Casting silver(y) bullets

1
At the scrap yard, I found a pallet of metal buckets half-filled with what was described as "solder drippings from a company making circuit boards for aircraft". Hmm. Being as there is a major Air Force base nearby, I suspected it was some military contract. That could be a good thing. A really good thing.

I bought the whole 600lbs. My best guess was that it was eutectic solder (63% tin, 37% lead). This solder is pretty much the gold standard for high-reliability electronics. It also has rather unique property in that it changes phase at a specific temperature - 361 degrees. Not a range, a point. It goes from a watery liquid to hard-as-a-rock instantly.

I melted a few pounds in my casting pot, and sure enough, the melt temp was in the mid 300s. Looks like eutectic all right. I cast some 45 Colt bullets...Whoa. None of the typical shrinkage. They were perfectly filled out; just unbelievably perfect, and perfectly round, too. Normally, bullets are never round when they drop from the mold due to uneven cooling. They were not easy to cast, though. Because the sprue hardens instantly, I had to heat them with a propane torch so I could cut them. Also notable, the bullets weigh about 25% less than their normal weight. Should be interesting shooting them.
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Hell is where:
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The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police

Re: Casting silver(y) bullets

2
beaurrr wrote:At the scrap yard, I found a pallet of metal buckets half-filled with what was described as "solder drippings from a company making circuit boards for aircraft". Hmm. Being as there is a major Air Force base nearby, I suspected it was some military contract. That could be a good thing. A really good thing.

I bought the whole 600lbs. My best guess was that it was eutectic solder (63% tin, 37% lead). This solder is pretty much the gold standard for high-reliability electronics. It also has rather unique property in that it changes phase at a specific temperature - 361 degrees. Not a range, a point. It goes from a watery liquid to hard-as-a-rock instantly.

I melted a few pounds in my casting pot, and sure enough, the melt temp was in the mid 300s. Looks like eutectic all right. I cast some 45 Colt bullets...Whoa. None of the typical shrinkage. They were perfectly filled out; just unbelievably perfect, and perfectly round, too. Normally, bullets are never round when they drop from the mold due to uneven cooling. They were not easy to cast, though. Because the sprue hardens instantly, I had to heat them with a propane torch so I could cut them. Also notable, the bullets weigh about 25% less than their normal weight. Should be interesting shooting them.
DSC02724.jpg
What is the BNH? I would just mix it with other alloy, heavier will always shoot more accurately.

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