Found some ingots today at the scrap yard but need help using them

[RogerDat]

Wish I had seen this earlier. I just boiled with nothing else added. I dont think I got all the lube off because the powder coat didnt cover as good as fresh cast boolits. I will keep this in mind the next time I de lube boolits. Thanks for the good information.

I would be a little leary of using the lemishine as it is sort of a polishing coating type cleaner I thought. Never used it but it is a common ingredient for cleaning / polishing brass in a wet tumbler. Powder coat does not like contaminants on the lead. Detergent you can rinse off, don't know about lemishine.

[corbinace]

I was able to have the samples analyzed. The results are;

Sample #1
Pb = 97.2%
Sb = 2.8%
Sn = 0%

Sample #2
Pb = 95.2%
Sb = 4.8%
Sn = 0%

Sample #3
Pb = 95.3%
Sb = 4.7%
Sn = 0%

The first sample may have had a bit of the antimony skimmed off during smelting, due to my inexperience. I did take some oatmeal stuff off of it. Where would it have originated with the antimony and no tin? Not that it matters at this point, but inquiring minds...

Would I be correct in adding about 5% tin into this mix to make them fill out more effectively? I think this would nearly make a Lyman #2 alloy. Is there a more effective way to utilize this current alloy?

I mostly do plain base, less than 1400 fps at this time, mostly 45-70, 500 S&W, and 44. I also do some GC 7x57 that creeps up to 1500. Paper is easy to kill with proper shot placement.

Thank you for your continued support.

Tim

[bangerjim]

Do not waste your money. Add only a max of 2% Sn. Try it out and keep adding Sn until you get the fill-out you are saatisfied with......up to 2%. Your mold temp is far more critical! Pre heat to full casting temp B4 even starting. Also lead pot temp is very important for fill-out.

I melt down and keep my Sn in 1/4# ingots so it is easy to add. My 120+# of lead-free solder is the easiest to add...just clip off a length and stuff it in!

A little Ssn goes a long way toward what you are after.

bangerjim

[corbinace]

That sounds great, bangerjim. Doing nothing comes naturally to me. I will see if I can get some of it used up this morning.

[RogerDat]

A good rule of thumb is not over 2% EXCEPT for when making high end alloy such as Lyman #2 then keep the tin equal to or slightly less than the antimony. Sn & Sb will alloy with each other but more Sn than Sb is totally wasted.

You might want to get sample #1 up to not more than 2% but those other 2 you may find you want to take some of that and add tin to get near to Lyman #2 for possible use at your more powerful loads or just to see if any of your firearms really like the harder lead. I'm 100% sure you won't find it unpleasant to cast with 3/4.5/92 made using solder at 1# to 19# or if you can get some pewter same ratio yields real close to Lyman #2 at 4.6/4.8/90.5 with expected BHN of 14.4 and I don't always cast with Lyman #2 but man I always enjoy it when I do.

BTW - I tumble lube most stuff so lead hardness is of more concern than it would be for powder coating. Banger does a lot of PC boolits and that is something I'm just starting to use for rifle. He can use softer lead to better effect.

[edp2k]

Lemishine is just citric acid and surfactants (detergents).
I have cleaned the lube off of bullets by boiling in water + lemishine + laundry detegent (gets grease stains out of clothes).
After the boil they were squeekly clean.
I then powder coated and the PC stuck on like white on rice