Shooting cookware?

[redwing]

Reading some old ledgers from the Rev. War. They mention the great shortage of powder and lead. The Americans never had enought of either.
The ledgers states that it was common to break open cannon shells and us the powder in their muskets and Rifles. For balls they would melt down cook ware which was pewter.
Anyone ever try shooting balls made of pewter? Sounds like some thing interesting. I don't mean for a modern lead Sub. but to test balls as made by our fore fathers in the war with England. :hmm:
Where would we find this metal today to run a test in a flint lock rifle? Would it be more like WW metal?

 

[ky_man]

Most "modern" pewter is lead-free. You'd have to find old pewter plates, cups, figurines, etc. Pewter has a low melting point of around 225-240°C (437-464°F) depending on the exact mixture of metals.
[url] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewter[/url]

I have a few pewter items, includinf a tankard which is so soft I can mold its shape with my hand. I don't drink out of it often because I'm scared of the lead that's alloyed with it. I'm sure it would shoot fine. From what I've been reading lately, if one ran out of shot on the frontier, you could shoot out whatever you could fit into the muzzle (rocks, dirt, salt, wood, etc.)

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Close enough to WW, but more tin. In the smoothbore muskets, if they could melt it and cast into balls, they shot it. Same thing was done at the siege of Boonesboro in Sept. 1778 .

Same with other war material such as:

Here is a great quote from J.T. Headley's book The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution: "Mr. Caldwell was in the hottest of the fight, and seeing the fire of one of the companies slackening for want [i.e., lack] of wadding, he galloped to the Presbyterian meeting house near by, and rushing in, ran from pew to pew, filling his arms with hymn books. Hastening back with these into the battle, he scattered them about in every direction, saying as he pitched one here and another there, 'Now put Watts into them, boys'."
((Ed. Comment: Many of the hymns in the hymnbook had been written by Isaac Watts. Thus a play on the word "Watts" for the "wadding" the men needed for their muskets.))

[url] http://www.tacklingthetoughtopics.net/Eberhart/eberhart_revolutionary_war.html[/url]

 

[TANSTAAFL]

At the time, pewter was composed of 70% to 80% tin and the rest of copper, lead, antimony and occasionally bismuth.

 

[redwing]

:hmm: Mostly Tin, that would be very light for a ball. The ledger says they used what ever they could find. But the pewter seemed to be used more because they had the cookware. It also shows claims after
the war from men wanting pay for the loss of their cookware. :thumbsup:
Thanks Ky. Man good Info. I would like to find some and fire it in my Early Viginia Rifle. Do some test at 50 and 100 yards. I have some 1 1/2 F powder that I can use also. :thumbsup:

 

[redwing]

Tans love that story. Don't know how I missed that one very good. I know it true because you said it was a Presbyterian Church. {You know what I mean}.
Do you think I could get good results at 100 yds. shooting this stuff? Where can I find enough pewter to try this out? I can add the 4% lead, that is left out of modern pewter.

 

[bob1961]

here's a link to lead based pewter :v .............bob

Link

 

[TANSTAAFL]

High tin poured Babbitt metal bearings should be close. I always have my eye out for such for alloying CF bullets, it does turn up once in a while. The lead free Babbitt alloy runs approximately 89% tin, 3.45% copper, 7.5% antimony and 0.15% monel which contains Nickel.

I have scrapped in more babbit sleeve journal bearings over the years than I care to remember.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

here's a link to lead based pewter :v .............bob

Link

From the site, must be an echo.

RotoNickel - Babbitt (Pewter) ”“ A durable Babbitt metal consisting of approximately 89% Tin with 3.45%Copper, 7.5% Antimony and .15% of Monel which contains Nickel. Sometimes called High-Speed Nickel Babbitt or 4 X Nickel Babbitt, this Babbitt is suitable for bearings which are exposed to high temperatures and friction. Melt Temp Around 466 deg F

 

[redwing]

always hated those rod bearings in the 6 Cyl. Chevys.Now if I knew where I junked that stufff
in 1956 :hmm:

I thought about Babbitt bearings after reading the Specs. on pewter. There is an old shop here in Big Whiskey, Wyoming that might have some. :haha:
Thanks Tans

 

[TANSTAAFL]

always hated those rod bearings in the 6 Cyl. Chevys.Now if I knew where I junked that stufff
in 1956 :hmm:

I thought about Babbitt bearings after reading the Specs. on pewter. There is an old shop here in Big Whiskey, Wyoming that might have some. :haha:
Thanks Tans

Check with the majors in their bone yards around the area. Lot of the old & slow big bore recip compressors used babbit bearings on both the mains, power, and compressor throws.

 

[dtruex]

It's not hard to find sources for tin on the internet and mix your own lead/tin alloys. I do it for casting military miniatures. I used to get my tin from scrap yards, but it's getting harder to find in my area. Various muzzleloading suppliers sell ingots of tin for lining copper and brass containers. One source of lead/tin alloy is solder. Solid core solder in 50/50 , 60/40, etc. You can sometimes find it in bar form, too.