how to identify tin

[mac1911]

I have some sheathing that apears to tin, how do you tell?

[southpaw]

Try bending it. If you hear some cracking then it is tin or a high percentage of tin. You could also do a specific gravity test on it.

Here is a link with some info http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=124483&highlight=gravity

Here is the formula

You are gonna need a piece of the solder for this. I would cast a couple of boolits for this.

SW= sample weight
DW= dry weight
WW= wet weight

Weigh one of your boolits. This is your SW. Suspend this boolit from a piece of string and weigh it. This is you DW. Bring a cup of room temp water up under the boolit and just submerge it. This is your WW.

The formula is as follows:

SW / (DW-WW) = SG

The SG of pure tin is 7.318
for 50/50 SN/PB it is 8.882
for pure pb it is 11.34

If you get a number that is less than 7.3 or higher than 11.34 there is a math or measuring error. Check your work.

To find the percentage of tin that you have use the following formula.

2049.06 / SG - 180.69= % tin

Of course this only works if there are only PB and SN in the mix.

Jerry Jr.

[mac1911]

Well i had a old lee pot I wanted to clear the lead out of. After the pot was flowing I cut a 2"x 1/2" strip off and put it in the lead pot. As I casted some lee 1oz slugs I kept my eye on it. Lyman thermo said 625'F thats strip never melted. Must be aluminum of some sort.

[Nose Dive]

Hmmm Dunno.... Thought tin melted above 625,,,but cannot remember exactly. Probably wrong... Some one will respond to Tin melt point.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[southpaw]

Tin melts at 429*.

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

Scroll down a little and it shows the melting points for pure, ww, tin, antimony, foundry and linotype.

Jerry Jr.