ok guys how much tin should generally be added to ww in order to achieve good fill out. also whats the best way to alloy it? is it something that can be added to the production pot.
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ok guys how much tin should generally be added to ww in order to achieve good fill out. also whats the best way to alloy it? is it something that can be added to the production pot.
2% should do it.
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thats the general opinion around here 2%
and yes just add it to your production pot
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Most here try the mold with just plain WW and only add tin if the mold gives problems filling out. If you want to have a plus tin alloy to use all the time, it is best to alloy it in the largest batch practical for consistency. Clean up and ingot your WW, then weigh out your components to get the alloy you want in the largest batch that will fit in your smelting pot. Melt, stir, flux, ingot, mark and store separate.
so for adding to a 20b lee bottom pour, it would be less than a half pound added?Originally Posted by white eagle
whats the best source on tin? ive heard i can buy solder in the store?
i guess i should just order a couple pounds from rotometals but dang that stuff is expensive.
WW usually has a little tin in it so I never add more than 1.5%, and only then if I have to.
My 50/50 WW/lead mix needs a little tin added so it gets the 1.5% every time I add to the pot.
I have a set of mechanical postal scales that has a 10# max weight limit at 1/4oz at a time,
makes adding 1.5% tin easy.
Calamity Jake
NRA Life Member
SASS 15704
Shoot straight, keepem in the ten ring.
It is best if you can to make your alloy into ingots before a casting session. You did not say what type of shooting you are doing so I will give you what I do. I use the 20-1 alloy with a BHN of 10 to cast all my bullets for Black Powder. That is 20 lbs of lead and 1 pound of tin. If your using ww's then it's more of a guessing game. I usually use 6-8 ounces of tin and see how the bullets cast. You may add more but if you put too much to start you can't remove it. At today's prices it is crazy to add more than needed. The added tin to the wheel weights is done during my last flux in the smelting stage and it's adding to around 75 pounds of WW's and not the 20 -1 mix I was speaking of before. I purchase the pure lead in 10 pound blocks and it is easy to figure what is needed. I smelt down about 75 lbs of lead WW's and that weight is after the clips and all fluxing has been removed. WW's usually have some tin already so you don't use the same amount to the alloy. I failed to make myself clear on my first posting and for that I am sorry. Showing my human side there it seems.
Last edited by cajun shooter; 05-03-2011 at 09:34 AM.
Shooter of the "HOLY BLACK" SASS 81802 AKA FAIRSHAKE; NRA ; BOLD; WARTHOG;Deadwood Marshal;Bayou Bounty Hunter; So That his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat; 44 WCF filled to the top, 210 gr. bullet
You can well cast WW without tin. If your bullets are acceptable to you without it save the money.
Tin will give you better fill-out, help prevent oxidation and add minor hardness but is not mandatory.
I blended several lots of WW together for a single uniform lot. Whenever I add ingots to the casting pot I weigh the ingot and the tin and add 2% tin by weight so that my alloy is always the same. Pot full to pot full my alloy varies very little.
I got lucky a few years back, whenever I placed an order at Midway I automatically added 2 pounds of tin to the order, at the time tin was about $6 a pound so it added $12 to the order. I often thought it was kind of silly because I didn't really need tin at the time. Over a few years I acumulated about 30 pounds of bar tin.
Well, it may have been silly but today at Midway tin is $25.00 PER POUND. What added $12 to an order then would today add $50.00 for the same 2 pounds. Another way to look at it, that 30 pounds of tin cost about $180.00 spread out over a few years. That same 30 pounds if ordered today would cost $750.00.
Tin is a benefit to bullet alloy and in partucular lead/antimony alloy but not a mandatory one. Consider how satisfied with your bullets you are, your shooting and your financial situation and add tin accordingly.
Rick
Last edited by cbrick; 05-07-2011 at 09:02 AM. Reason: typo
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If I want to improve the casting properties WW alloy for mold fill-out I'm happy with the results adding 1% tin. Haven't found noticeable improvement using more tin for my molds.
And I have more tin than I expect to ever use.
Just because change doesn't make a difference doesn't mean that change is bad.
Cheaper form them than store bought solder. Just buy enough to get free shipping. IME< most molds don't need any tin added to straight ww for good bullets. When using range scrap, I will add 1% to get a better fill out.
add 1 oz per 10 lbs for .30 caliber and smaller boolits .. try and see on the larger boolits if any is needed .i used to load all my cast boolits without tin added to wheelweights now i add a little to all my small boolits for better fillout of the smaller gas rings ..
So 1% for a 10#pot would be 1.6 Oz. is that correct ?
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I like tin.
Everything gets 2% whether needed or not.
Things just work better with 2% tin.
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What would 4% tin do? The reason I ask is I smelted a bucket of ww's that were outdated, unuseable today. They melted at 440 degrees and had a golden hue. It got me suspicous so I took an ingot to my local scrapyard and they shot it with there gun. It showed 96%pb, 4%sn. Glad I smelted it seperatley.
Nothing bad at all. But probably nothing better than 2% either.
That mix will measure really odd hardness if you test BHN. PbSn alloys are guaranteed to age soften. The alloy will be fine for pistol shooting as I shoot many of my pistol rounds in that same alloy. With a bit of super hard from ROTOMETALS, you will be in business for rifle as well.
Mix it 50/50 with straight WWs and it should be about perfect.
45 AUTO! Because having to shoot someone twice is just silly!
One good thing about using steel molds is I seem to get good (enough for me) fillout without needing tin. I learned on Lee molds, so the steel blocks seem to run fine w/o adding tin.
I wonder how many boolits you have to make to save the $$ difference for the price of the molds?
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