plated bullets

Using your home cast bullets as a ammunition component. Group buys are listed here.
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RBHarter
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Re: plated bullets

Post by RBHarter »

The bulk copper comes out , plated shells jackets etc , but there is is some "oxide" level copper that mixes with the tin . It's above my pay grade . For a visual demonstration break out the instant sweet tea . Water=lead , Tea=tin , sugar=Copper . I don't think you can melt in enough tin in the lead for it to do anything but become more tin than lead , but at some point you can't stir in any more sugar and when the heat and stir stop the sugar or in this case copper, falls out . It isn't alloyed so it's not part of the lead/tin/antimony but it is dissolved in the alloy .

As a test gather up a bunch 22RF bullets about half copper washed . Melt stir add tin , say 2 oz in 5# of alloy now stir and flux you'll have dirt but very little copper and with the addition of the tin you should see a reduction in the waste dross also . Just like adding hot water to your tea and stirring in another sugar cube .

When the bullets are plated there is a layer that sticks to the lead and bonds to the copper and the lead , that layer is what goes into the solution .

Copper will dissolve at about 20% in the tin so 100# of lead with 25# of tin will hold about 1# of copper , .20/1/20 alloy more or less .
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horseman
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Re: plated bullets

Post by horseman »

RBHarter wrote:I've melted out a bunch of them .
Those that I did seemed to be a 30-1 alloy . The high tin is a good thing here as the tin will hold the copper in solution at about 1/5 to the tin . The copper changes the lead/tin/antimony interact . I shoot a water dropped 75/25 wheel weight /plated core alloy and comparatively it acts like a 22 bhn in the barrel and a 14 bhn on target with a tested value of 18 .
You get a tougher bullet more shear resistant that is more plyable on impact and holds together better .
Thanks for the information RB, sorry for the late response but somehow I missed your reply. That's very good information. I've not "smelted" any of these down yet. Actually I haven't fired up the "smelter" or my pot in a few years. :oops: I should get after that though as I am running a bit low on cast bullets for the guns I shoot them in.
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Re: plated bullets

Post by Macd »

Some babbit alloys are a mixture of lead, tin, antimony with copper. They have melting temperatures in the 450F range and pour at around 650F. Copper hardens/toughens the alloy. This copper addition to babbit alloys produces plain bearings with create less friction and stand up to heavier and continuous loads. The bearings on the steam turbines and alternators on the destroyers I served on had this type of bearing. Copper will dissolve in lead-tin alloy at the reduced temperature. I like the analogy to sugar in tea that RBHarter gave.
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