is peuter tin ?

[lee1954]

Can I get cheep second  hand peuter that looks bad and use it to add as tin to my cast bullets?   a dish is a few dollars   --- much cheeper then leadless solder...             Dan

[Casull]

As far as I know, that is exactly what pewter is.

[John Traveler]

Pewter is an alloy of 95-99% tin and minor % of bismuth, antimony, lead, and 1% copper.

The real question is what will that 1% of copper do to your bullet melt alloy?  I don't know anyone that has tried it in bullet alloys, but it is know that any contamination of bullet melt with zinc is ruinous to the castability of the melt.

[Lloyd Smale]

a small ammount of copper can actually be benifiial to a hard cast bullet.

[lee1954]

Thanks for the input ...when the whether  gets better I'll throw a small  chunk of pewter into a batch of bullets.
about 15 years back I tryed adding  some zink-- The corners of the lube grooves did  not fill out good - (kinda round looking -  like the Lee tumble lub ) .. I shot them anyway...nothing really bad happend....
Although the bullets were a little harder it was not a good trade off..

[mechanic]

I have a scrap pile of cast off pewter items scavenged at yard sales and flea markets for just that purpose.  Never had a problem.  It's also good for inletting and decoration on tomahawk hafts, etc.   

Ben

[Cat Whisperer]

I have a scrap pile of cast off pewter items scavenged at yard sales and flea markets for just that purpose.  Never had a problem.  It's also good for inletting and decoration on tomahawk hafts, etc.   

Ben

Good pewter is safe to use for food.
Cheap pewter has lead.

[Casull]

Good pewter is safe to use for food.
Cheap pewter has lead.

Maybe the stuff from China.  But, I don't think any western civilizations have used lead in pewter in about 200 years.  At least that is what I've heard.

[rbwillnj]

From Wikapedia

Modern pewters must contain at least 90% tin and be alloyed with copper, antimony, or bismuth to be considered a pewter. Lead is no longer permitted to be an alloying element.  Older pewters with higher lead content are heavier, tarnish faster, and oxidation gives them a darker silver-grey color.

A typical European casting alloy would contain 94% tin, 1% copper, and 5% antimony. A European pewter sheet would contain 92% tin, 2% copper, and 6% antimony. Asian pewter, produced mostly in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, contains a higher percentage of tin, usually 97.5% tin, 1% copper, and 1.5% antimony. This makes the alloy slightly softer.