What should I say my rare alloys for

[sheepdog]

I got maybe 100 pounds of 63/37% alloy, maybe 75 pounds of 18 wheeler weights, alot of mixed shot, some ingots I suspect are made from reclaimed chilled shot, rolls of misc solder, little bit of linotype, and couple hundred pounds of pure lead.

But all I seem to use is a mix of straight clip ons and range scrap. I don't bother to sweeten my pot with a little solder cause I cast just fine with out them. I mostly do pistol (.355, .357, .401, .452) but I have moulds for 30 cals and just bearly dipping my feet in the water there but so far water cooled clip ons seems hard enough for that.

So with that said how best to use my rare alloys so not to waste them?

[Wayne Smith]

Save them for when you are serious about casting for rifles, or, on second thought, sell them to me!

[sagacious]

You're doing the right thing-- save that tin/antimony alloy until you really need it. Like you, straight ww alloy works perfectly for most of my casting/reloading needs.

There will come a time when you need to modify your ww alloy or some finicky scrap lead you found, or there may come a time when you have a need for pure lead. At that point it'll be nice to be able to dip into your stash.

Some folks just automatically add 3-5% tin to their casting alloy. Unless that addition is actually needed, modifying one's alloy to mirror some arbitrary specs is indeed unnecessary and a waste. Save your tin/antimony for a rainy day, and be glad that straight ww alloy is adequate for your purposes.

[fredj338]

You're doing the right thing-- save that tin/antimony alloy until you really need it. Like you, straight ww alloy works perfectly for most of my casting/reloading needs.

There will come a time when you need to modify your ww alloy or some finicky scrap lead you found, or there may come a time when you have a need for pure lead. At that point it'll be nice to be able to dip into your stash.

Some folks just automatically add 3-5% tin to their casting alloy. Unless that addition is actually needed, modifying one's alloy to mirror some arbitrary specs is indeed unnecessary and a waste. Save your tin/antimony for a rainy day, and be glad that straight ww alloy is adequate for your purposes.
I have to agree. I have about 300# of lino, but I seldom ever use it. For my handgun bullets, ww or 50/50 ww/lead seems to work fine out to 100yds. For LHP, I like pure lead & 25-1 tin mix for best expansion acorss a wide vel. range. Keeping the alloys separate lets you modify as you like. If I ever get into rifle loads beyond the 45-70, I may use the lino.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Sheepdog, send them to me, I'll mix em up and help you get rid of your toxic waste problem.....[smilie=1:

[runfiverun]

to build a stronger alloy.
tin ain't just added to make boolits shiney.
it adds a toughness by bonding with the antimony and making a stronger chain in the lead.
paper don't care and lead is strong enough to make a hole in cardboard.
but if you want a bullet to penetrate and not mush everywhere or just make a hole straight through something a balanced low Sn/Sb alloy will work much better.
toughness not hardness has it's place.
sometimes a higher Sb/Sn alloy is called for to prevent stripping in higher velocity/pressure loads.
waterdropping is fine but sometimes you need the bullet to work also.

[leadman]

The 18 wheeler weights seem to be made out of a slightly different alloy. When using them in my shotmaker the melt surface looks different and it does not oxidize as much.

The seems to fill out boolit molds a little easier also.

The sure is a whole lot less waste when refining them to ingots!

That tin may come in handy when you cast rifle boolits to help with fill out, depends on the mold.

[sqlbullet]

I rarely use mine as well. I have about 100 lbs of pure tin, and another of 63/37 solder. I did find a use for the tin recently.

My daughter was supposed to bring some samples of elements, compounds, etc to her science class. The teacher forbade lead, because you know it is toxic and could kill them all (seriously). So, we have a bar of tin all ready to go. Gotta love our education system.