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Pewter & Antimony - Sources? #7344983
09/01/21 09:41 AM
09/01/21 09:41 AM
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 670
ND
DakotaBoy Offline OP
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DakotaBoy  Offline OP
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 670
ND
I've gotten into bullet casting a the last few years, and have found a fairly steady source for wheel weights. What I'm in need of now is tin and antimony. Where I live, there aren't many antique-type stores, and garage sales and auctions don't have much for pewter figurines or decorative dishware. Does anyone know where a guy could find some good pewter or antimony, other than rotometals or the like?


"Pretty cocky for a starving pilgrim!"
"An elk don't know how many legs a horse has!"
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345002
09/01/21 09:59 AM
09/01/21 09:59 AM
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,374
Green County Wisconsin
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GREENCOUNTYPETE Offline
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GREENCOUNTYPETE  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,374
Green County Wisconsin
silver solder also hardens bullets

good will for pewter

linotype for antimony

unless your trying to push high velocities , fit is much more important than hardness

clip on wheel weights give some hardness also unless your pushing >1600fps you probably need to go no harder than strait clip on WW


America only has one issue, we have a Responsibility crisis and everything else stems from it.
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345007
09/01/21 10:03 AM
09/01/21 10:03 AM
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 848
Michigan
coonlove Offline
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coonlove  Offline
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Posts: 848
Michigan
Agree with Pete. I would avoid pewter as it can contain trace elements that are not good for casting bullets. Old 50/50 bar solder is a good choice for tin if you can find it.


"I'm the paterfamilias"
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345014
09/01/21 10:08 AM
09/01/21 10:08 AM
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 4,146
NC
Buzzard Offline
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Buzzard  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 4,146
NC
Does anyone still have toothpaste in a tin container ?

Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345025
09/01/21 10:16 AM
09/01/21 10:16 AM
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 848
Michigan
coonlove Offline
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coonlove  Offline
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 848
Michigan
If they are that old they probably don't have teeth to use it on...........................................


"I'm the paterfamilias"
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345033
09/01/21 10:22 AM
09/01/21 10:22 AM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 9,153
Alaska and Washington State
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waggler Offline
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Alaska and Washington State
"pewter" is a general term for alloys that contain various amounts of tin, lead, copper, and who knows what else. A lot of old style pewter is unsafe to drink or eat from due to the lead content.
If you Google around you will be able to find sources for the metals you need.


"My life is better than your vacation"
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345035
09/01/21 10:28 AM
09/01/21 10:28 AM
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,124
NC - Here there and everywhere
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coondagger2 Offline
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coondagger2  Offline
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Posts: 2,124
NC - Here there and everywhere
Be careful what you use. I used to make bass fishing jigs for a bunch of guys and I always needed lead. One day a guy called and told me he had over 100 pounds, I said great!!

When he got there he had several flats of old pill bottles...made out of lead.

On the side of the pill bottles it said something like "Caution: Radioactive Material"....

I fake smiled and said thank you and disposed of them later


Gotta live up to the nickname...
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345093
09/01/21 11:48 AM
09/01/21 11:48 AM
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 288
Arizona
S
Starbits Offline
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Starbits  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 288
Arizona
Actually the lead shipping containers for radioactive materials are fine for casting. The lead does not become radioactive itself so there is no residual radiation to bother you. I bought tons of lead from a local nuclear pharmacy until they changed their policies and started shipping the lead out instead of selling it.

I agree with everything GCP said. Another source of tin is the pipes from pipe organs. The pipes are pure tin.

Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345161
09/01/21 01:54 PM
09/01/21 01:54 PM
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 167
NH
Z
zallen Offline
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zallen  Offline
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Posts: 167
NH
Hmmm... we bought our last pewter at Best Buy but we didn't get any antimony because all our Anties are poor. grin


“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”

William Pitt
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: Starbits] #7345167
09/01/21 02:02 PM
09/01/21 02:02 PM
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 19,689
pa
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hippie Offline
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Originally Posted by Starbits
Actually the lead shipping containers for radioactive materials are fine for casting. The lead does not become radioactive itself so there is no residual radiation to bother you. I bought tons of lead from a local nuclear pharmacy until they changed their policies and started shipping the lead out instead of selling it.

I agree with everything GCP said. Another source of tin is the pipes from pipe organs. The pipes are pure tin.




I always wondered about this. Years ago I was given sheet lead that was used in an x-ray room and was told it was ok. Guess it was, I'm still here.

Not sure of the volume you need, but they make solder that is at least 50% tin.

Last edited by hippie; 09/01/21 02:03 PM.
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345191
09/01/21 02:28 PM
09/01/21 02:28 PM
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,374
Green County Wisconsin
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GREENCOUNTYPETE Offline
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Green County Wisconsin
there had been a guy getting the lead containers from a nuclear medicine place and selling them on castboolits a while back

if there is no residue of the stuff on the lead then you are good since it was always described that it was in a container in the lead , the lead was safe

berm mining is one of the better places to get lead these days , and it is already mostly bullet alloy

the 25 foot pistol ranges are the best people tend to shoot everything in the same place

a wheel barrow with a frame of 1/4 inch hardware cloth shovel out the densest area onto a 1/2 sheet of plywood then sift and put the sand back where you took it from making a nice place to collect bullets next time

the guys shooting 230gr 45cp make lead for you fast


America only has one issue, we have a Responsibility crisis and everything else stems from it.
Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345272
09/01/21 04:19 PM
09/01/21 04:19 PM
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 288
Arizona
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Starbits Offline
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Starbits  Offline
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Arizona
I used to sell lead on Castboolits, but it has been quite a few years since I did that. Always fun showing up at the post office with 6 to 8, 66 pound boxes of lead in flat rate boxes. I think I was their favorite customer grin .

Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345287
09/01/21 04:38 PM
09/01/21 04:38 PM
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 723
Hilton, NY
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Paul D. Heppner Offline
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Hilton, NY
I only add about 3 ounces of lead free solder, or pewter, to 10 pounds of wheel weight lead for better mold fill out and a little harder. My normal recipe for 90% of my shooting (deer, small game, vermin, and target work) is a 50/50 mix of wheel weights to pure (or nearly pure) lead. The extraneous stuff in lead free solder is copper and a trace of silver neither of which do any harm. I have hundreds of pounds of lino-type which I occasionally use very small amounts of to harden up much softer alloys of mystery metal or range scrap which for me has a lot of deer slugs in it.

Most folks that just dabble in bullet casting use an alloy that is too hard. As GreenCountyPete said, fit is all important. My very best 44 magnum hunting load is a 310 grain bullet traveling a mere 1200 fps. It penetrates in a straight line, breaks any bone it touches and always gives me two great holes that leak real good. It's a Lee bullet cast with my 50/50 mix sized .432 and lubed with the old NRA formula lube. If I remember correctly they are a BHN hardness of 8 or 9. They are gas checked.

Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: DakotaBoy] #7345464
09/01/21 08:03 PM
09/01/21 08:03 PM
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 11,771
Amite county Mississippi
Wolfdog91 Offline
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Wolfdog91  Offline
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Posts: 11,771
Amite county Mississippi
Check out Rotometals.com

Re: Pewter & Antimony - Sources? [Re: Wolfdog91] #7345476
09/01/21 08:09 PM
09/01/21 08:09 PM
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 883
SD
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TC1 Offline
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TC1  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 883
SD
Stated in the op


Long live the MAGA King
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