I a88.00 MINIMUM BY VOLUME TIN AND 90.00 MAXIMUM BY VOLUME TIN AND 7.00 MINIMUM BY VOLUME ANTIMONY AND 8.00 MAXIMUM BY VOLUME ANTIMONY AND 3.00 MINIMUM BY VOLUME COPPER AND 4.00 MAXIMUM BY VOLUME COPPER

I am looking at a local govt auvtion. Any interest if I decide to bid on this? Around 500 to 600 lbs.

Mike,

That's a mother of a babbit alloy!

Would be interested, but am very limitedly able financially ... so I may not count for much!

Mike, If I get it it for reasonable would be more than happy to share the wealth with you. Maybe we could work out a knife trade or something. I just know it is more than I can use.

Mike,

We can certainly work something out

Good luck with the auction!

Just so you'll know, current world tin prices are about $6.75 a pound but buying it for that would probably be quite difficult in small quantities. I'd guess a good buy price would be $10/pound currently for pure tin.

Also, there is 90% lead, 10% tin solder bars for sale on the web at $3.06 per pound in a 2.5 pound bar which should make a good starting point for bullets.

I'm not sure how or if the copper/antimony content at those levels would interfere with bullet casting.

I don't know what tin scrap's buy price would be but it should easily be in the $3/pound or a bit more range so if you can buy it for less than that you should be in good shape.

Gato, The antimony shouldnt interfere at all in fact quite the opposite. Good hardball or linotype is usually about 12 percent. A mix of this alloy with reclaimed lead should give a very good product. The eutectic properties of the mix change the melting point ranges but that should be the only issue. That said it isnt really an issue. The biggest problem with alloying is getting a homogenous mixture upon pouring when the cooling causes seperation. Good technique normally takes care of it. Yes I am hoping for around $3.00/lb. The small amount of copper should be a non issue as far as I know. Perhaps someone with better metallurgy knowledge can chime in.

copper in solution under 1% shouldn't pose a problem casting.
some copper in the mix is a hardening agent and changes the grain structure of your alloy for the better.
anything much over 1-2% could pose possible mold fill issues.
i wouldn't hesitate to use the babbit material.

Thanks Lamar that confirms what I thought would be the case. I am certainly no expert and sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In my case very little and very dangerous.

Gato, I just reread your post and saw it was $3.05 for 2.5 lbs. That is correct and not a per lb price? I just want to make sure I am reading this right. If that is the case it will certainly change my upper bid range. Thanks

Mike:

It took me a few minutes to find the site again. MY MISTAKE, it was a 2.5 lb bar, but the price listed was per pound and you had to buy 50 bars or so to get that price/lb. I was just kind of speed reading and didn't get the fine print. Sorry about that, I've fixed the above post in order to not confuse anyone who doesn't read the whole thread.

While doing the above re-searching I found that high tin babbit scrap was being bought by one outfit for $2.69/lb in less than truckload (40,000 lb) quantities and $4.69 in truckload or more quantities.

While roaming the net trying to reconstruct my previous search, I found that 90/10 (lead/tin) has a brinnell of 10.0 m/l.

Finally, just for your further information, here is a place that sells lead and tin in large and small quantities. Depending on what you buy, tin looks like it sells for just under $8/lb in quantity and lead sells for less than a buck in quantity. Using those numbers you could mix your own 90/10 2 1/2 pound bars for about $4.50-$4.75 ($2 worth of tin and $2.50-2.75 lead) but we're talking buying a bunch of lead and 55 pounds or so of tin here.

here

Just for grins, and using rough numbers (lead is 84 cents/lb but have to add shipping so I'm figuring $1/lb) to produce about 2220 pounds of 90/10 (ton lead and 220 pounds tin) would cost about $3675 or about $1.65/lb, not counting labor and melting costs. That would be roughly just under 6 cents per 250 grain 90/10 bullet for materials only, no antimony. Kind of makes some of those net sales where you can buy lead bullets for about 10 cents each from time to time seem pretty reasonable to me.

Well guys I backed off this one. The price went to 3k real quick and that is without any packing or shipping. It was too much for me this time.

Mike,

Good try! And a wise decision. Sometimes it just gets out of hand!

Thanks,