Alloy Ive read about and the benifits

[dondiego]

If anyone wants to try it, any coin shop has US "junk" 90% silver dimes made before 1965 for sale at around $2.00 a piece. They will also have 99.99% pure silver ingots for sale too at around $20 each ounce. I have been a numismatist for over 52 years.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Centershot, the gov't stopped minting silver quarters in 1965, although they did have a special run in 1976 for the bicentennial.

I believe the '76 coins with Ag content was just the proof sets, not the coins for circulation, and those proof set coins only contained 40% Ag...just like the '65 through '69 half dollars.

Last Sept at the gunshow, I sold my last 3 coin '76 proof set.

[45-70 Chevroner]

With a melting point of 1763 degrees, how would you get the silver mixed in?

That was my exact thought.

[Lloyd Smale]

sell your silver and buy some lineotype

[Morgan61]

That gets me thinking. I've got some real old silverware that's I found all bent up and not worth anything except for the silver content. Maybe I'll chop it up & toss it in the melting pot.
Anyone know how to tell if they're pure silver?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

it's usually stamped "sterling".
btw, there's lots of silver plate out there, scratch it deeply, those are usually brass or copper underneath.

[scottfire1957]

Adding silver seems to be an expensive way to make boolits as compared to pewter.

I would sell the silver to buy other components, if priced appropriately. Otherwise, I would keep the silver. COWWs need little or nothing to work well. If you need more hardness, linotype is available cheaper than Ag. 15-20 bucks an oz for Ag, a few dollars a lb for pewter or lino. Ag is not cost effective. IMHO.

[facetious]

I don't think Oregon Trail adds silver to the lead. I read that it is in there becouse the lead is a byproduct of silver mining. The silver that is left in the lead is the stuff that would cost more to get out then it is worth. It's addvertising value is worth more then the silver.

[scottfire1957]

Ive read several times of silver being added to lead for alloies for bullets in old accounts the only ratio Ive seen listed in these accounts was a silver dime to 20 lbs lead in a old account. I believe that silver acts as tin in an alloy making it flow and fill out better. My question is what other benefits would there possibly be? any detriments? at the above rate 1 ounce or so would do 100 lbs of lead. Thank you for your help here.

Then again, if you have a silver dime, and you have read such, toss it in! YOU tell us the results and comparisons of 1 (one) silver dime in your alloy. One dime in twenty pounds of alloy?

[dondiego]

That gets me thinking. I've got some real old silverware that's I found all bent up and not worth anything except for the silver content. Maybe I'll chop it up & toss it in the melting pot.
Anyone know how to tell if they're pure silver?

Your sterling silverware won't be "pure". Sterling is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. Very similar to our US silver coinage.

[JohnH]

It is surprising to me that no one has spoken of using silver solder for this. You can get it at a plumbing supply, prolly even the home despot or lowes (but they always seem high to me...) I considered doing this at one point but in reality, COWW do all I need done. If I want to go faster than circa 2000 fps I use commercially made jacketed bullets. Life's too short for drama and exercises in futility.

[starmac]

I made some 6% silver boolits. I got tired of reading all the reasons it wouldn't work, so I dropped a >999 fine silver ingot into a pot at full temp (about 1100 degrees). Actually, I seem to remember it was 1070, but it was all the pot had to give.
After a while I noticed the corners were beginning to round off, so i waited and finally the ingot disappeared. I don't remember the exact amount, but I do remember it figured out to be 6%.
I cast (casted?) 100 of them. They sure were purty. I tried one of them in the really scientific method ( I put them on an anvil and hit them with a 3lb hammer). They deformed really well without any obvious signs of fracturing. The rest , I diluted to 1% and made some more. They also withstood the hammer test. The 6% models shine up really well and look real nice in a gun belt.
PS: I am now ready for werewolves.
I don't know why I did this. I just always wanted some "Lone Ranger Bullets". If I remember right, they cast well somewhere below 800 degrees. Hope this helps...

Blame it on the long winter nights.
I have been seeing wolves lately, but they are the regular old wheelweight type. lol

[dondiego]

I thought of the silver solder too but the test was whether silver would dissolve in a pot of lead and if so, what is the alloy like? I am hoping someone here will perform the test........

[.22-10-45]

I too read where the old timers would toss a silver dime in a 20# pot of pure lead. Several years ago, I did just that. I bought some old well worn circa 1940 dimes & turned up the heat on my Lyman Mag Dipper pot to max. Alloy was 20-1 pure lead-tin. Dime was placed in Lyman ladel 1/2 filled with 20-1 alloy and covered with flux. Propane torch used to melt silver & melt carefully stirred with more flux added while still in dipper. pot was constantly stirred with dipper & flux added to melt. Bullets cast in Lyman 375248 were shiney..but not noticably any harder. 100yd. groups from a .38-55 Win. High-Wall were the same as with regular lead-tin alloy. They did seem to hold their luster longer.

[Tom W.]

Me! Me! I tried melting silver solder in my Lee lead pot with the thermostat wide open and it just sat there and floated on top. These were rather small pieces that I had. They never did melt, stirred or not. I suppose I needed a oxycetelene torch to melt them.

[NoAngel]

Sodium Chloride MELTS at 1,474 degrees but will readily DISSOLVE in hot water.
Aluminum melts at 1,221 degrees but will readily dissolve in a pot of molten zinc....That's how you get pot metal.

[308Jeff]

Then again, if you have a silver dime, and you have read such, toss it in! YOU tell us the results and comparisons of 1 (one) silver dime in your alloy. One dime in twenty pounds of alloy?

He must resolve to dissolve.

[USSR]

I'd add my 2 cents, but this thread is dumb enough already.

Don

[JohnH]

I'd add my 2 cents, but this thread is dumb enough already.

Don

That's copper Just sayin'

[z28z34man]

That's copper Just sayin'

Nope a modern penny is made of zinc