The right type of lead???

[bainter1212]

Hey y'all,

My grandfather just gave me about 100 lbs of lead. Some of it is in small sheets and some of it is in 5 lb ingots. The ingots say "solder" on them, and one of them has 40/60 stamped on the backside ( i'm assuming that's the ratio of tin to lead). My grandfather says they used to use them to solder underground power cables (he was a lineman and supervisor at the local utility company for 32 years).

I am interested in getting into casting my own bullets if this is an appropriate type of lead. I would like to know if this lead would be OK to use before I go investing in a book about casting bullets, or buying any other equipment.

I already reload so I am no stranger to that process. Any response would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[243winxb]

More tin then needed. You can use it, but better to blend with other alloy. BHN 15 is a common alloy used by many. Antimony makes bullets harder & larger in diameter. http://www.rotometals.com/Bullet-Casting-Alloys-s/5.htm

 

[USSR]

My grandfather just gave me about 100 lbs of lead. Some of it is in small sheets and some of it is in 5 lb ingots. The ingots say "solder" on them, and one of them has 40/60 stamped on the backside ( i'm assuming that's the ratio of tin to lead). My grandfather says they used to use them to solder underground power cables (he was a lineman and supervisor at the local utility company for 32 years).

The lead in the form of sheets is likely near pure lead. Assuming your grandfather used the 5 lb. ingots as a lineman, it is known as wiping solder, and it's composition is 38-40% tin and 60-62% lead. To give you an idea as to good ways to use what you have, simply take 9.0-9.5 lbs of your sheet lead and add 0.5-1.0 lbs of your solder to create an alloy of 9.0-10.0 BHN, which is suitable for most normal lead bullet loads. Hope that helps.

Don

 

[bainter1212]

Both of those responses are helpful. Yes, the ingots say "wiping solder" on them so that 40/60 label seems correct.
With Don's recommendation, I would have quite a bit of the wiping solder left over. I suppose I could get ahold of some wheel weights and mix them with the solder to correct the ratio enough for casting.

You guys gave me a frame of reference and I appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[Edarnold]

Keep in mind that the tin in your ingots is WAY more expensive than the lead, so use it wisely. There is a current fashion to make cast bullets as hard as possible because they'll be "better". For the most part, that's rubbish that just leads to complaints about leading as the hot powder gasses blow past a bullet too hard to expand and fill the bore. Alloys of 1 part tin to 20 parts lead is plenty hard enough for any pistol bullets and most medium velocity rifle bullets. For the hardest top velocity rifle bullets it's better to go to Linotype metal, which achieves it's hardness and excellent casting properties by adding antimony.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

Just a heads up, that solder is worth about $9 to $12/lb (maybe more if it were in wire form) whereas wheel weight lead usually goes for $.50-2.00/lb depending on where you get it. Unless you have a need for HARD cast bullets you might want to consider selling off some of that solder to someone in need of it and spending the profit on wheel weights. OR you could find/buy some more soft lead and keep the solder to alloy it to your liking.

That solder has quite a few uses in construction and auto-body work (mainly for "leading" on old classics with heavy body panels). It could definitely be worth keeping around if you have uses for it but with the ratios others have posted you might have a tough time using it all up for bullet casting if you have a bunch of it.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Both of those responses are helpful. Yes, the ingots say "wiping solder" on them so that 40/60 label seems correct.
With Don's recommendation, I would have quite a bit of the wiping solder left over. I suppose I could get ahold of some wheel weights and mix them with the solder to correct the ratio enough for casting.

You guys gave me a frame of reference and I appreciate it. Thanks.

Like said above, that solder you have is very expensive so use it wisely. Straight wheel weights are right around 11 BHN so for casting bullets suitable for most range shooting you really won't need to add solder. IMO that would be a waste.

My suggestion, go to the local scrap yard and see if they have any pure lead in sheet form that came from building that needed x-ray shielding. I feel that would yield you the most alloy when mixed with the solder you have on hand.

 

[41 Mag]

This might help you out now and on down the road with your alloy,
Lead Alloy Calculators

Read through the thread as it goes through and explains how everything works. You will also notice that one of them has gone through several updates as information has come forth about the actual listd alloys.There are two calculators listed there I think, I use the one made up by Bompo, and have found it is plenty close enough for me to work up my alloys to suit the intended uses.

Just keep in mind that things will not be right to the exact number of BHN, but will usually hit within one or two points one way or the other of what it predicts. The kicker is that the composition of metals varies in percentages and with some a little bit goes a LONG ways.

That said, if your using a known alloy like your solder, with another known alloy like your pure, it is MUCH easier to hit where you want to be. The spreadsheet uses pounds as a constant so you might have to do a little conversion here or there depending on just what your looking to blend up.

I use a little freeware program called "Convert". It makes it a quick and easy job to convert the decimal percentages of a pound from ounces of tin. In other words when your listing anything less than a pound in the input box, you have to do it as say .8 of a pound would equal 12.8 ounces of tin or .0625 would equal 1 ounce, and would be the decimal percentage of the pound your wanting to add.

Hope this helps.

 

[bainter1212]

Thank you all.

I will only be casting for .45acp so it looks like I might not need so much of the solder. I may consider the suggestion to sell some of it off.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a bullet casting handbook that would get me started in the right direction??

 

[Arkansas Paul]

This one.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/867465/lyman-cast-bullet-handbook-4th-edition-book

And I agree, don't mix any of that solder with wheel weights. The clip on ones are plenty hard enough for the vast majority of handgun applications. Unless you're pushing magnums at high velocities, you don't need anything harder. Keep it on hand and use it for mixing with pure stuff. Sometimes the pure is easier to come by, as wheel weights are getting more scarce.

 

[USSR]

And I agree, don't mix any of that solder with wheel weights. The clip on ones are plenty hard enough for the vast majority of handgun applications.

Actually, with wheel weights it's not about adding additional hardness to the bullets, but rather increasing the tin content so as to have the bullets better fill out in the mould. At least 2% tin in the alloy is a good idea, and clip-on wheel weights only contain about 0.5% tin.

Don

 

[Arkansas Paul]

^ Agreed. Don't mix 1 pound to 9 though. That is a waste of solder IMO.
I have some rolls of solder and if I'm having trouble getting a mold to fill out, I'll just snip a couple inches of it into the alloy until it starts flowing like I want.

 

[homatok]

Tin added to pure lead does not substantualy increase hardness. As noted above tin is useful primarily to get a better fill-out of the mould. If you want increased hardness Antimony is your friend (there is antimony as well as tin in wheel weights). If you are casting wheel weights and fill-out is poor, adding a maximum of 2% tin is all that should be necessary to fix that problem. That said, the % of tin should never exceed the % of antimony. If you want a good starter book get the Lyman 4th edition and/or the 3rd edition. Also, log onto the Cast Boolit website and be prepared to read, read, read.

 

[Springfield0612]

+1 on castboolits.gunloads.com. A good sorce of antimony is Pewter. It is basically tin and antimony. Congratulations on a great gift!

 

[USSR]

...the % of tin should never exceed the % of antimony.

Perhaps only from an economic standpoint. I cast hollowpoint bullets, and I intentially keep any antimony content to < 1%, and tin at 3 - 4%. High antimony alloys don't expand well, whereas high tin alloys expand wonderfully at 1000+fps velocities.

Don

 

[41 Mag]

Perhaps only from an economic standpoint. I cast hollowpoint bullets, and I intentially keep any antimony content to < 1%, and tin at 3 - 4%. High antimony alloys don't expand well, whereas high tin alloys expand wonderfully at 1000+fps velocities.

What I have found with my HP alloy, is that a long as I keep the tin at or just as high as the antimony everything works out well, but I also shoot for the hardness to be within 9 and 12'ish BHN depending on what they are going in.

Since I am using a known alloy at 1 / 3 / 96 and generating my HP alloy via the above noted calculator, I am blending it into a 1.5 / 1.5 / 97 for velocities up to around 1000fps, and for velocities over 1150fps and up to around 1350'ish I bring it up to a 1.75 / 1.75 / 96.5. Just a touch harder but still very malleable.

While I know it isn't down to the exact molecule exact, it is close enough that both by the hardness and the velocities I run them at they are expanding almost back to the bases with no separation when impacting soft sand at 25 and 50yds. Some of the most beautiful mushrooms you have ever seen, time and time again.

Not that I dispute what your saying, but I was told by quite a few folks way more knowledgeable than myself, to keep the tin even with the antimony to avoid wasting it. If I needed to drop the antimony add in pure. It is all more or less a try and see event anyway until after the trigger is pulled. Even then what might appear great from the barrel might not be so good after impact.