The most confusing part of this whole ordeal is why it sticks in the bottom, supposed to float to the top....
That would be 20:1 I think that’s too hard. 1/2 lbs tin for 20 lbs lead is 40:1. I tried the 35:1 on a whim and they shot very well. That’s what I sent to Lewis, and they shot very well for him also. I don’t use the bullet I’ve been casting for hunting, too small meplat. Although I think at 40:1 or 35:1 it would still expand very well at under 200 yards, beyond that, I don’t know I’d dare try it.why you using solder with 50/50 lead. just use pure lead, if you want little harder put 1 pound tin for every 20 lead. no need for any other stuff. that keeps it simple
I probably just need to leave it alone after I flux, I’m always stirring and scraping, every 15-20 bullets. I think the ones I sent to you, I used my ladle. Don’t remember it’s been more than 10 minutesOne of The worst things i have done is to Stir a BONE DRY stick in the Mix (Thinking it i was Doing a Good thing?) But i was taught that Scraping the bottom of the pot with a wood stick is a sure way to force ash deposits outside the surface skin of the melt on the bottom and get them in your bullets.
I probably just need to leave it alone after I flux, I’m always stirring and scraping, every 15-20 bullets. I think the ones I sent to you, I used my ladle. Don’t remember it’s been more than 10 minutes
Bruce, I think your exactly right, as far as the oxidation (exposure to air) is concerned. If there is no oxygen, it cannot “oxidize” that’s why we bleed N2 into a refrigerant/medical gas line while we braze, keep that nasty black oxidation on the outside. I thought lead, being one of our heaviest elements, would float that stuff to the top, or, it would at least be confined to the layer that is exposed to oxygen (the top). I have never stirred it with a wood (carbon) stir stick, which is supposed to gather up all the impurities, and it’s a real challenge to try and get sawdust down to the bottom. I know the lead I start out with is rather dirty, but I go through that whole process of fluxing and stirring and skimming, until it appears it is pretty clean (in a different pot) before I make the mini muffin ingots that I use in the Lee. On a whim, I think I’ll order 20 lbs from Roto and see if the problem goes away, if it does, I’ll know it’s my process in cleaning my lead. I just hate to buy lead, when I have about 3000 lbs of it sitting in my shop. Some of it is brand new sheet lead that’s never been attached to the wall, some an old x-ray machine we took out of the hospital, some elevator counter weights, and access to 50,000 lbs plus from an old imaging room in a portion of our old building that we no longer perform any kind of cancer treatment/imaging services in and will be taken down in about 18 months. There’s probably over 100 tons of lead in that building, that I can buy from our asset recovery bunch for 10% of what scrap value is....Correct me if I am wrong, but every time we heat a molten metal up it reacts with the oxygen in the air, causing a certain amount of slag/dross/impurities to form?
Wouldn't some of those impurities tend to be drawn down towards the bottom of a bottom-pour pot, and possibly collect in the spout/pour portion of the pot?
RotoMetals claims that it's "Pure Lead" is only 99% lead. No specifying what the other 1% is. Whatever that impurity is, perhaps it is what tends to collect on the sides and bottom of a ladle-style pot?And, maybe it is what is plaguing sdporter's bottom-pour pot?
I've never used a bottom-pour pot, but I always had slag stuck to the sides of the pots I used to cast round balls. I ended up making a scraper to clean that stuff out of the pot before the next casting session.
Just spit-balling here, don't know if it helps.
Bruce
What about when your tin and lead separate, How will you stir it? I just never been a fan of adding dirty stuff to the pot. I know, I know, Lewis pours some dam fine bullets! I just cant see that.
I drilled mine out and that helped keep the spout from plugging up.Never had this problem . All of my lead /tin mix is mixed in a cast pot. Lead is melted into ingots first in the same pot , fluxed and cleaned and poured. I use beeswax to flux. What doesn't burn off is skimmed with the dross. = Shiny melt. Later lead and tin mixed to hardness that I want. Pure is already done so 30-1 BPCR hunting bullets , 16-1 pistol bullets, all mixed in Iron pot and poured to ingots. Each mix has its own lead pot. 30-1 has ladle cast Wagge pot. Pure lead has ladle cast Lyman pot and 16-1 has RCBS bottom pour. I am going to get a Lee bottom pour and drill it out like IdahoLewis cause he pours some dang nice bullets with his and that's something I have to learn with a bottom pour pot.
I am only alloying with tin, 50/50 solder is ONLY lead and tin 50% of each. No other ingredient.that is your problem, use tin not solder
Why not google up mix for solder, never heard of 50/50. use pure lead , and add right pure tin in the right mix but mix for 10 pound pot would not be very much tin period.I am only alloying with tin, 50/50 solder is ONLY lead and tin 50% of each. No other ingredient.
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