Found 25+ pounds of solder today.

[BIGRED]

I have a very large hoard of solder right now (around 80-100#'s), i see it getting thrown away at work alot and pick it up whenever i can.

Most of it is 63/37 which i know what that is and i also have a few 95.5sn/3.8ag.

In the pile i had 7 pounds of Multicore Crystal 511 lead free solder which is Tin/Silver/copper. data sheets and MSDS sheets do not show % of elements in the Multicore. can i use this multicore leadfree stuff? and if so what effects will the copper and silver have? without knowing the Tin content i won't know how much to add to my pure lead.



Thanks in advance

[Dusty Bannister]

If you are adding 1% or 2% to WW, the copper and nickle will be so diluted as to be nil. If you are going to use it to make 20-1 lead-tin bullets, it might be a problem. Since you vaguely refer to adding it to pure lead, you might consider staying with the other solder blends and keep it back for enrichment of lead-tin-antimony alloys. Dusty

[BIGRED]

I have alot of Pure Lead right now and i mix it 50/50 with COWW for my 45 - 200 SWC. right now i have just been "saving" the solder.. i would like to add it to the lead to put me around 20-1, if i cannot use this leadfree silver/copper/tin stuff for that than what else could i use it for. and why would i add it to the WW only mix? i am a newbie so bear with me, but if COWW gives me about 12-14BHN and i am targeting 10BHN for Pistol Bullets would i only add the 1-2% to COWW for higher BHN? like for rifles or v=faster velocity stuff?

[Dusty Bannister]

Just sit there for a minute while I get the pliers to pull some more facts from you as to your goals and objectives. Keep talking while you are waiting so we can all know what you want before we try to give you suggestions.

20-1 is lead and tin (only). Then you mention lead and COWW and looking for a softer alloy. This would be a good place to use the tin rich solder or the lead free solder. I suggested 1 or 2 percent not for hardening, but to improve casting quality.

"what else can I use it for?" Maybe you should recheck the information on the lead free solder and see if maybe you have overlooked the contents. If you want to mix soft lead scrap and COWW, for pistol bullets, just pick your recipe and consider adding 1% of your lead free solder. As I previously suggested. The fraction of a part of a percent of the copper and silver will not have any noticable affect on your alloy.

If you want to mix true 20-1 then you should avoid the lead free, and go with your other known solder blends.

[Milsurp Junkie]

In the pile i had 7 pounds of Multicore Crystal 511 lead free solder which is Tin/Silver/copper. data sheets and MSDS sheets do not show % of elements in the Multicore. can i use this multicore leadfree stuff? and if so what effects will the copper and silver have? without knowing the Tin content i won't know how much to add to my pure lead.


The Multicore Crystal 511 is more than likely 96.5% Tin, 3% Silver, and 0.5% Cu, as this is the standard solder used in ROHS processing of electronics. I have 50 pounds of the Kester equivalent, as I work in the computer/semiconductor industry.

As the previous posts suggest, the addition of 1-2% only improves the casting ability of the alloy, and does not harden it. The Antimony is what hardens the alloy. Depending on whether or not your air or water quench determines the grain size of the antimony crystals in the lead. Water quenching causes smaller crystals evenly dispersed throughout the lead matrix, and air quenching causes larger antimony crystals in the lead matrix. Now, even though the material is solid, it does not mean that the molecules are not still diffusing around the lead matrix, they are just doing it over a slower time period than in liquid form. That is why you will see a shift in hardness from freshly cast boolits, to those that have been aged two weeks, to those of two month, to those of two years. The antimony slowly diffuses and you will see the hardness of the boolit increase with age as the antimony diffuses evenly throughout the lead matrix via Brownian motion.

At least that is what I have pieced together with my chemistry degree, experience and research on this site and others concerning casting boolits.

MJ

[BIGRED]

Thanks guys.
At the present time i am only casting the 200 gr swc's for my 45, and the 50/50 i am using seems to work very well. i am adding a really small amount of 60/40 solder to it to help with fill-out. the reason i said 20-1 was because on the lead alloy calculator is shows 20-1 as 5% tin 95% lead. And that is what i am striving for to keep the BHN around 10. The calculator has helped me for everything thus far but it doesn't show this "special" lead free solder that has copper and silver. I do water drop my bullets but have not tested the BHN as i have not seen any leading in my guns as of yet.
as i stated i have more Soft lead than COWW so at some point i will either need to get more COWW or start adding 5%tin to the Soft lead to increase my BHN to 10. and being as i have soooo much solder i thought this would be an alternate solution, than finding more COWW (which is getting harder everyday)

[Milsurp Junkie]

5% tin is a lot of tin to add. I would strive for 2% max. Tin is expensive, and you just need enough to help with the fill out of your mold.
I think that the amount of silver and copper is going to have a very negligible if any, effect on your alloy. It might make it slightly harder, but not much. If you are shoot for a 2% tin content, (using your lead free alloy) your silver content is going to be .6% and your copper content is going to be .01%. Try a batch and see if you see any difference. I would not expect it, but I would need to look at the grain structure of the cast boolit with an electron microscope and a x-ray fluoroscopy unit which I do not have access to anymore :(
If you want more information regarding grain structure and hardness, feel free to PM me. I miss being able to explain technical stuff...
MJ

[Defcon-One]

The extra Silver might help with puting down the occational WEREWOLF. Being only 3%, you might want to shoot him two or three times, just to be sure!

Personally, I like the known content Tin/Lead solders. But, you gotta use what you have, or trade it!