Acid core solder for bonding cores

[bigjake]

I got ahold of a good amount of 60/40, 70/30 and 50/50 acid core solder.
What is your opinion on using this tin/lead/acid fluxed solder cut up, weighed and torched for bonded cores?

Would that Acid be too corrosive for the bullet? or the rifle itself?

Thanks

[bigjake]

I think i answered my own question. I got one of my 5.7x28 brass that is ready for cores to make .308 bullets. I stuffed several cut pieces of the acid core solder into the case/jacket and proceeded to heat it with a propane torch. the solder started to melt but soon a flood of the acid bubbled and overflowed. I added a few more pieces and it continued to bubble over. With the amount of flux that was present, that solder literally flowed all over the inside and outside of the brass. It looked like it was silver plated. the worst part was that acid crap was everywhere. It definitely was a failure.

What should I do with this acid core solder?

[rancher1913]

add small amounts to large batches of raw lead when you make ingots, works to flux better than sawdust.

[rbuck351]

Use it to add tin to your alloy when needed or send it to me for proper disposal.:mrgreen:

[bigjake]

I uncoiled a lot of the corroded 60/40 acid core and stuffed it into one of my dirty smelting pots. The amount of bubbling acid was incredible. I thought about letting it burn off, but instead I scooped it off the melt. What was different and strange was at a certain temp the solder wanted to solder itself to the side of the steel pot. It never did this with any other lead alloy. once it got super hot, it pretty much let go, possibly because i took out 90% of the flux and scraped the sides well. I poured it into one of those corn molds. It is pretty hard, I couldn't gouge it with my thumb nail at all. I think I will do what rancher1913 & rbuck351 said to do with the rest, and maybe some soldering jobs besides water pipes.

[Pipefitter]

I would melt the solder in an old pot, burn off the acid and pour it into muffin tins to a depth of about 1/4 inch or so. Then alloy it at about 95%pure lead to 5% solder. Cast your cores, swage to weight needed, and then melt the lead in the CLEAN jackets with a very tiny bit of flux. There will be enough tin in the mix to solder the cores to the jackets.

By tiny bit of flux I mean take a q-tip, dip it in some plumbing flux, wipe about 90% of the flux off and use that to wipe the inside of 20-25 jackets before getting more flux on the q-tip.

[NyFirefighter357]

Can you neutralize it by adding baking soda to the pot?

[clodhopper]

Tin makes lead tough.

Tough cores can cause dies to crack.

If your using 7/8" outside diameter dies you might want to keep the credit card handy.

[country gent]

For a thin coat of flux dilute the flux in alcohol or acetone to a water consistency dip part of cores in and set on a cookie sheet to cure or drop in the cores. For the surface area of the core to jacket very little flux is needed. You may only need to dip it part way even with the diluted flux. We did this when soldering carbide onto shanks for tools, Diluted the flux for a thin coat and saved a lot of clean up time

[bigjake]

For a thin coat of flux dilute the flux in alcohol or acetone to a water consistency dip part of cores in and set on a cookie sheet to cure or drop in the cores. For the surface area of the core to jacket very little flux is needed. You may only need to dip it part way even with the diluted flux. We did this when soldering carbide onto shanks for tools, Diluted the flux for a thin coat and saved a lot of clean up time

Over time, is there any white corrosion bleeding out of the ammunition? I've soldered various things for outdoor and indoor use thinking i cleaned all traces of flux off, later to find out there was white crap seeping/growing on the objects. What about rosin based flux?

[DDriller]

Over time, is there any white corrosion bleeding out of the ammunition? I've soldered various things for outdoor and indoor use thinking i cleaned all traces of flux off, later to find out there was white crap seeping/growing on the objects. What about rosin based flux?

I bond with powdered rosin, toss the core in and shake it around. Put the core in the brass or copper and heat to 750 degrees until all is melted.

[Drm50]

I got a bunch of solder with acid/rosin core. I don’t like to use it for anything. I solder copper and wire with solder & paste flux. Throw junk solder in with dirty lead went melting for ingots outside.