BS

[Shiloh]

95 Sn /5 Sb solder is available at most hardware or home improvement stores. It is what I sweeten my alloys with, as well as using scrap pewter from a garage sale.

Shiloh

[garandsrus]

Here's a site, Rotometals (http://www.rotometals.com/Tin-Ingot-s/27.htm?OVRAW=tin%20metal%20solder&OVKEY=tin%20metal&OVMTC=advanced&OVADID=16011885511&OVKWID=125010346011), with prices that are $10.99 to $11.99/pound

John

[captaint]

I did the yard sale and thrift store deal for pewter. It's about 95% tin. Just make sure it's marked "pewter" of some kind on the bottom of whatever. No Wilton stuff. Not pewter. Just my take. Enjoy Mike

[Echo]

I bought 10# from Grainger about a year ago for ~ $8/lb. Will last me a while.

And docone31, 3" of solder weighs about 1/8 of an ounce. One-eighth of an ounce into 320 ounces of alloy gives a very small percentage of tin. OK, I pulled out my calculator, and it reads .0004, or .04% - not 4%, but .04%. Not much tin...

[geargnasher]

tcrocker
You aint gonna harden them WW much at all by adding tin. If you want them harder either quench them or add antimony.
docone31
What is the weight of a roll? I think they are 1 pound. If you are adding a 3" piece that aint much to go with 20lb WW. Figure this, one of the most comon alloys for BPC is 20/1, thats 20lbs lead to 1lb tin ( a whole roll). WW only have about one half a % of tin on a good day starting out. That little bit may be enough to improve fill but it aint did nothin to harden them WW's.
BIC/BS

Good points, please allow me to clarify for the new guy (so he doesn't run out and buy 10 lbs of pure antimony from Rotometals) that it is virtually impossible to "add antimony", as straight antimony, to molten lead because most of us don't have the required capabilities of 1200* furnaces and 24 hours of heating/stirring to get straight antimony to homogenize. Antimony, of course, is easily added when already blended with lead in higher concentration, ie linotype.

I second the 3" won't do much for castability either. It's like .04% in 20 lbs.

Gear

[Bret4207]

If you already have WW metal you can harden it by quenching. IME you'll got from 8-10 BHn to 12-15 Bhn, maybe a bit more. Let them age 2 weeks after quenching. The ductile nature will remain, but the shear strength will increase.

Magnum shotgun shot is another way to add tin/antimony. Going over 4% tin, (ww usually runs 2-3% at the most), is wasted money IMO. Going over 6% antimony is may help, but you also need trace elements to help it harden.

What are you doing that you want harder than WW in a 45-70?

[deltaenterprizes]

[QUOTE=Bret4207;680000]

ww usually runs 2-3% at the most

WW usually have 1/2% tin, you are thinking of the old days.

[KYCaster]

Good points, please allow me to clarify for the new guy (so he doesn't run out and buy 10 lbs of pure antimony from Rotometals) that it is virtually impossible to "add antimony", as straight antimony, to molten lead because most of us don't have the required capabilities of 1200* furnaces and 24 hours of heating/stirring to get straight antimony to homogenize. Antimony, of course, is easily added when already blended with lead in higher concentration, ie linotype.

I second the 3" won't do much for castability either. It's like .04% in 20 lbs.

Gear




Adding Antimony is no big deal. There are at least three of us on this board who have described the process in detail.

It does not require unusual temperatures. It can easily be done at normal casting temps(<700 deg. F).

Jerry

[Bret4207]

[QUOTE=Bret4207;680000]

ww usually runs 2-3% at the most

WW usually have 1/2% tin, you are thinking of the old days.

Ah! Well, I count myself lucky then as most of my WW is 20-30 years old.

[tcrocker]

Bret4207 I am going to do a little more hog hunting the last one I shot it di not go through. All most it broke the off side leg and I guess went into the chest cavety some place couldn't find it I like a through and through. I just thought that if I harden them up more it'd do what I like them to do. I use a NEI mold .458-440-GC It comes out at 464gr before lube and gas check I load them with 37gr of IMR4198. I don't have a chro but if I did the math right it should be moving at 1596fps and have a cup of 26,976. The way I came up with these numbers I took the starting point and the max load and then divided with the grains differance ,so I could get a fps and cup # per grain. Ut lest that the way I did it.:holysheep
http://http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/crockerthomas/th_P1000294.jpg (http://s556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/crockerthomas/?action=view&current=P1000294.jpg)

[Bret4207]

Just a thought, mind you my hogs are killed with a 22LR behind the barn, not out in a swamp where they can turn and eat you. Without knowing where or why the boolit took a turn we don't know why or if the boolit failed. Anyone who's hunted at all has seen boolits/bullets do odd things on occasion. You're boolit might well have just struck bone at an odd angle causing the deflection.

You can easily harden WW by water quenching. The boolit will remain ductile, that is it won't be any more prone to breaking up, and you can often boost the FPS a bit.

Best of luck to you.

[tcrocker]

I'm going to try upping the charge to 43.5 gr of IMR4198 that 36,900cup I checked and Marlin can go upto 40,000 acording to the book the fps is 1797.:brokenima

[Bret4207]

Can't hurt to try.