Pewter from Woodbury Pewter

[DaleT]

I'm not able to shoot as much as I have in the past because of where I live, but I think with our current economical status, it's quite safe where it is - my garage! I am just getting into casting because of the increased prices of everything and some of the elected clowns wanting to abolish what we enjoy. I got plenty of powder and primers. Plus this gives me an opportunity to learn a new skill.

[RogerDat]

I seldom sell except to gain funds for purchase of some other alloy or component. Not getting any easier to find. Printing lead such as mono, foundry, or linotype are getting very scarce. Pewter is less common than it used to be also.

For what it is worth a mini muffin mold allows one to pour small "coins" of solder, pewter, or other tin alloys. Can write the tin percentage on each like the "denomination" So I have some "33" coins and some "40" and "50" coins I can mix into a batch to make an alloy in small amounts or as part of a bigger batch. I use a ladle such as one finds in salad dressing at the salad bar to pour them. Small bowl, long handle, all metal so nothing to melt.

If you can find a distinctive mold for pewter it can be worth putting all the pewter in an easily identifiable form. Also worth noting that pewter will often have trace amounts of copper which can help create a "tougher" bullet. Not harder but less likely to fracture on impact for a given hardness. Can be helpful for hunting bullets where one doesn't want bullet to break up if it hits a bone. Or hollow points where one wants a lot of deformation without becoming small fragments lacking in momentum.

Beware the weighted pewter. Some of the weight inside a pewter item is a nasty glue that when melted becomes a molten mess. Sticks to everything, stinks, and is really hard to flux out. Yak dung, or dinosaur droppings is common name for that awful filler. Peel the metal off of it or bang the item on concrete until the filler all breaks out or suffer a mess.