Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Melting antimony

I have a few hundred pounds of pure lead along with some pure tin. I would like to alloy in enough antimony to get to 15 to 16 BHN. I can purchase the antimony from Rotometals, but melting it is where my question arises. The melting point for antimony is about 1100 degrees. I know that my casting furnace won't be satisfactory for this purpose. Can anyone tell me a method for melting antimony so that it can be added to my lead and tin alloy?

do you have a picture of furnace and what is the fuel?
is feeding in pure Oxygen an option?

P.

Do you have a propane turkey fryer? Those burners easily put out enough heat for that; it's what I use for smelting lead but have to keep it on a very low setting.

I can tell you the Lee casting pots are capable of exceeding 1100 degrees. It just depends how the thermo switch inside is adjusted, but you can tweak them by hand if you need to. I make no claims as to the safety of the Lee pots for that use though.

I'm interested in what you come up with; I haven't had to mix raw antimony in my alloys yet but have wondered about it.

Buying and melting pure antimony? Believe me, you don't want to go there. There are any number of high antimony alloys that will easily mix with your pure lead and tin. If you insist on going with Rotometals, I would suggest their Super Hard Alloy which consists of 30% antimony. Personally, I buy linotype from sellers on the internet forums for much, much less than Rotometals' price.

Don

I do have and use a propane burner and pot that I use for melting and pouring ingots, I just didn't know if it got hot enough. My pot is a 20 lb. propane tank cut in half. I'll give it a try. I'm trying to come up with #2 alloy.

Hi USSR1991,
Please explain why I shouldn't melt and mix raw antimony into an alloy. (other than cost). I already have the lead and enough tin for the project. All I need is about $60.00 worth of antimony if I can alloy it to come up with about 7000 bullets. That is pretty cheap shooting.

Just a regular bottom pour casting furnace (Lee at the present, but a Lyman is on the way). Anyhow, I don't intend to use it for this purpose and no I don't want to fool with oxygen in this project. Thanks for your interest though.

What other suppliers other than Roto would anyone recommend?

Easy, in it's pure state it's highly toxic.
"Antimony toxicity occurs either due to occupational exposure or during therapy. Occupational exposure may cause respiratory irritation, pneumoconiosis, antimony spots on the skin and gastrointestinal symptoms. In addition antimony trioxide is possibly carcinogenic to humans".
Buy it pre-mixed with lead in which it becomes an alloy that is stable. In addition, it completely eliminates the need for a 1100 degree furnace.

Don

Thanks for your apparent knowledge on this subject. I may just bite the bullet (pun intended) and use the super hard alloy you suggested. It will more than double the cost of my alloy, but I also like safety.

Good move. Here is a ratio that will take you to a duplicate of the Lyman No. 2 alloy, which has a BHN of 15:

9.5# of pure lead
2# of RotoMetals Super Hard
10 ounces of pure tin

If you want it a little harder, just use a little less pure lead or a little more Super Hard. Hope that helps.

Don

Never work with pure Antimony. It's very poisonous. On the other hand, once it gets alloyed with something else, you won't have a problem. The alloy will also have a much lower liquidus temperature

Lead is also highly toxic and very poisonous...

I wouldn't eat or breathe either one but both are safe to work with proper safety gear... always wear gloves, mask and eye shield. I also cast outdoors.

But I agree with USSR and de Shaman...

You can alloy pure antimony but it's more work so use pre-alloyed high-antimony lead. That's what it's for.

The standard formula of 6% antimony and 2% tin is rated at 16 BHN.

A softer alloy of 3% antimony and 1% tin is hard enough for pistols out of the mold and harder when water dropped.

I like keeping any pure lead I can find in it's pure state until I need it, for black powder or whatever.

I powder coat, so I tend to run my alloys softer for pistol loads, and harder as necessary for rifles.

Your overthinking this a bit. Fella can mix pure, wheel weights and a bit of linotype easy enough to craft the BHN you're looking for. It is commonly referenced as Lyman #2 alloy. Google up the LASC (Los Angeles Shooting Club) web page for more info than you'll want to digest on the topic.

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

I have a couple 100 pounds of linotype if you want to swap for some pure.