zinc in my lead

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

You might have junk in your alloy, how did you flux the melt when you were smelting the WWs?

Also, maybe your boolit mold isn't Hot enough? that makes wrinkles and poor fillout.

[Petander]

FWIW my WW -alloy has Cu and Nb contaminants. No Zn, I had it XRF -analyzed. There is normal tin and antimony,too.

Muriatic acid sizzles and turns my bullets almost black in a few hours. So it reacts with something else too, not only Zinc. My acid-washed bullets coat with Hi Tek very,very well. I acid-wash my important batches overnight,then rinse all the black off.

So there can be a reaction without any zinc in the alloy.

[bangerjim]

I have done experiments in the past with doping good Pb alloys with 1 to 5% Zn with very little difference!. A little Zn in your mix will not hurt anything. Your boolits may be a small tad lighter, but will shoot and perform without problems.

Do not get lost in the weeds on Zn contamination. Up to 5% showed no concernable deviations., per my testing.

One zinker does not spoil the whole pot, as many in the past have bemoaned. And using sulfur to remove it is a stinky, smelly, deadly process! I have tried it, and it is not worth the hassle/danger. CuSO4 (septic tank root killer) is a better method, but it can remove all the Sn and Sb also!

bangerjim

[dearslayer]

I am truly amazed at all the responses thus far. I really appreciate it. I don't feel so lost now. I am currently out and about looking for some pewter as I write this because I don't have any tin to add to the mix.

[dearslayer]

Well I did manage to find a small piece that says it's 95% pewter. So would I melt this down before adding it to the lead or just weigh it out and add it to the lead while it's melting?

[RogerDat]

3.2 oz of tin will give you 2% , in 10 lbs of lead. To test for zinc, try a few drops of muriatic acid on one of your ingots. If it doesn't bubble or foam, there is no zinc.

This is spot on!

Alloy is different then everything changes. The temp you need the melt, the speed at which you cast, longer the bullet is in there the more heat goes into the mold. Tin makes lead flow much better, and even in small amounts will change the melting temperature of the lead. Then there is the mold. One mold wants more heat, another less. Aluminum will lose heat faster than iron as you dump the bullet and get the next load of lead in but also heat up faster from being filled with hot lead. Iron or brass hold the heat better but can take longer to heat up to the proper temperature.

Lot of posts about using a hot plate to pre-heat the mold, not too hot, molds can warp. You also don't want uneven heat like a coil burner will give. Set an old circular saw blade on that type of burner to spread the heat out. Or buy the solid type of burner. If you don't have a hot plate then simply putting the bottom corners of the mold in the molten lead until it gets hot can help get the first bullets turning out well.

Muriatic acid sold in hardware stores will react with zinc and bubble. Lead it will not react with. Good item to have if looking at a large chunk of unknown scrap that one is thinking of buying.

What I struggled with starting out is when I have a hard time getting the bullets to release so the mold cooled off too much between fillings while I tapped the handle bolt with a mold mallet. That and while a slow 4 count after the sprue "flashes" to be dull might be perfect for one mold another requires a 5 count and another only 3 count. So you have alloy, melt temp, mold temp, with time before opening full mold and time mold spends empty between dumping and filling that ALL can make a difference.

Smiling bullets with rounded corners are too cold for the alloy. Adding tin might allow that temp and cadence to work well. Or adjust the temp higher or cadence faster. Change one at a time to observe the change. If you ladle cast one can pour molten lead off the side of the mold to help keep it hotter during casting. I have a mold for 45 that insist on being very hot to get those big cavities filled without lead solidifying on the sides and getting flow lines. I am almost dumping a ladle on the mold for every one I dump in the cavity.

[RogerDat]

Well I did manage to find a small piece that says it's 95% pewter. So would I melt this down before adding it to the lead or just weigh it out and add it to the lead while it's melting?

I would pre melt. Some candle sticks have a glue filling and I tend to avoid dumping "dirty" metal into my casting pot where I want to pull out clean lead as bullets.

[dearslayer]

I would pre melt. Some candle sticks have a glue filling and I tend to avoid dumping "dirty" metal into my casting pot where I want to pull out clean lead as bullets.

So I should melt the whole pewter vase down in a separate pot and put it into an ingot perhaps? I'm not sure exactly how much pewter the thing would yield once melted down it's only about 6 in high but it does seem to have a little bit of weight to it. It isn't a candle stick , it's it some sort of pouring item.

[oley55]

cast into boolits. great practice and will produce the shiniest boolits u ever saw. my very first cast boolits were with pewter. do note that nearly pure tin makes for a hard sprue cut.

you need your tin in a form you can use. ingots would only work for pretty large batches, bigger than our casting pots.

[dearslayer]

cast into boolits. great practice and will produce the shinest. oolits u ever saw. my very first cast boolits was with my pewter. do note that nearly pure tin makes for a hard sprue cut.

you need your tin in a form you can use. ingots would only work for pretty lRge. atches, bigger than our casting pots.

Ok so let's say I only want to put 5lbs of lead into the 10 pound pot incase I'm having the same issue with the possibility of bad lead contaminated with zinc how much of the pewter should I put in 5 lb of lead? Should I just break a piece off and put it on the scale to measure it out and then drop it into the molten lead?
Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm new to all this.

[NyFirefighter357]

Cut it up with a pair of aviation shears and weigh out how much you want.

[oley55]

I break it down to ounces. 5 X 16 = 80 oz X .02 = 1.6oz of pewter. how you chip off 1.6 ounced is the trick. that’s why I use pewter bullets. if I am wee bit high or low on my 2 percent doesn’t matter much.

[oley55]

as suggested, snips will definately work with most unprocessed pewter table ware.

sorry for typos but I am thumb typing on a cell phone

[dearslayer]

cast into boolits. great practice and will produce the shiniest boolits u ever saw. my very first cast boolits were with pewter. do note that nearly pure tin makes for a hard sprue cut.

you need your tin in a form you can use. ingots would only work for pretty large batches, bigger than our casting pots.

Aw ok. I misread your post originally didn't quite understand what you were getting at but now I get it. Yeah I guess that's a good idea to cast it into bullets make it more manageable.

[toallmy]

I'm not trying to over complicate things , but keep in mind a mold not up to a good casting temp , or a pore spout flow will cause wrinkles & poor fill out also .
After adding a touch of tin , be patient and keep at it .

[dearslayer]

I'm not trying to over complicate things , but keep in mind a mold not up to a good casting temp , or a pore spout flow will cause wrinkles & poor fill out also .
After adding a touch of tin , be patient and keep at it .

You are not over complicating things at all... I'll take ( and need ) all the advise and wisdom I can get. Wise heads do not grow on inexperienced shoulders!
I'm actually hoping that the whole issue is lack of heat and not Zinc contaminated ingots. I'm anxious to give it another go with the tin, but work always gets in the way of the fun stuff. Working steady nights and 6 days a week at my age sucks. Leaves very little time for anything else.

[Sasquatch-1]

If I put let's say 5 1 lb ingots in the 10 lb pot what percentage or how much tin would I need to add?

I have pewter melted into the corn cob corn bread molds. If I am having poor fill out I usually will stick about half of one of these in a 10lb pot. If that doesn't help I add a little more. I am not in it for the precision alloys. I just want bullet that shoot between 15 to 50 yards from hand guns.

What piece of pewter did you get? Was it a vase, goblet, picture frame or something else?

[dearslayer]

I have pewter melted into the corn cob corn bread molds. If I am having poor fill out I usually will stick about half of one of these in a 10lb pot. If that doesn't help I add a little more. I am not in it for the precision alloys. I just want bullet that shoot between 15 to 50 yards from hand guns.

What piece of pewter did you get? Was it a vase, goblet, picture frame or something else?

I believe it's some sort of Greek pitcher for pouring liquid..

[Rapier]

You should never mix or make alloy in your pour pot. This is Casting 101, you always make alloy in a separate pot. There are way to many ways to mess up the mix and screw up your pour pot.

[Jbiker]

I'll have to see where I can buy Muriatic acid.

true value hardware , or any masonary supply place.