Bismuth in my alloy.

[GPappy]

I purchased some typeset with a number of ingots that the seller said might be Cerrosafe. I knew that it wasn't given the price I paid for it. Turns out to be 73.98% Lead, 7.07% Tin, and 16.2% Antimony so that looks to be all typeset. I did have some other alloy from another purchase that I took along with me that tested out at 87.86 % Lead and 4.49% Bismuth. Not sure why the gun did not have anything show up for the other 8%.

What usage would a lead alloy with about 5% Bismuth have had? Is Bismuth good or bad for bullet Casting?

[MarkP]

I had some alloy that was causing me fits; slushy phase with an almost powdery appearance. This happened about (5) years ago and again recently.

Skimmed the slush and had it scanned with an XRF. 5% Zn, 5% Bi, along with Pb, Sn, Sb also had some copper and Fe. Not sure where I got the Bi. The alloy had kind of a shiny goldish color tint to it.

I am planning to get my print spacers analyzed; they are rectangular in cross section about 1/2" x 5/8" with two small rectangular holes running the entire length.

My lead sources are / were: WW, re-claimed shot, lead water pipes, types mono, lino, foundry, & spacers. I got zinc from WW that came from the Audi / VW dealership. I got these about 7 years ago I did not realize the EU had changed to zinc WW.

[bangerjim]

Been discussed several times on here in the past. There is not much data on Bi and it's hardening properties like there is for Sb. But it works the same way from what I have read and experimented with. I have a long Standards (now called NIST) document on it from the 40's somewhere that goes into great metallurgical detail on Bi and alloys. Have no idea where is is these daze.

I have several hundreds of pounds of a 54% Bi alloy that melts at 148F I use to cast antique repro clock and furniture parts with in rubber and plastic molds. It is ~26Bhn. I have experimented with adding it to pure lead and about a 1/2 oz of it will take 1# of pure to 10 or so.

Bi is very expensive and is not used to harden boolit lead. It will not hurt anything. You can always make Pepto Bismol out of it!!!!!!! That is the active ingreadent in that horrid pink puke.

There have been rumblings that with all the stupid bans on Pb, boolits will have to be made from Bi in the future. About the same properties......just waaaaaaay more $$.

banger

[mfraser264]

One use of Bi is as a melt point suppressant in low temp allows, it lowers the melt point of an alloy. You can have metals that melt at different temperatures and then blend them together becoming an alloy and the melt point of the alloy can be lower than the lowest melt point of a specific metal in that alloy. This was one of the interesting things learned in metallurgy. It is used in the Cerrosafe family of metals and also as a replacement to lead shot. A major use of Cerrosafe was during WWII, fill the fuel lines for aircraft engines and the filled tubes can be bent into shape around the engine without the tube collapsing. Once the fuel line was bent to shape, submerse in hot water and the Cerrosafe melts out. Have also seen it used in food grade copper alloys. One of the less plentiful elements which partially explains the high cost as compared to lead and it is non-toxic.

[popper]

Rotometals used to have some posted results with Bi boolits.

[GPappy]

Thanks all for your responses. I think I will try to mix the lead and bismuth with the typeset to see if I can come up with an acceptable alloy.

[Boolit_Head]

Isn't Bismuth present in a lot of shot?

[lobogunleather]

Isn't Bismuth present in a lot of shot?

Some shotshell makers offer bismuth shot loads. These are useful for waterfowl hunting with guns that should not be used with steel shot (older fixed-choke guns, some adjustable chokes, etc). Can't use lead shot for waterfowl anymore so some options have come along.

[RidgerunnerAk]

Bismuth shotshells came along as viable alternates to steel shot, which is not as dense as it should be for waterfowl hunting. The main maker of Bismuth shot didn't last too long but I think someone may be making it again. It's not as dense as lead and is soft and brittle so isn't near as effective as lead shot. A box of 10 bismuth shotshells generally costs around $35/box, which is why it was/is a bit of a hard sell to the masses.

[RU shooter]

I remember a post from a very wise gentleman that used to post here by the name of Felix he said a little bit of bismuth in your alloy was a good thing don't know if that large a percentage is still considered a "little bit "

[BigEyeBob]

Isn't Bismuth present in a lot of shot?

Bismuth is used for shot as a lead replacement , its about all you can use here on the duck swamps , or steel .
One good thing about bismuth is that you can use it in older antique shotguns with out modification to the chokes.
I have shooting friends who make thier own Bismuth shot . Bismuth is expensive stuff to buy here in Oz .
My shotguns sit idle in the safe because of the lead shot ban .

[Geezer in NH]

I would forget about it and make Boolits and see how it shoots.
The target is what counts.