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SkyKid
07-27-2014, 06:12 PM
Hey Guys
I see rotometals sells "pure lead" for less than mixed lead
If I add 1 pound of tin to 25 pounds of lead does that equal a 25 to 1 ratio?
If not please enlighten me how to make up the ratio that I'm looking for
I want to try shooting BP in my Buffalo Classic
Thanks SkyKid

Kirbydoc
07-27-2014, 11:59 PM
SkyKid, 25 pounds of one thing and 1 pound of another is a 25:1 ratio no matter how you cut it. {Pun intended}
Just curious, where did you get pure tin?

fryboy
07-28-2014, 01:27 AM
rotos metals evidently ( they kinda pricey but ... they got it )
yes sir 2 pounds to 50# or 4 to a 100#'s of pure ,oddly enough they usually suggest recipes in some weird ratio just to complicate it , things like 95 #'s lead to 5 #'s tin to make a 100 pound batch of 20 to 1 ...when you should be making a 105 pound batch for the ratio to be true , it's close enough tho so ..[shrugz]
you dont honestly need that much tin for black powder , the main thing is a repeatable recipe/alloy

versifier
07-28-2014, 03:34 AM
Yes. 25:1 is 4%, but you really don't need more than 2% (simply for better fillout) unless you're going above 15-1700fps and would need to add GC's, then you can go up to 4-5% and maybe add a tad bit of antimony too (think WW's, good for well over 2000fps).

Original bullets for the 45-70Gov were swaged pure lead, as were the balloon-head cased factory loads for .45-70, -90, and -110, etc. They used to shoot those reasonably accurately at surprisingly long ranges, even by today's standards.

By way of comparison, my non-magnum non-GC handgun bullets never run more than 1-2% tin.