Looking for lead and lead hardening metals like antimony or pewter

knastera · Jun 11, 2013

Hi folks:

I'm making .45 caliber conicals. Lead is pretty easy to get (although local sources would be fine too). What I'm having a hard time finding is reasonably priced antimony, pewter, or tin. Does anyone have a lead (no pun intended

) on this?

malone630 · Jun 11, 2013

Finally purchase march 5 and pick up june 11 only about 100 days of waiting

iH8DemLibz · Jun 11, 2013

Wheel weights from a tire shop.

Will make your, um, lead hard as, um, nails.

j8064 · Jun 11, 2013

malone630 said:
Finally purchase march 5 and pick up june 11 only about 100 days of waiting

Now we're on a delay and wait to be "not disapproved" scheme on casting components too? :sad20:

Like iH8DemLibz said, wheel weights. Don't know of a source for antimony or tin and I'm told pewter is corrosive to your casting equipment.

John from MD · Jun 11, 2013

When people refer to bullets as conicals, they are usually talking about black powder bullets. Are you planning to make bullets for black powder shooting? If so, you need dead soft lead and have no need for tin or antimony.

If you are loading for centerfire rifle or pistol, you can find antimony and tin on ebay. You can also buy lead alloy ready to melt from a company called rotometals.

Regards,

John

240 towles · Jun 11, 2013

Delmarva sporting clays sells bulk lead from fired bullets.

Cowboy T · Jun 11, 2013

Well, if you're casting for .45 Colt or .45 Auto, softer is better. Actually, that's true for muzzleloaders as well, since they were brought up.

I regularly shoot BHN 12 in a Ruger/TC-only .45 Colt load that I designed to have roughly .44 Magnum power. The load uses a healthy charge of 2400 under a 250gr LRNFP of BHN 12, straight wheel weights. When the firing pin hits, the round goes BOOM very satisfyingly. It chronos at 1,300 fps. I get no lead-fouling.

Given this, you might want to reconsider hardening your lead. Here's an article from Glen Fryxell that goes into more detail.

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

wgttgw · Jun 11, 2013

I would buy some Linotype from eBay. I would only buy it in its original form (old printing thin plates) not ingots. Like said above you don't need to be as hard as some may think. A little Linotype will go a long way to hardening pure lead. 3 to 4 parts pure to 1 part Linotype will handle most shooting if the fit is right. 3 to 1 would be real close to clip on WW.

JAGGUY · Jun 13, 2013

I've read that a lot of casters go to thrift stores and buy pewter pots and other items pretty cheaply.
I think over on cast boolits forum they talk about it and how to identify pewter materials...

SOMDSHOOT · Jun 14, 2013

John from MD said:
When people refer to bullets as conicals, they are usually talking about black powder bullets. Are you planning to make bullets for black powder shooting? If so, you need dead soft lead and have no need for tin or antimony.

If you are loading for centerfire rifle or pistol, you can find antimony and tin on ebay. You can also buy lead alloy ready to melt from a company called rotometals.

Regards,

John

I need to step in on this one. This is not necessarily true. I cast several grain weights of .45 for my muzzleloader bullets and I also include Antimony in them for hunting. I'll have to assume that the OP is using sabots as I do, but, the addition of some lead harder is not a bad idea even if it is they are not being used with sabots.

John from MD · Jun 14, 2013

If you use sabots, you can make the alloy anything that you want.

When you shoot ball and patch or cap and ball, you should use soft lead as the low pressure of black powder may not allow the bullet to obturate in the bore if it is too hard.

John

SOMDSHOOT · Jun 15, 2013

John from MD said:
If you use sabots, you can make the alloy anything that you want.

When you shoot ball and patch or cap and ball, you should use soft lead as the low pressure of black powder may not allow the bullet to obturate in the bore if it is too hard.

John

Very Good. I just had to clarify the usage.

BuildnBurn · Jun 15, 2013

One thing to do is check out yard sales; I picked up about four lbs of 60/40 Pb/Sn solder for a buck the other day.

knastera · Jun 17, 2013

Thanks for the lead.

knastera · Jun 17, 2013

I should clarify this. I'm casting 45 SWC for 45ACP, 44 conicals for my Remington 1858 replica. I'm also casting 50 cal black power target and minie ball rounds.

John from MD · Jun 17, 2013

Andrew,

If you are casting 45acp for Bullseye shooting, you can make them fairly soft as they are fired at a low velocity with a fast powder. The 1858 will tolerate a harder bullet if you load at least 30grains of powder in it. My hunting loads with the Remington use the same mix as my paper punching centerfire pistols but I use at least a 40 grain equivelent load of 777. These loads are all below 1000 FPS.

Regards,

John

knastera · Jul 10, 2013

Thanks for the information. I'm loading the 45 SWC ACP with 5.5 gr. of smokeless. If I can fit 40 gr of Pyrodex P behind a conical, that's what I'll shoot. I intentionally bought the 1858 target model so I could legally hunt with it as a backup/second shot to my 50 cal.

John from MD · Jul 10, 2013

I don't know if you can fit 40 grains of Pyrodex behind a conical bullet. You can fit a 40 grain equivelent of Triple Seven though.

John

jaybee · Jul 10, 2013

what was the bottom line on pewter pots since VERY few junk yards buy pewter - there is no market for them except for decoration

I've seen them sell for very little at auctions

Winterborn · Jul 10, 2013

jaybee said:
what was the bottom line on pewter pots since VERY few junk yards buy pewter - there is no market for them except for decoration

I've seen them sell for very little at auctions

Pewter is usually around 90% tin, with the remainder antimony and a bit of copper.

Its a good addition to making a slightly harder alloy, the antimony is a hardener (and the copper) and the tin will allow your metal to flow better and fill the mold easier.

I'd say use the 10/1 ration when adding to pure lead.

Looking for lead and lead hardening metals like antimony or pewter

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

Just another shooter

Active Member

When All Else Fails.

Garrett Co Hooligan #1

American Patriot

master of puppets

Active Member

Active Member

Active Member

Banned

American Patriot

Banned

Professional Pyro

Just another shooter

Just another shooter

American Patriot

Just another shooter

American Patriot

Ultimate Member

Moved to Texas

Users who are viewing this thread

Log in

Forum statistics