WW + Tin for Harder Boolits ???

[Russ in WY]

Newbie on this site. Haven't cast for 20+ yrs but plan on doing some this Spring . 38/44/45. Target type boolits. In the past I added about 1/8 lb of tin to 20 lb pot of WW's. Is this still SOP ?? I have a Lyman casting book on the way, was just wondering till it gets to Me. Recently came by an 88% Tin alloy, rest is Lead ,Antimony & Cadmium. Was planning on using it with the WW. I have 40+ lbs of it, thats way more then I will ever use. Is it permissible to sell extra stuff like that the site??? TIA . Russ.

[MtGun44]

Tin is very expensive now and anything more than the absolute minimum to
help mold fill out is just a waste as it adds extremely little hardness for the
amount you have to add. Nowdays most people either cast with straight
WW or add just a bit of tin to get better fill of the mold, if it proves necessary.

To sell the extra, post on the selling section farther down the page. I have never
heard of cadmium in a lead alloy, what is this for originally? I wonder if cadmium
does anything bad in the way of toxic fumes, or poor castability?

Bill

[cbrick]

I have never heard of cadmium in a lead alloy, what is this for originally? I wonder if cadmium does anything bad in the way of toxic fumes, or poor castability? Bill

I found this;

1> Lead alloys with up to 0.075 per cent cadmium are sometimes used as sheaths for cables subject to cyclic stress.

2> Tin-based white metal bearing alloys with up to 1 per cent cadmium have improved tensile and fatigue strength for use in marine engines and gearboxes.

3> Joining and fusible alloys.

4> Structural hardening of lead-cadmium (tin-silver) alloys for battery's grids.

If it is indeed 88% tin it sounds like number 2. None of the alloys I found mentioned antimony but again, would make sense in number 2.

Didn't find anything on the castability of cadmium. At 0.075% I wouldn't worry about it, dunno about 1% but even added to the WW at 2% the cadmium would still be a pretty small percentage of the whole.

Rick

[Russ in WY]

The maker would not give the Exact alloy mix ,other then it was 88% Tin. Was suppose to be" Proprietary" info. The Lead, Antimony & cadmium were in descending order ,so assume that Cad was the very least & minimum . The Rest of the Story as Paul H. would say. Tks for the Feed back. Russ.

[mroliver77]

I am not sure about the cadmium but if it does not hurt castability the tin is pretty valuable. Do a little research before putting a price on it. ;)
J