Bullet casting improvements

[bkoenig]

Holy cow, straight lino is way too hard (and too expensive).

I don't have any HP molds, but I've thought about converting one of my existing ones, maybe the mold I use for .300 BLK.

[358156hp]

Holy cow, straight lino is way too hard (and too expensive).

Wayyy to hard. I cast some H&G 503s (44 Keith) last winter from range scrap & tin and water dropped them to add hardness. They were beautiful bullets, but came out way too high on hardness, about 24 bhn after 48 hours. So, I set a couple on the floor and hit them with a 3 lb hammer. Every one of them fractured. I sure hated to remelt them, but the next batch, with 25% soft lead added (by weight) seemed to be okay. I can't imagine purposely casting hollowpoints from lino. My scrap must have had a large percentage of commercial cast bullets or something. The original bullets ran 15 bhn air cooled.

[unfy]

So....

I have started buying coffee in cans that are actual metal.

Just kinda handy to have etc.  We used them for a variety things as a kid... and now as an adult, they are indeed handy. Lead dross, etc are immediate thoughts.

Was at work and emptied a small can of half-caffeinated stuff.  "Welp, time to take it home".

And then I wondered.

Are food cans still made out of tin ?

This is a metal container that has a bit of a plastic wrapper.  It's not one of the cardboard-cans.

If this thing is tin, I'd love to collect'em and then throw a pound's worth into the lead pot for alloying .

Any immediate thoughts on tin detection ?

A magnet to eliminate steel comes to mind...

[unfy]

Damnit.

Took a spare speaker to it here at work... it's steel

Also:

http://www.thinkgreen.com/recycle-what-detail?sec=metals&prod=steel-cans-tin-cans

While I hate the whole "think green" stuff that is being pushed in-your-face in other parts of the country (if you've traveled to, say, Cali in the last 4 years you'll know what I'm talking about)... it does have an interesting note that might be complete b.s.:

Steel Cans and Tin Cans (soup cans, veggie cans, coffee cans, etc.)

Most people call them "tin cans," but the containers your green beans come in are mostly made of steel.

The term "tin" comes from the fact that these cans have a micro-thin coating of tin inside, to protect the flavor and prevent the can from corroding.

How can you tell a steel or tin can from an aluminum one? See if a magnet attaches to it. Steel is magnetic, and aluminum is not.

Steel cans make up about 90% of the U.S. food can market.