For those of you that need some:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/1ZHW3

Hope this isn't against the rules.

I bought 25 rolls. :rolleyes:

I don't know either but thanks for the heads up.... 2.77/lbs is GREAT

Flux core? Uh..... I hope you don't solder the mould blocks shut. This would not be good with a brass mould!!!!

The flux will burn away when you put it in the casting furnace and you add some sawdust to clean it, also you can throw in a wood match lit.

Flux core? Uh..... I hope you don't solder the mould blocks shut. This would not be good with a brass mould!!!!

I'd melt it and skim off the excess flux then, as mentioned, sawdust and a match add lead/WW and :D

Glad to hear it's doable. I've heard of people soldering brass mould blocks together, inadvertently.

I've used flux core solder before and it's no problem.

You might have some trouble if you forgot to add the lead to your pot. :D

I think the assumption is this will serve as a source of tin for mixing with other material, so it will get diluted. The flux will be a non-acid type in order not to cause corrosion or verdigris in copper wire. For that reason, while you can solder brass with it, unlike the acid core, it will not do so easily and usually takes the brass being held at soldering temperature for awhile for it to happen.

If you smoke the moulds properly, this won't stick to the mould any worse than any other bullet alloy. I've ordered solder from Grainger before. They're great to deal with. I'm amazed they still have solder on sale at these kinds of prices. I thought it was a clearance or error in pricing when I bought months ago.

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The whole RoHS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Substances_Directive) thing is taking all lead out of electrical solder and off of tinned leads. They are phasing the metal out of electronics. I don't know if that will help make it cheaper in the long run, since consumption of car batteries seems likely to go up?

The Lyman manual specifically warns against using car battery lead since it 1) is nearly impossible to remove the corrosive sulfuric acid, and 2) has alloying elements such as Ca that improve its electrical capacity, but demolish its mouldability.

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The Lyman manual specifically warns against using car battery lead since it 1) is nearly impossible to remove the corrosive sulfuric acid, and 2) has alloying elements such as Ca that improve its electrical capacity, but demolish its mouldability.

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In addition to the Calcium issue, I belive it will form a metal compound with Arsenic such that when it gets wet (as in melting and slag), it will decompose and liberate Arsine gas (a compound of Arsenic and Hydrogen) which is deadly.
About the ONLY thing I will recommend reusing from batteries is the posts... I know of one guy that snaps them off so his batteries ship flat on the pallets. he has a 55 gallon drum full of posts. Good stuff.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

I've used flux core solder before and it's no problem.

You might have some trouble if you forgot to add the lead to your pot. :D

Haven't tried it but I think adding any kind of flux core solder for added tin is fine when smelting your wws or pure lead alloy. The flux core should just burn off while smelting and it is an added flux to the melt. Have wondered about using it to add more tin to make the wws more castable as wws have a very low tin content. I don't see how it would hurt. Just wondering about the ratio to add.

This isn't smelting, it's just melting. Smelting is the high-temp chemical reaction that reduces ore to metal. WWs are already metal, and are merely melted to cast them.

I've found WW's to have plenty of tin for good castability. In fact, I mix them 1:1 with range scrap, which is nearly pure lead since .22's and jacketed bullets aren't alloyed to make them swage easier. Cut 1:1, there's still enuf tin in them to make them cast nicely.

:)

This isn't smelting, it's just melting. Smelting is the high-temp chemical reaction that reduces ore to metal. WWs are already metal, and are merely melted to cast them.

I've found WW's to have plenty of tin for good castability. In fact, I mix them 1:1 with range scrap, which is nearly pure lead since .22's and jacketed bullets aren't alloyed to make them swage easier. Cut 1:1, there's still enuf tin in them to make them cast nicely.

:)

I guess terminology is terminology. Many say that smelting is putting things like wws into a dutch oven to smelt and remove all unwanted additives and dross before pouring ingots for casting. You then melt your ingots in your furnace for casting.
Hard to tell what all range scrap is made of but I do add some to my wws if I have some available when smelting, melting?:)

For bullet casters, IMHO, smelting is cleaning and alloying metal to be used for bullets. Melting is when the cleaned/alloyed metal is melted to be poured into a mold. I like to keep things simple. Technically, when speaking to a Metalurgist I'd be wrong in my defination, but I don't know any, so...

GMD3006 has it right on the terms. Smelting is extracting of metal from ore by heating a mix ore and fuel. The ore normally has the metal in oxide form, and the fuel (like coke or other carbon sources) is used to react with the oxygen in the oxide to separate it from the metal. Fluxes often do the same thing on a smaller scale, but AFAIK, the term smelting means to extract metal from ore, not to alloy it or flux it. I suppose you could make the argument that fluxing is technically a form of smelting on a small scale, to the extent it acts as fuel to reduce oxides. I think redefining the term "smelt" just to make a special case for bullet casters would be OK, except that lead and tin had to be smelted from ore at one point, so the potential for confusion exists so you then have would to add modifiers to clarify which kind of smelting you were referring to. Probably better and easier just to keep melting and smelting separate.