Pewter % to get Lyman#2

[warf73]

What % of pewter should I add to WW’s to get Lyman #2 .
I’ll be doing 100lb melts so let’s use 100lbs as my WW weight.

I’m thinking/guessing around 5lbs of pewter to 100lbs WW, is that to much pewter?


Thanks Warf

[runfiverun]

5 lbs of pewter would be about right
except ww's only run about 3% antimony.
i would use 3lb pewter if you need the hardness about 18 water drop them
and use them after about a month,
when i am making 5//5 i put in some antimony from lino or from raw antimony
you donot just put antimony in the pot though.

[felix]

Yes, about right for your WW at 5 percent tin. But that is wasting an excellent augmenter for no good reason except for experimentation. Add 2 pounds per 100 pounds of WW as standard fare. ... felix

[kawalekm]

Hi Warf
I routinely use pewter myself for all my bullets. I base my calculations on the assumption that antique pewter is at least 82% tin (by law). I use scrap pieces that have the word "pewter" stamped on the bottom. If you're starting with 100lbs of ww metal, you can add about 6.5lb of pewter to make Lyman #2 alloy.

But, that may be a little too much. Modern pewter being made right now today is lead free and has a composition closer to 97% tin (I visited the Selangor Pewter Foundry). If you also assume that ww metal has a trace of tin, say 0.5%, then you can make #2 alloy with about 4.5lbs of pewter.

No matter what, throw in at least 2.5 lbs and you should be very satisfied with the results.
Michael

[John Boy]

Recent batches of air cooled WW's, I have been obtaining Bhn's of either 14.3 or 15.3. Might want to run a small batch of the WW's to determine the Bhn and then adjust accordingly with either lead or pewter
Pewter runs 85 -99% tin
Lyman #2 is Bhn of 15

[warf73]

Thanks guys for all the replys. I have a really good idea of how much to add now, wasn't really for sure before. This alloy that I'll be mixing would be for my rifles that will be running from 2k~2800fps. I've been gathing pewter at the cost of $6.25 a pound.

Thanks again Warf