Any cast bullet shooters here

wcwhitey said:
View attachment 1126502
I like having them. My ranges don’t care but I have been to places that frown in reloaded ammo. Don’t ask don’t tell. I make a label that looks like a factory box.
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I like them for me. Helps my horrible memory.
index.php
 
Anyone use pewter in their cast bullets instead of plain tin?
Which one is cheaper?
I have gone to a few shops and never see pewter unless I don't know what to look for.
I'm about out of tin..
 
I use pewter exclusively instead of tin. I have never found any pure tin, at least at a price that didn't make me catch my breath.

I use pewter in a 1-1 replacement for tin. Never had a problem. I have even calculated the formula for Lyman #2, using pewter in place of Sn. I sent it off to test, the numbers came back on the button.
 
Hooda Thunkit said:
I use pewter exclusively instead of tin. I have never found any pure tin, at least at a price that didn't make me catch my breath.

I use pewter in a 1-1 replacement for tin. Never had a problem. I have even calculated the formula for Lyman #2, using pewter in place of Sn. I sent it off to test, the numbers came back on the button.
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I see pewter on ebay. But how do you know it's the real McCoy.?
 
savagelover said:
I see pewter on ebay. But how do you know it's the real McCoy.?
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You don't. I would caution against that route.

Go to the link provided by @Y-T71 , and read. Then go to thrift stores, garage sales and estate sales.
Look for pewter.

Pewter is:
- Soft. You can mark it with your thumbnail. If it is fairly thin, it will bend easily.
- Heavy for size. It feels hefty. If it feels flimsy, it ain't pewter.
- Smooth. It has a smooth, almost waxy feel. If it is rough finished, it ain't pewter - probably aluminum.
- Soldered together. You will see no rivets or screws on a pewter piece. The only seams will be soldered.
- Tarnished. If it's polished or you can see your reflection, it ain't pewter - probably cheap silver plate, or aluminum.
- Hallmarked. Above all, real pewter is Hallmarked. Look on the bottom. You will see some sort of stamp. If it says Mexican Pewter it's aluminum.

ETA: If it's made in China, it ain't pewter.
 
Found a picture of my "coins"
MxL7sry.jpg

Also found a couple of pieces of pewter that I never melted down (maybe cause they're so smalli forgot about them)
Ne5xxPo.jpg

Pretty sure the tray/stork and lids on the salt & pepper shakers are not pewter, probably aluminum.
Guess I'll find out when I put some heat to them.

The tray is not "hallmarked" but the shakers are
epIdXgd.jpg
 
Y-T71 said:
Found a picture of my "coins"
View attachment 1127499

Also found a couple of pieces of pewter that I never melted down (maybe cause they're so smalli forgot about them)
View attachment 1127500

Pretty sure the tray/stork and lids on the salt & pepper shakers are not pewter, probably aluminum.
Guess I'll find out when I put some heat to them.

The tray is not "hallmarked" but the shakers are
View attachment 1127501
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I tried the cruising the after market shops for a few months came up empty. Never added or used tin, but if you want absolutely beautiful bullets that's the way. I currently just use superhard to get to the desired bhn and I'm still trying to determine if I'm missing out or not.
 
AJC1 said:
I tried the cruising the after market shops for a few months came up empty. Never added or used tin, but if you want absolutely beautiful bullets that's the way. I currently just use superhard to get to the desired bhn and I'm still trying to determine if I'm missing out or not.
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I haven't been to Goodwill or thrift shops in quite a few years now.

Yeah, I definitely had to be in the right place at the right time to find anything in quantity.

But to me, much like finding wheel weights, it was part of "the hunt".

When I started casting I thought it would be a good idea to have some tin on hand; just in case.

I can't honestly remember ever using it though.

I may have thrown one of my little "coins" in to get better fill out of a .44 swc but I really don't remember.
 
Y-T71 said:
I haven't been to Goodwill or thrift shops in quite a few years now.

Yeah, I definitely had to be in the right place at the right time to find anything in quantity.

But to me, much like finding wheel weights, it was part of "the hunt".

When I started casting I thought it would be a good idea to have some tin on hand; just in case.

I can't honestly remember ever using it though.

I may have thrown one of my little "coins" in to get better fill out of a .44 swc but I really don't remember.
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I've never had beautiful bullets like the ones posted what have you done in the reloading room, here last week with the hg-68 200swcs. If I was seeing weight variation over a grain or fill out issues I'd wag that dog. I guess if I traditionally lubed and someone might see my naked bullet it might make more of a difference. I'm a function over form kinda guy.
 
AJC1 said:
I've never had beautiful bullets like the ones posted what have you done in the reloading room, here last week with the hg-68 200swcs. If I was seeing weight variation over a grain or fill out issues I'd wag that dog. I guess if I traditionally lubed and someone might see my naked bullet it might make more of a difference. I'm a function over form kinda guy.
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I think you're doing fine. :thumbup: I can't recall ever having an animal scold me for ugly bullets. Never seen a target get out of the way to avoid getting hit by an imperfect bullet either.
 
savagelover said:
We need a section for cast bullets.

Anyway,I have ask this question on a few other sites. I've been casting off and on for 40 plus years. It's time to down size. I want only one or two molds. 38/357 only. What would be you favorite choice if it were you?. For revolver and lever rifle.. appreciate your feed back...john
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Only two??? Wow....that's rough, but OK.

Miha's version of the 358429 with HP pins With the large HP and a fairly soft 10 Bhn alloy the bullets weigh 163 grs. and are loaded in .38's and .357's for SD rounds.

PMa0X7Tl.jpg

But really a more versatile mold for hunting would be the Miha .357 Carbine mold. This one casts from 162 gr. with the large HP to around 180 grs. as a solid FP. So it would probably be better than the 358429.

After that, I don't know. I don't have any use for .358" cast bullets that weigh less than 150 grs. or so. I really like the 150 gr. RN bullet from a Lee 358-150-1R and this particular Lee mold actually casts decent bullets. But there's nothing a RN will do that a SWC won't do better. I have a 4-cavity Lyman 358477 that casts a ~153 gr. plain base SWC that I use for in utility loads for my .357 revolvers and carbines running them 1000 and 1200 fps respectively. These bullets are really quite accurate even at relatively long ranges-

mHWWIwal.jpg K5WWxXsl.jpg bZy84N6l.jpg

But I also have an old steel H&G #51 4-cavity mold that casts a 158-160 gr. SWC. This mold is a Cadillac and is what bullet molds should be. So I'd probably keep it for casting general use bullets.

dJPgbX0l.jpg

35W
 
I typically order a pound of popcorn tin from Rotometals once a year. I add maybe 2% or less for some molds that take a little longer to get good bullets. For rifle molds I'll add around 3.5% because those bullets will be going 100 yards and beyond and I need each cast as perfect as possible. A little goes a long way and it only gets more expensive.
 
Is pewter better to use than tin? Sometimes I just add a couple of commercial cast bullets in the pot. I think they probably have a little tin in them. But not sure.
 
Since, as I mentioned earlier, I haven't had to use any tin (only reason I personally would use it is to get better "fill out" of my boolits) but I would think going the Rotometals route would give you a known, quality metal rather than "pretty sure" metal.

Guess it depends on how important precision in that regard is to you.
 
savagelover said:
Is pewter better to use than tin? Sometimes I just add a couple of commercial cast bullets in the pot. I think they probably have a little tin in them. But not sure.
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I have used pewter primarily, because of the cost, compared to pure tin. It has worked well for me. About 2 oz., with 1 lb. of superhard from Roto Metals, into about 10 lb. of lead.

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_3_alloySelectionMetallurgy.htm
Multi-component alloys. Tin still improves castability by lowering viscosity and surface tension. Antimony hardens the alloy via precipitation. The tin also helps to alleviate brittleness by combining with the antimony to form an intermetallic adduct thereby improving the solubility, maintaining the hardness. Antimony also helps to reduce shrinkage as the alloy cools. The harder the alloy, the less it shrinks (lead shrinks 1.13%, linotype shrinks 0.65%). In molten lead alloys, tin and antimony react with one another to form an intermetallic compound (shorthand is “SbSn” to show the adduct between antimony, Sb, and tin, Sn). This does a number of things. First of all, SbSn is more soluble in lead than is Sb. In addition, both free Sb and Sn are soluble in SbSn, as is Pb, meaning that the formation of this phase serves to enhance the mixing of the alloy and limit phase segregation and precipitation. When Sb and Sn are present in roughly equal amounts, the alloy behaves as though it’s a pseudobinary system of SbSn in Pb. Electron micrographs of 94% Pb, 3% Sb and 3% Sn (an excellent bullet metal, very similar to WW alloys with 2% added tin) shows globular grains of lead rich solid solution, with an interdendritic pseudobinary eutectic of SnSb phase (for example see: the Metals Handbook: Volume 7, Atlas of Microstructutres of Industrial Alloys, page 304). Similar electron micrographs of linotype alloys show very thin dendrites of lead-rich solid solution, surrounded by a matrix of SnSb intermetallic phase, with much precipitated antimony rich solid solution (this precipitated phase is why linotype bullets are so brittle and tend to shear upon impact).
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I placed 2 orders for the foundry type from Rotometals. After melting down to ingots, it gave me about 65 lbs. of usable alloys.
https://www.rotometals.com/foundry-...-26-antimony-balance-lead-trace-of-cu-and-fe/
1 lb. mixed into 6 lbs. of lead will give me about 12 BHN. That's about 450 lbs. of alloyed lead.
I went with this route because I had access to some relatively cheap lead and was going to have to alloy it in the end.

If a person is just looking for alloyed lead, RMR offers some 2-3% Sb alloyed lead at a decent price. No tin.
https://www.rmrbullets.com/shop/rmr...llet-cores-approximately-12-brinnel-hardness/
 
kcofohio said:
I have used pewter primarily, because of the cost, compared to pure tin. It has worked well for me. About 2 oz., with 1 lb. of superhard from Roto Metals, into about 10 lb. of lead.

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_3_alloySelectionMetallurgy.htm


I placed 2 orders for the foundry type from Rotometals. After melting down to ingots, it gave me about 65 lbs. of usable alloys.
https://www.rotometals.com/foundry-...-26-antimony-balance-lead-trace-of-cu-and-fe/
1 lb. mixed into 6 lbs. of lead will give me about 12 BHN. That's about 450 lbs. of alloyed lead.
I went with this route because I had access to some relatively cheap lead and was going to have to alloy it in the end.

If a person is just looking for alloyed lead, RMR offers some 2-3% Sb alloyed lead at a decent price. No tin.
https://www.rmrbullets.com/shop/rmr...llet-cores-approximately-12-brinnel-hardness/
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The rmr route is the way I went. Tinless if you will works just fine for pistol. Still figuring out rifle.
 
I’ve found the most reliable and easiest way to add tin is to use leadfree solder.
It’s sold as “Lead Free” solder and labeled 95/5.
That’s 95% tin 5% Antimony. I buy it in two 10lb rolls. From Amazon. Cheapest delivered price. ~$23.00 a roll.

Typically a 18”piece of 1/8” solder is enough for 20lbs of wheel weights. Makes a nice hard bullet!

Elmer Keith recommended a 30:1 lead tin for even the .44mag.
So, it doesn’t take much tin to show an improvement in cast ability.

20lbs lasts me about 10yrs now. Last about a year 25yrs ago...

I haven’t seen REAL PEWTER in 25yrs. Either collectors snatch it up or metal scrounges beat me to it. Our state wma ranges with attendants (RO’s) are paying for themselves in scrap brass sales of fired brass!
 
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