How much tin ?Help im so confused

[4719dave]

What ever help i get from you guys is GREATLY APPRECIATED !!
Im new to casting ,I have ww CLIP ON ingots, 20 lbs bottom pour unit .Im casting 45 acp 200gr swc and 230 rn .Not sure how much tin to add, I have 10lbs of tin on hand . I would like to throw 10 lbs lead at a time .
THANKS

[docone31]

I do not believe you are going to need tin. Keep the heat up on the mold, and the alloy. Pour away.
If, if it shows you need tin after that, slowly add.
That large a casting, should do well keeping the temp up. My 200gn molds are a joy to cast with.

[lwknight]

No more than 3 to 4 ounces per 10 pounds of lead will be plenty.
Aim for 2%. A little more or less won't matter much.

[jsizemore]

I figure that clip-on WW have about 1/2% tin. So for 10lbs of WW I add 1.5% or 2.4 ounces of tin.

[4719dave]

You guys are great here im so glad i found this site :lovebooli

[John Boy]

Not sure how much tin to add
None
Dave, the garden variety composition of clip on weights is: 2.96% Sb, 0.41% Sn, 0.174% As, 96.456% Pb
Depending on the manufacturer, varied percentages, wheel weights will have a hardness of Bhn 13.5 or 15.5. This is based on about 700 lbs that I have in inventory.
Cast your weights as is if you are shooting nitro based powders.

[sagacious]

You may not need to add any tin to coww alloy with your 45cal molds. WW alloy often pours just fine as-is, especially in that weight range and heavier.

If you run into fillout problems (seems unlikely with proper technique), then post your results here for a diagnosis of the most likely problem.

As noted above, about 3ozs tin in 10lbs of lead is plenty to solve fillout problems. Try your lead as-is before thinking about adding tin. Good luck.

[cbrick]

True, you may not need to add any tin but if you do conventional wisdom is to not increase the tin percentage past the antimony percent. WW alloy is scrap alloy and the percentages will vary somewhat but antimony should average out to be from 1.5% to 2.5%. If you add tin keep it under the 2.5% including the approximate 0.5% Sn that's already in the WW.

Try casting your WW alloy without adding the tin, be very certain that the mold temp is up to proper casting temp before you judge it's castability. Keep the pot temp no higher than 700 degrees or there is little to no need to add tin.

Rick

[lwknight]

That ratio that just seems to work for me is 1 tin to 3 antimonys.