Sources of tin

[VA Shooter]

Hello from VA, I'm new to this site and casting. I have been collecting lead for about 1 week and have about 500lbs smelted mostly ww some lead from old diving belts. my question is where do I look for scrap tin? I'm casting for 45 colt 950 fps or less and I'm told that I need BHN of at least 12 To achive this I think I need to add tin to my ww any suggestions would be welcomed Thanks

[white eagle]

castability is what you get from tin
you need antimony to harden yer alloy
ww have both tin and antimony so you are in good company
Fit the Boolit to the gun.....

[wiljen]

The problem with diving belts is they can be any number of alloys ranging from dead soft lead to scrounged wheel weights to almost linotype in hardness. I would use what you have "as is" first and see if it gives you any reason to believe you need to change anything. At 950fps, with a decent lube, I'm betting your alloy will work fine without altering it.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Greetings VA and welcome to the site.
Keep reading here, there is tons to learn,
read the stickies, read threads.

when you get around to start casting,
try just using WW at first and see how that works for your application,
(most applications, straight WW works fine)

if you want to be on the lookout for some scrap tin,
try looking for Solder or pewter.
If and when you need some, and haven't found any...
People often sell it on the sellin' and swappin' section here,
or rotometals...an advertiser on this site.

ALSO, if you desire to shoot some rifle, you might
stay on the lookout for some scrap type metal from the "antique" printing industry.
this link is at the bottom of the page
http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm
it is an excellent source of what alloy mixtures will work for an application,
and how to mix various scrap to acheive the desired alloy.
Good Luck...and read on
Jon

[t_dickinson]

To answer your question, I get mine in the form of 60/40 (Tin/Lead) from a radiator shop.

There are very few shopes that still fix radiators this way today so you will have to call around. I called 20 places and got 2 sources.

I don't know if I will need it yet as I'm concentrating on collecting and smelting while I use up my stock of factory ammo.

But better to have it and not need it...

-T

[fishnbob]

Welcome Va Shooter. Plain old wheel weights has served me well, so far. They are getting hard to come by.

[cbrick]

I'm casting for 45 colt 950 fps or less and I'm told that I need BHN of at least 12 To achive this I think I need to add tin to my ww any suggestions would be welcomed Thanks

Welcome to Castboolits VA Shooter,

Now who told you that? As a new caster do yourself a huge favor and DO NOT fall for the "hardcast" hype. The old Colt is a low pressure round and 950 or under is moderate for the Colt.

Cast up the alloy you have and shoot it, odds are extremely good that it will work fine.

If you haven't already blended all of your alloys together keep your WW and other alloys seperated and poured into ingots marked as to what they are. If you already blended it together in the future you should keep it seperate. Who knows what shooting needs the future will bring, if you blend all alloys together you have but one alloy. If in the future you have a need of say something softer you can't, you have only one alloy.

Rick

[VA Shooter]

Hey thanks for your information this was a big help and CBRICK all my alloy's are seperated and marked

[mold maker]

Hello from VA, I'm new to this site and casting. I have been collecting lead for about 1 week and have about 500lbs smelted mostly ww some lead from old diving belts. my question is where do I look for scrap tin? I'm casting for 45 colt 950 fps or less and I'm told that I need BHN of at least 12 To achive this I think I need to add tin to my ww any suggestions would be welcomed Thanks

Hey Va Shooter, You the Man.
500 lbs in a week is great. I scrounge of a couple months and don't get that much.
Don't stop gathering, it will become scarce for you too.

[Czech_too]

As to a source of Tin, I've been able to occasionally find some Pewter marked pieces at the thrift stores. Garage sales, flea markets would be other places to look. I melt these down and 'cast' them into small pieces, about the size of a ginger snap. I then weigh these pieces and mark how many grains they are, usually 800 - 1000 grains. When I'm casting and can't get good fill-out of the mould, I'll put one or two, depending on weight, into the pot, a #20. It's seemed to have helped on more than one occasion. I'm casting exclusively from range lead so I have no idea what my 'alloy' is. I'm more concerned with fill-out, weight and size.

Brian

[Dale53]

If you find scrap tin, you can reduce it to usable size and shape by melting it then pouring from above into a bucket of water. You will end up with coarse shot that can be easily weighed on a postal scale to alloy with a pot of alloy.

Another way is to use a piece of angle iron and just pour long, shallow "rods" of tin. Then just melt off what you need.

As an example - my standard pistol and revolver alloy is WW's + 2% tin. If I have a one pound bar, I weigh it on a postal scale and just melt off 6.4 ounces for 20 lb of WW (2%). It works beautifully and is quick and accurate.

Dale53

[468]

...or you could pour some tin boolits and then add these to your alloy as needed.

[Sonnypie]

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet is a hardness tester. (Maybe I missed it thou)
Mine is in the mail as we speak. (Lee)
I finally relented and ordered one so I can try and get more "refined", and stop guessing.

Welcome to Cast Boolits from me, too. [smilie=s:

[leadbutt]

As someone already replied, you can find pewter at the thrift stores and flea markets. The plus side to that is you can take the ole lady with you and let her think its about her and not your obsessed hobby lol.

L. Bottoms