Just tried casting some 12 ga balls in 96.5% tin 3% silver and 0.5% copper.

First several in a cold iron mould were smooth and bright!

They were HARD - not scratched by my fingernail.

You looking for a lighter weight punkin ball, or are you going green? For me tin is hard to find and expensive so I use a small percentage with WW to achieve good fill out.

It just happens that I've got a good source for lead-free solder scraps and I need a way of putting those into ingots that can be easily used (maybe marketed).

Solder balls!

Are they harder and tougher to shatter than Linotype?
Density versus copper and brass?

I should cast a few Darwins (12Ga slug that is keg shaped, cup based and flat-nosed, and 1.375" long) from 95/5 (Tin/Antimony) solder and see how much they weigh and how hard they are, and what size.

A Darwin lighter than 1400 grains of Lyman No. 2 sure lightens the recoil.

Might be cheaper than buying CNC brass machined ones too.

About 6 Darwins per pound of solder?

Please compare the weight and diameter of your solder ball to a lead one, and a BHN would be interesting too, for our edification.

hardness comparisons ?

I cannot make a MARK on them with my fingernail.
95/5 tin/antimony is softer.

I will try 95/5 and 96.5/3/0.5 bullet comparisons - accuracy etc.

I was thinking Brinell Hardness Number, BHN.

IIRC, tin is about as soft as lead in the elemental state and the density of tin is 7.31 g/cc versus lead density of 11.34 g/cc.

I'll take your word for the silver solder being harder than the 95/5.
Maybe casts better too?
As-cast diameter?

Seems most of the lead alloys get lighter and bigger in diameter, dropped from mould, as the lead content goes down and the tin, antimony, and arsenic goes up.

Will be interesting to see what diameter a silver solder ball is compared to a lead ball cast from the same mould.

A 180-grain lead 50-cal ball would become a 116-grain tin ball.

96% or 95% tin solders ought to be similar in weight.

Maybe I can reduce my 1400-grain lead 12ga slug to 900 grains by using your silver solder or 95/5.

The hardness, weight, and diameter: Will see what my solder-cast Darwin measures.
Sounds like fun.
Thanks for the idea.

I MEASURED the hardness of the 96.5-3-0.5 - turned out to be 42 on the Rockwell A scale.

I think there's potential for HV. But consistancy in SIZE will be an issue.

As someone in the match bullet making business said - paying attention to the 1/10,000 inches was important.

If I remember tomorrow I'll measure the 95/5 for hardness; and this weekend cast some spheres of each to compare.

I don't know how to convert Rockwell A to Brinell.

42 Rockwell A sounds pretty hard for a bullet. I am guessing that is somewhere between 100 and 150 BHN.

IIRC, brass bullets are just over Brinell Hardness number 100, and copper bullets are about 80 BHN.

Could you test a Barnes TSX copper bullet and one of their brass solids for Rockwell A Hardness Number?

My weekend project is to cast some 12Ga Darwin slugs of Silver Solder and 95/5 Solder and see how they measure up on the Lee and LBT hardness testers (BHN).

I'll also see if I can get a reading on brass and copper with the Lee tester, which is better than the LBT. If either one will read that high, I do not recall.

Bullets too hard might be hard on barrels.
i am guessing the silver solder will be tougher than linotype regarding resistance to breakup/shattering on impact.

Great discussion.

Yes 42 Ra is hard. But I wonder what a jacketed copper bullet is? Don't have anthing Barnes. Do have som .458WM solids of Hornady.

I tried getting a hardness on the 95/5 but couldn't get a good reading.
Just back from a 1-1/2 day business trip, will do more this weekend.
Thanks!

Melted a pound of Plumber's solder, "silver bearing solder," and let it cool into an ingot, then cut off a piece with a hacksaw and filed a flat surface for Lee Hardness testing kit.
Simulated cast bullet.

The ingot had gold and purple swirls on its surface, and the bottom of the pot had some spots that looked like they were copper plated.
I did not flux or stir. Just melted it and let it cool in the bottom of the pot as a round disk ingot.

The tested hardness of my "silver solder" simulated bullet was only 11.8 BHN. It would scratch with my fingernail.

Tested some other of my actual cast bullets, all water-dropped:

12ga Darwin 30:1 alloy (lead:tin): 14.9 BHN
12Ga Darwin Rippalloy No. 2 alloy: 20.9 BHN
.395 LBT LFNGC Rippalloy No. 1 (obsolete): 18.6 BHN


Don't know exactly what the composition of my lead-free "silver solder" was.
I won't be casting any bullets out of that.

Great table. Thanks for that Macifej.
42 Rockwell A = 121 BHN.

I am sticking with my latest recipe that approximates Lyman No. 2:

10 lbs Rippalloy No. 2 =

9.5 lbs of size 7-1/2 magnum shot (high antimony, Lawrence brand)
+
0.5 lbs 95/5 solder

No variables from wheelweights. I stocked up on $29.99/25 lbs bags of shot. Cheap for the convenience and uniformity.

Now on to zinc for 40% lighter "tough" slugs.

Still looking for bulk supplier and a BHN on pure zinc ...

Agree, thanks for the table.

Ouch! That's hard.

SO, I think I'll try 3:1, 50/50 and 1:3 ratios of tin to lead just to see where they are in accuracy and hardness.

WOW.

Measured hardness of 96.5/3/0.5 was Ra 42.
Measured hardness of Hornady .458 500gr bullet was 43 or 44 on same scale!

Melting temperature obviously is much different.

A bit more casting - two mixes (to get more mass by adding lead) normally WW 205gr bullet with 20 or 40% lead weighed in (135 at 96% TIN) at 150 or 175 gr. AND the hardness was MUCH harder. THis is going to take some careful mixing/weighing and documentation.

Back from the range.
3 different bullets.
335 gr tumble lube (20% wheel weights/rest 96.5/3/0.5)
335 gr 4 groove bore rider (20% wheel weights/rest 96.5/3/0.5)

305 gr 3 groove (96.5/3/0.5)

50/50 Alox/BW

458WM

19 gr Unique
Velocity ?? maybe 1400ish.

Accuracy - about the same as from WW or lead. Not spectacular, but not bad, potential for improvement with load development

Leading - MINIMAL

Clean as Unique usually is with light charge - dirty.

Bore cleaned up easily.