Bizmuth ramblings

[357Mag]

Gents -

Howdy !

Anybody have input they'd like to share, about use of bizmuth instead of lead; when casting bullets w/ molds intended for lead ?

I probably read it once, but can't recall the melting temp for bizmuth; and whether it is higher/lower ( and how much ) than lead's melt point ?

For those that have tried the above, how far off desired calibre were the bizmuth bullets; as they dropped from the mold ?

Are they prone to " wrinkling " ?

Lube same as lead ?

Best regards,
.357mag

[lwknight]

Uhh, like you could buy a ton of lead for the price of not much bizmuth.

I see that a 55% bizmuth with 45% lead alloy that melts at 255F from rotometals is $13.99 per pound.
I would deduce that bizmuth must be around 20 bucks or better per pound. Which sounds about right.
If you have a lot of bizmuth, you can make a ton of money selling bizmuth chrystal eggs. Not sure what all the hype is about on bizmuth eggs other than they look cool with all the rainbow of colors.

Put some bizmuth in your lead pot and you can get a sticky thead writing about the rainbow of colors in the pot.

[canebreaker]

Yep, instead of pouring lead bullits and loading my 38 spl. for .06 per shot, I could buy a new boat from the scrap.

[sagacious]

Ay caramba! It's bismuth, not bizmuth. :)

I have poured bismuth and written here about it, as have others. Do a search with the right spelling and you'll get some info from folks who have actually worked with the stuff. If you still have questions after you've done that homework, ask and I or someone else will fill in the details-- and that'll save us all a lot of typing! :drinks:

[lwknight]

I did some reading up on the bismuth and it looks like it would be fun to play with. Growing crystals and what not. I did learn that rorometals sells pure bismuth for 13.99 a pound.

I read about a guy that made a spoon mold and used a bismuth and indium mix to make an alloy that melted at 120 degrees. He would give it to friends to stir their coffee for a joke.

I think that Induim is about $150.00 per pound

[sagacious]

lwknight,
That joke about the melting spoon is as old as the hills. A long while back, you could buy "trick" spoons made of Wood's metal that would melt in a cup of hot coffee. Wood's metal is about 50% bismuth and the rest cadmium, lead, tin, ect. No indium in Wood's metal. I have some and you can certainly melt it in hot water.

Problem is that sometimes folks are not paying real close attention before they've had their cup of joe in the morning, so there's a real risk of a choking hazard or metal ingestion if they didn't notice that the spoon disappeared. That's why you don't see those trick spoons anymore. :)