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Thread: COVID Pewter drying up in my sources

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    COVID Pewter drying up in my sources

    Seems like no one is donating to the thrift stores during the COVID scare. I haven't ran into alot and when I do they are $4 weight filled candlesticks. Got luck yesterday and found this royal Holland stien for $3.99. It weighs a hair under 2 pounds. Saw it last week but the store had it marked $8. To bad it has a dent on both sides of the base or I'd start drinking again.




    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 08-24-2020 at 09:55 AM.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    I think of building a pewter stash a bit like building a stash of other reloading supplies: bought bit by bit, patiently and over time, as funds allow and opportunity presents itself. Cheap scrap pewter sort of reinforces that approach since it typically doesn't sit on store shelves in quantity like primers and powder do (in normal times). Hopefully that approach means an adequate supply squirreled away when times aren't normal.

    ETA: and, yeah; undented, I'd have that stein up on display or full of a cold one too.

  3. #3
    Boolit Bub
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    Do you have any tips for identifying pewter? I've been to the thrift store a couple times, but I can't the difference between pewter and stainless because I dont know what I'm looking for.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by GoBig View Post
    Do you have any tips for identifying pewter? I've been to the thrift store a couple times, but I can't the difference between pewter and stainless because I dont know what I'm looking for.
    Pewter will not ring when thipped. Try a known ss saucepan, then a piece marked pewter. Pewter will score with a brass key while stainless wont, pocket knife will cut it. Safest way is to find P.e.w.t.e.r., etain, or zinn marked on the bottom. Check out the pewter hallmark thread and become familiar with the manufacturers. This is a good place to educate yourself.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    When I’m testing for pewter I might accidentally dent the piece.
    Sometimes they will mark it down if it has dents.
    I don’t do this on purpose mind you

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Your the one who dented my Stien! Lol. It only had one dent in it last week and when I bought it there were three. I have a pretty big stash of pewter items. I just traded four pounds of melted ingots to a member for a box of 35 cal GCs so I wanted to replenish my stock. I just make sure I stop into certain stores that always have a good pile of it...and cheap normally. It's just been slow this year. I only buy items stamped pewter or zin. I dont buy weighted candle stick holders anymore either. I can tell you after melting pewter into ingots it has a whole new sound. Like a lound clink.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 08-24-2020 at 05:46 PM.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master dbosman's Avatar
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    After you find your first few pieces, you'll find pewter by sight. The colour is the first sign. There are fake pewter items though so colour is only sign one. Next, only buy pieces hallmarked as Pewter or tin.
    I squeeze the open end of the item. Pewter flexs like no other metal.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Pewter has no appreciable spring back: you bend it and it stays bent. Some pewter items make a fine crackling sound as it is bent ("tin cry"). It tends to be matte, slightly dull and a bit gray in color, though Tripplebeard's stein show that you can find a brighter finish, though usually not mirror like. It's heavier than aluminum and lighter than steel, though steel being much stronger means the item is often much thinner than a comparable pewter object and ends up lighter. Aluminum items tend to be much thicker and often have casting marks. Pewter is described by many as feeling warmer to the touch than aluminum, steel or plated brass. Beware of Wilton's Pewterex, which is actually an aluminum alloy.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master

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    Since garage sales and other touchy feely sales venues barely exist during the Wuhan, you would think folks would be donating to the thrift stores what they would have previously tried to sell for a few bucks.
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    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    I think many of you are obsessed with tin in your alloy. I use almost zero tin when casting pistol bullets for coating, just range scrap, maybe 2oz of lino thrown in if it wont cast well. The few # of tin I have will last me years.
    Last edited by fredj338; 09-03-2020 at 12:45 PM.
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    Boolit Buddy Pigboat's Avatar
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    This brings up a question I've been meaning to ask. You guys that melt and mold your pewter, how and in what do you melt it. I've got a couple of paper grocery sacks full that I've accumulated but am not sure where to go from here.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    The folks who just add small amounts of pewter/tin to a pot of alloy until it casts to their satisfaction will sometimes cast tin balls or bullets of very consistent fraction-of-an-ounce weights (just keep them separate so they don't get shot!). Others cast coins and discs in the bottoms of mini cupcake pans, ranging in weight from one to a few ounces (harder to get consistent weights with free hand pours, but most just pile some on a scale, adding and subtracting until they hit the target weight). For bulk storage or sale in volume small bar ingots work, using the same molds we use for lead (at about two thirds the density of lead, tin will give a roughly ten ounce bar from a full one pound lead mold). Sometimes folks will melt the end of a bar or an edge of a disc into the pot if they don't want that much and precision is not a concern.
    Last edited by kevin c; 08-28-2020 at 02:13 PM.

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    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I buy various silicone molds from the craft store. I bought ones that look like 1” squares. If I fill them about 1/2 way up it’s 3oz about good for a 10 pound batch of lead. I mix pewter 16:1 with pure lead. It has a BH of 7.8. It makes a soft HP that holds together. I’ve shot them up to 2100 FPS along with PC and GCs with great accuracy and no leading.

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    wow trip.. that figures to be over 6% tin? i use a meager 2-3% even for my softer alloys... perhaps I should try yours just cuz...
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    Boolit Master
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    Everyone here was locked down most of the spring & summer. Many people spent that time cleaning out the attics and basement. The dumpster companies & garbage men might still be backed up. I hadn't gone to the local good will in about a year. I stopped there last week, it was rearranged and tightly packed. More variety than I've ever seen. I didn't find one piece of pewter though. I've never seen pewter in that particular store except "collectable" plates in the showcases and they wanted more than the auction sites. I have much better luck finding old rolls & bars of solder other places.

  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Here’s a 16:1 (16 pounds of pure soft lead and one pound of pewter mixed) HP Lyman devastator I shot into a dirt backstop at 1600 FPS out of my rifle. Started at 263 grains and ended up at a 174 grains.










    Pedals flowed back nicely. The one that broke off hit a rock. It expanded to almost 3/4”. The alloy has a BH of 7.8 and I PC them as well. The one above had clear PC on it.





    I haven’t recovered a 200 grain HP out of my 35 Rem yet at 2100 FPS with the same 16:1 alloy. I switched over to 50/50 COWW and pure on it because it groups better in my 336...as you can see in my avatar. My 50/50 alloy seems to expand about the same when pushed a few 100 FPS faster than 16:1.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 08-30-2020 at 02:34 PM.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    I did well on a recent road trip out East. Made some nice scores in rural Virginia. Got about 10 pounds total for $40. But I need to get back to scrounging scrap lead again as I have lots of pewter and wheel weight ingots.
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  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Corrected... the above slug after expansion weighted a 180 grains.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy PBaholic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pigboat View Post
    This brings up a question I've been meaning to ask. You guys that melt and mold your pewter, how and in what do you melt it. I've got a couple of paper grocery sacks full that I've accumulated but am not sure where to go from here.
    I use Pewter Molds, of course!

    This guy used to sell these for $23 each, with shipping or $40 for 2, but that was a few years ago.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Mold - 1 Pound P ingots.JPG  

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    When we had our old range about once a week I'd mine the pistol berms. When I got home I would toss all those bullets on the floor and sort out any of the hardcast 45 acp 230 grain RN bullets. Plus any other hardcast bullet. Those I would melt down separately from the rest of the bullets I dug up.Course I had a huge pair of pliers to check the hardness. Stick them in a mortar pan and hit them with the pressure washer.Dump the pan on the black contractor grade plastic bag and they'd be dry in a couple hours. These went into a separate bucket to be melted at a later date. Got about 35-40lbs of hardcast metal. So anytime I needed to sweetin up an alloy either a 1/2 or 1 pounder would be added to the mix. And picked up some hockey pucks from one of the splicer schools. 60 % tin and 40% lead. The Lee mould would cast 1/2 pound and 1 pounders. The rest would be with the older Lyman ingot molds. easy to tell them apart. I still have three buckets yet untouched. Frank

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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