adding tin 2 the mix ?

[XWrench3]

i bought a couple of 1 pound rolls of 95%tin, 5% antimony solder to add to my wheel weights lead. :Fire: my goal isn't so much to harden it (which i am sure it will do to some extent), but to make my boolits fill out a little better in the molds. they mostly come out pretty good, but sometimes not so good even with the same batch, temp, etc.. so my question is how much do i add??? i do not want to waste it as it is pretty expensive. i was thinking about starting out with adding 1/4 pound to an almost full (20 pound ) pot. any ideas how this will work?? do you think i should start out adding more, less or ???? thanx 4 the input!

[HeavyMetal]

One to two percent tin is accepted as the rule of thumb for adding tin to clip on type WW metal.

a 20 lb pot has 140000 grains in it, 2% is 2800 grains. A qtr pound is 1750 grains.

Don't know if you have a scale to read that small amount of weight but this gives you an idea of how much you need.

Be aware that if you do not drain you pot completely adding additional WW metal and tin will require adjusting the "math" as you will already have a tin rich alloy remaining in the pot.

This problem is the reason I prefer "smelting" a specific alloy ( or at least fool myself into thinking I'm makeing a specific alloy) in a large cast iron pot over a turkey fryer.

Now I have 100 Lbs of an alloy that is mixed with some consistancy and I won't worry about each batch of boolits being way different that the last batch I made.

[fredj338]

A mix of lead to tin @ 20-1 is a recommendation from back in the old days of lead bullet shooting. SO a 30-1 mix for ww, aircooled, seems about right. So if my math is right that is about 10oz of pure tin (95-5 is close enough) to 19# of ww. An exact amount of tin or lead is not that crucial to making good bullets IMO. For 99% of handgun needs, close is often just fine. After all, ww metal varies quite a bit anymore, so trying to be exact, while always desireable, not really practicle unless you are using virgin metals. Replenish the pot at halftime, easier to do the match for adding metal again.

[Matt_G]

I always weigh the WW ingots before I add them to the pot and then add 1% tin by weight. I have a small kitchen type scale I use for this.
So for your 20 lb. pot, 1% tin would be 3.2 ounces or 1400 grains of tin.
You can always add more tin if your still not getting good fill out.

[snaggdit]

+1 on Matt_G. This is all I add to give me better fillout. I got a big roll of 50/50 from RandyRat early this spring. I add a couple ounces for each 10 lbs of WW.

[Whitespider]

I like to do it in bigger batches; gives me consistency as I add metal to the pot.
I use my smeltin' pot and alloy a 50/1 (2%) blend, 25 lbs WW to 1/2 lb Tin, or 50 lbs WW to 1 lb tin, or...well, you get the idea, and pour into ingots. That way I have plenty of metal ready to add to the pot without having to figure how many ounces of tin to add.

[snowtigger]

If I am using roll solder, I unroll it and bend it in half, then bend it in half again. Then I cut it into four pieces. Each one is four ounces, more or less.
Add one to a twenty pound potand you are ready to go. It works for me...

[243winxb]

You didn't say what pressure or velocity your loading too. If under 900fps with a target load, your just wasting Tin. For better fill out, cast at a higher temperature till you get a frosted bullet.

[XWrench3]

all of my boolits are frosted! the few that are only slightly frosted are at the very beginning of when the lead will come out of the bottom pour spout. i do not know if that is normal, or if it is because of the way i have it adjusted to slow the flow down somewhat. it seems like i have to continualy play with the adjuster as i cast, to keep the flow coming at a decent rate. otherwise, it either comes out very fast, or so slow it dribbles. i figured part of this was because of the difference in weight as i cast, and the other part due to temperature variences. once the lead heats up enough to cast, i go to it. i dont waste a bunch of time waiting for the temp to stabilize. maybe i should???

[snaggdit]

I can't speak for other pots, but my Lee dribbler does that too. When your pot is full, there is more pressure pushing lead out the bottom. As you get nearer the bottom, it slows down. Sometimes I will adjust to increase the flow as I get near the bottom, but if I will be doing more casting I refill the pot and take a break while it heats back up. Good time to wash the hands and have a beer.