Not welding, per se but,

[handirifle]

It's actually a silver solder question.

I am in the very slow process of making some bullet forming dies, to make lead free bullets for a rifle that no one makes lead free bullets for. I cannot afford to buy the professionally made press and dies that would make this an easy proposition, so I am learning as I go. One of the ideas I have come up with is a partitioned design, with the partition silver soldered in place. This is a piece of copper tubing, approx one inch long, and I am thinking of soldering either a solid copper plug, or an inverted copper "cup" inside the tubing.

My question to you guys, is do you think when fired this partitioned jacket would hold together? I do not think a soft soldered one would at all, but wasn't sure if the silver solder, or silfos would fare much better.

What do you guys think? I know this is WAY out the ordinary, but hey, I am reinventing the wheel here. Mainly cause there's no ready made wheels available for this thing.

 

[dusty3030]

What diameter bullet?

 

[handirifle]

.375 outside. It's a flat nose design for a levergun. Overall length of the bullet is approximately 1" with about 3/4" of a solder joint.

 

[yomax4]

Many the carbide tool and saw blade inserts are done with Silver. Usually with a little Nickel in it. Say a 50Ni1. Or 50% Silver Solder with a dab of nickel in it. Put it on with the Black high heat flux. It will hold. Send me a message with an address and I'll send you a sample.

 

[Gary Fowler]

You silver solder has a higher melting point than the lead, so it should work as far as heat. HOWEVER, if you are planning to use the copper as a mold, I dont think that will work as the lead will adhere to the bullet and I dont think you will be able to separate your mold. That is why the bullet molds are made from cast iron or steel or graphite. If you could find a graphite block, you could easily cut it into two pieces, then form it to your bullet specs with the proper sized drill and mark several bullets at a time depending on the size of your block.

 

[dusty3030]

I'm assuming for a .375 Winchester then.
Check out Barnes. As of right now I think the solids are still in limbo with a crazy ruling from the ATF that they are armor piercing, but the TSX bullets are available in .375, but they have a point. Looks to me the easiest way to get the bullets you want and get a high quality rifle bullet I'd get a TSX heavier then you want and turn them down in a lathe to get the nose profile and length for the lever gun. Might be eaiser and get a more consistent product than making them from scratch.
I'd also contact Barnes and see if a lead free bulllet suitable for the .375 Winchester is in the works, they have been a good resource for me, I have a 38/55 that has the older spec bore size and Barnes is the only company that makes a jacketed hunting bullet in .377 that is for these rifles.

 

[Soundguy]

i may be wrong but I was thinking he was talking about making a copper jacketed silver allow slug.. with the pipe as the jacket...

again.. I could be wrong..

You silver solder has a higher melting point than the lead, so it should work as far as heat. HOWEVER, if you are planning to use the copper as a mold, I dont think that will work as the lead will adhere to the bullet and I dont think you will be able to separate your mold. That is why the bullet molds are made from cast iron or steel or graphite. If you could find a graphite block, you could easily cut it into two pieces, then form it to your bullet specs with the proper sized drill and mark several bullets at a time depending on the size of your block.

 

[handirifle]

i may be wrong but I was thinking he was talking about making a copper jacketed silver allow slug.. with the pipe as the jacket...

again.. I could be wrong..

Soundguy
You are the closest, so you get the prize!!!!! Whatever that is.:thumbsup:

It will be a copper jacketed bullet, filled with a mix of bizmuth and lead free solder, since this mix is heavier than all copper.

Dusty
Been there, still doing that. Check out these threads, if you have a lot of reading time. One is 5 pages long, the other is up to 15, so this is not a new idea, and there aren't too many stones unturned so far. Barnes does not make a bullet suitable for use in the levergun, AS IS, and it takes a lot of work to make it usable. I am having great difficulty coming up with a way to cut them consistently, and making them open at levergun velocities.

Paco Kelly's Leverguns.com • View topic - Barnes TSX for the 375 Win (updated)

Barnes TSX 375 Levergun Project (update!!)

Yes, it is for the 375 Winchester, and it needs to open/expand at a range of 15-1600 to 2200+ fps.

Gary, it's not a mold, in the sense that the casting will be taken out, it will stay in, but it cannot be lead at all. Will be a mix of bizmuth/lead free solder, or an all copper slug. The upside down cup, will be the same as soldering in a copper slug. There will be about 3/4" of joint contact, and I am hoping that it will prove a strong enough joint to prevent or greatly ****** the separation of the outside jacket from the inside one (or copper slug).

yomax4
Will do. Didn't the blade inserts were soldered in, good to know. I used to do AC work, many moons ago and got pretty good doing silver soldering the refrigerant lines.

Here are a couple of pics of where I am at with it now. The top pic shows two jackets I made (not a finished product at all) in the middle of the four. The left is a 200gr, .375 factory bullet, and the right is a 300gr TSX for the 45-70. Also the nose forming punch I made for this project.

The bottom pic shows one of the jackets sitting on the nose forming punch as it would before going into the sizing die.

Now picture another bullet jacket, with a solid bottom, upside down, placed in the jacket I made (like an upside down glass). Looking in from the hollow point nose, you'd see the flat solid bottom, of the inserted upside down jacket, about 1/4" from the nose. That is the partition. That upside down insert, is what will be soldered to the jacket I made.

Does that make sense? Hope so.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I am curious as to why you cant use copper jacketed lead bullets. Are you using this cannon to shoot ducks or something. That is the only thing I know of that requires non lead is when shooting over water.

 

[TRR]

Will be a mix of bizmuth/lead free solder, or an all copper slug.

If an all copper slug will work, why not use a copper rod and put it in a lathe to form the bullet? I would wonder how well it is balanced about the spin axis if you're assembling it from parts.