Pewter source

[luky-dude]

Used it get pewter from Roto-Metals in small pieces about one inch long as big as your thumb, worked good, one in each pot full. How no more small pieces, small bars, would have to cut it up. Not going to melt down scrap for it. Where can I buy small pieces of pewter again?? Thanks for help.

[CastingFool]

I pick up pewter items at Goodwill and Salvation Army stores, if pasking price is too high, I walk. I find some pewter at garage sales, prices are usually lower.

[Bazoo]

I ask about pewter at every yardsale I go to. After I explain pewter is dinnerware and I'm not looking for a computer and just to lazy to say the first syllable of the word, the answers always no.

[kevin c]

Am I right in thinking you don't want to search for and melt down pewter yourself? It is probably the cheapest form of tin casters can find (easily much less than half the cost of retail), but it is also true that the hunt for it can be time consuming and occasionally frustrating.

Rotometals still sells the cut wire form of pure tin that I think you are describing. It's slightly more expensive than the pewter, but that's because it's 100% tin instead of 92% (actually, the pure is slightly less per pound of tin).

https://www.rotometals.com/tin-cut-wire-pieces-99-9-pure-1-pound-made-in-usa/

Some folks will just melt the end of an ingot into their casting pot to add tin or antimony, holding it in a vice grip to avoid burns. If you have a steady hand and make equally spaced marks along the long side of the ingot, once past the drafted end of the ingot, you can melt in fairly equal amounts, and it shouldn't take long, given the low melting temp of tin/pewter.

[RogerDat]

Yes I was thinking OP was talking about tin wire or nuggets rather than pewter sold for casting pewter objects.

Pewter is good because it adds enough antimony to not dilute COWW alloy when adding tin. Usually even a touch of copper for a tougher lead alloy. However if one wants to make a binary alloy of lead/tin then pewter won't work. Making 20:1 or 16:1 for some cowboy action rounds or for expansion of soft hollow point bullet the tin will probably be a better choice than pewter. I typically use solder for that purpose to avoid the antimony of pewter.

Can generally save a lot of money finding old pewter items and melting them down. Depends on how much you can enjoy trips to flea markets, garage sales, and thrift stores. Note I did not include antique places. They tend to want much dollars for little weight. Smaller and daintier the more they figure it is worth.

Funny but true I once picked up a pewter mug. Label read $4 and it was fairly heavy, probably paying over my normal limit of 3 bucks a pound but close enough. Got to the register and was informed that price tag said $40 not $4 and I'm like are you sure? It is engraved with a name and date of a tennis club win. Not my name and I don't play tennis so doesn't that sort of make it less valuable? But it is Sheffield Pewter it says so on the bottom! yeah, no thanks. Was still there on consignment 2 or 3 months later. Eventually the store closed. I think I know why. Engraved with a name, event, and date and not thinking it reduced value unless that person or event was famous the market would say it was scrap metal. They thought it was $40 worth of Sheffield pewter. Market won.

[bangerjim]

Watch on this site for people that sell " rounds/coins" of pewter. ±2oz sized, perfect for throwing into a pot. They have cast re-melted pewter into little rounds easy for you to use.

[Taterhead]

I've purchased 3 lb ingots of pewter here from Orisolo. I measured then marked segments with a sharpie to indicate weights. Then, as described above, use channel locks to dip them end so that it melts to the next hash maek. Works for me!

[luky-dude]

https://www.rotometals.com/tin-cut-wire-pieces-99-9-pure-1-pound-made-in-usa/ kevin c yeah that's the stuff I have now. Didn't find it on there site today, will get some more, quick and easy. I use with clip-on wheels for 9mm and .45 acp. Thanks

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I would think the junk stores in larger cities ( if they have not been burned out ) would be a good place to score pewter. I seldom visit the big cities though.

[Conditor22]

I find mine at thrift stores, craigslist, garage sales. Smelt and flux well then cast into .5 oz. boolits for eas alloying and sweetening the pot.
https://i.imgur.com/gHoM3nZ.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/gKCxmL5.jpg