Thread: 50/50 solder and lead

Hi all. I've been having trouble with fill-out in my molds, rounded edges and undersized bullets. I've put it down the pure lead I'm using. I have to turn the temp on my lead melter to max to where the lead is glowing to get any semi decent fill-out and from my research its apparent a lack of tin that's the main cause. Apparently mixing 50/50 solder in the lead can help? Anyone here do this? Does it help? How much solder should be used? Thanks

I use 2% tin and it works well for fill out. Maybe 1% would do the trick. I have not tried 1%.

1% tin is all you need to fill out those bullets so they look like silver jewels.

Solder is mostly tin, and is a good way - if a bit expensive - to get tin into your mix.
As little as 1% tin will fill out your bullets and give them crisp edges. Go and buy some solder from mitre 10 and throw into your pot. If you get some today you will have fixed your problem.

(You can gestimate the ratio, bit its not critical if you just want to fill out your bullets. Just put it some in.)

That looks like a lee mold, guessing 180 gr rn. There may be grease in the mold wash it out with petrol dry it then "candle" it. Hold the open mold over a candle flame so there's a coat of soot over both half's, heat the mold before using and generally the first bullet is good certainly the second or third. Establish a rythym so the mold keeps a constant heat. Pure lead us a doddle to cast, 1:10 or 1:20 tin also, pure wheel weight can be a bugger and needs tin added to get it flowing. Zinc wheel weights are evidently a thing and no good will come from using those.

Thanks all. I found some 60/40 solder I had store away, will give that a try.

Yep, make sure you don't go over the 1 or 2% level as tin can make your pills hard (not an issue for plinking but can affect terminal performance for hunting). Also if the sprue plate or mold halves have any sort of gap, excessive tin can make the lead piss right off through the tiniest little non existent gap which is messy and a pain in the arse.