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Thread: Pewter help

  1. 03-16-2012, 08:45 PM #1
    Hal A Looyah
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    Pewter help

    I just melted a few pounds of pewter to cast into mini ingots. It behaves differently than previous pewter. It doesn't have "tin crackle" when cast thin. It does bend and break like previous pewter. It is REALLY frosty in the top side of the ingots. I cast a RCBS 44-225 swc-gc that came out at 160gr, but turned out beautifully from a cold mold. The melt was at around 450 degrees, so im kinda in the dark. I did melt one questionable piece. A silver plated dish that was unmarked. It bent, carved and cut like pewter. It melted at 450 degrees. Any ideas?
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  2. 03-17-2012, 03:30 PM #2
    letsmeltlead2693
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    I think you might have ruined the alloy. Show a pic as that will help your question.
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  3. 03-17-2012, 06:19 PM #3
    gbrown
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    I cast some pewter today, a figurine I found. Looked and felt good. Smelted it down and made some small ingots. Smelted a small round disk to use with my Lee tester. It came out around 12.5. Around wheel weights, if I'm not mistaken. No reaction with HCL. Around 2 pounds. Not much, but I will take it. (Free) You just have to try to figure what you got!
    One of my father's favorite statements: "If I say a chicken dips snuff, look under his wing for the snuffbox" How I was raised, who I am.
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  4. 03-18-2012, 06:43 AM #4
    imashooter2
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    I'd say nothing is wrong and you should drive on using this melt the same way as you used previous melts.
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  5. 03-19-2012, 12:31 AM #5
    lylejb
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    First, Don't worry about it!!

    I cast some hallmarked pewter in boolit moulds, and my weight came out at 66%, yours figures to 71%, so slightly higher, but very close.

    About half of my known tin doesn't " tin cry" I'm not really sure why. I think it has something to do with how the crystal structure forms when it cools.

    with the frosting reported, and the slightly higher weight, i'd guess you have pewter with some lead content. not all pewter is "lead free"

    The low melt temp excludes most metals other than tin / tin-lead alloy

    I wouldn't worry about it, try it and see
    NRA life member

    LB
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  6. 03-19-2012, 06:48 AM #6
    Bill*
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    If it melted at around 450* I agree with the 2 posts just above. It's fine!
    "HMMMM.........It wasn't spos'ta do THAT!"
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  7. 03-19-2012, 07:57 PM #7
    Hal A Looyah
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    Thanks fellas for sharing your experience and putting some numbers with it. I remelted and cast into 2oz bars. I think it is a lead heavy mix. I now have scrounged about 15 lbs of pewter at about $3 a pound.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check