% of tin needed?

[TREERAT]

let me see if I got a handle on this: lets say I want to blend a small 5 lb batch close to lyman #2 alloy. I can use 4 1/2 lbs of wheel weights 1/4 lb of pure lead + a 1/4 lb of lead free solder for tin, does this sound correct? is this usually enough tin?

[docone31]

With that ratio, if you really need tin, I would use 1oz., rather than 1/4lb.
Crank up the heat instead.

[TREERAT]

so 4 oz tin in 5 lbs ww alloy is a waste?

[docone31]

I found it to be so.
I don't add tin anymore.

[geargnasher]

I found I was using way more tin than necessary in my ww compositions and found that any more than 2% added is a complete waste and less will usually suffice. I used to cast straight ww with good results but throwing in a little solder is like insurance, especially for hp boolits.

Gear

[Whitespider]

I've become real partial to a 50:1, WW/Tin alloy.
That comes to about 1.5 oz of tin for 5 lbs WW.
IMHO, 4 oz would be a waste of at least 2 oz.

[TREERAT]

some times I am a little slow, due to a brain injury from car wreck, so bear with me on this. with a calculator to figure 2% ---- I would punch in 16 (oz to lb) x number of lb's (in this case, 5 lb) = 80 oz then x 2 % (which equals 1.6) so I would need 1.6 oz of tin in a 5 lb mix of ww to have 2%, am I right this time?
if I am ok so far, knowing there are 7000 g to a lb, and 16 oz to a lb, how do I convert 1.6 oz to grains?

[thenaaks]

you divide 7000 by 16 to give you grains per ounce. then multiply 1.6 times that number. 7000/16=437.50
437.50x1.6=700 grains

[geargnasher]

Treerat, one ounce = 437.5 grains as stated above.

Your math is correct.

If you are using 50/50 solder as a source of tin you would add about 3-4 oz solder to about 4.75 pounds of ww. The exactness is not that important unless you are shooting benchrest or really pushing the envelope of your alloy.

Gear

[TREERAT]

plan on using lead free solder, as I only cast about 60 lbs of bollits a year. I wanted to see how far I could strech 1 lb of lead free solder.

if my figures are right, it looks like I can get about 50 lb of 2% alloy with one 16 oz roll of lead free solder.

thanks for the help, it is appreciated!

[runfiverun]

dude a pound of tin can be stretched waaaay out i used to use the 2% as a standard.
then the price of tin went up a lot. now 1 lb of tin does over 100 lbs of ww's especially since they have a half percent already.
notice those little numbers and letters molded into the ww's?
turn your pot up to about 750* get your mold hot and only add tin as needed.
i got a lot of tin and it should last me the rest of forever or till i start doing 30-1 for stuff.
last two years i have cast close to 1,000 lbs a year.

[Ole]

I do the 2% by weight typically, but it's with 63/37 solder.

So that puts me around 1.4% and it works fine so far.

[Echo]

TreeRat, your original formula would give about 5% tin, which is about twice what you would ever need. I use 3% as a standard, but others in this forum suggest 2% or even less. Three % may be too much, but it is definitely enough.

I suggest 5 pounds of WW's and 2 oz. of tin/lead-free solder.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
To me the first question with tin is ...What am I using it for ?
If you are using it as a "Hardener" than more is better BUT it gets expensive.
If you are using tin for better flow/ fillout than you only NEED as little as it takes to FILL OUT the mold and have NICE boolits.
But I can cast many boolit shapes / diameters with pure lead (no tin) just by turning up the heat. Long NARROW boolits benefit from some tin but it does not really take much. 1-2% gets alot done.
So with just a little experimenting with HEAT and then tin you can get alot of cheaper / mix casting done.
Mike.. now in Illinois

[SciFiJim]

Mike, Welcome back to the states! Is it permanent or a furlough?

[TREERAT]

I cast HOT, very good fill out, but not perfect, the reason I beleive I need tin - I beleive I have a problem with the grain structure of my boolits. even at 1000 fps they explode on a steel plate, to brittle! layed one on my vice and hit it with a 2 lb hammer - 3 heavy hits and it crumbled in the middle of the boolit. these shoot very accurate and no leading up to 1400 fps but something is wrong in my alloy. I was thinking zink contamination but I get good fill out. so I done an expeirment an cast some at lower heat, and the are much better they only explode once in awhile. so that is why I want to try some tin, because I beleive there is a grain structure problem.

[pdawg_shooter]

The only time I add tin is with pure lead, and never more than 2%. If the mould wont fill out then there is not enough heat!

[felix]

Treerat, you want the boolits to self destruct when shooting targets of opportunity. The only time you really want them to stay together is when they are going to be retrieved for melting, or when hunting game. Your grain structure will be improved with the added tin, or you can eliminate some of antimony/bismuth therein by adding more straight lead. ... felix

[DLCTEX]

In my experience, zinc up to 2% ( the maximum amount that will alloy with lead) does not make boolits brittle. I have cast boolits with zinc in the mix and hammered them flat. They are as /more maleable than WW.

[runfiverun]

if you are pouring them that hot, you gotta be air quenching them.
more lead to the mix. tin will help them flow a bit better is all.

[geargnasher]

Good morning
To me the first question with tin is ...What am I using it for ?
If you are using it as a "Hardener" than more is better BUT it gets expensive.
If you are using tin for better flow/ fillout than you only NEED as little as it takes to FILL OUT the mold and have NICE boolits.
But I can cast many boolit shapes / diameters with pure lead (no tin) just by turning up the heat. Long NARROW boolits benefit from some tin but it does not really take much. 1-2% gets alot done.
So with just a little experimenting with HEAT and then tin you can get alot of cheaper / mix casting done.
Mike.. now in Illinois

:drinks: All the things I forgot to mention in my post. I was just talking about how much tin I use for ww casting and sometimes I get stuck in that mindset!
Thanks for covering the bases.

Gear