Silver Bullets

[Thecrazyone1]

I came into a bunch of messed up silverware and I was wondering what I would need to mold reload bullets out of it. The melt value of this kind of silver isn't much. I know Lee makes bullet molds for lead but is the melting point of silver to high for the aluminum molds?

The bullets would be for presentation but I would also like to load them for actual use (just in case werewolfs attack - joking). Is there any load data that can show what / how much powder for bullets made of silver (heavier? or is it lighter than lead)?

[zfields]

Was some testing I saw a while back that showed a lot of issues with loading silver bullets. My google foo is weak right now, but its out there.

[bohoki]

casting silver is hard

the best way is the lost wax method as for load data yikes i would say just use light loadings for the comparable bullet type in lead weight

or casting it into barstock and lathe them

the best option for werewolves would be to make silver spatter balls and load it in a shotshell but that would not be visually pleasing like the lone ranger

liquid silver would melt aluminum

[Dark Mod]

We cast silver all the time at work, but its a different method. We pour an investment over wax molds and then pour the molten silver in to make a sprue. From what the goldsmiths tell me it takes a much higher temperature to melt silver than gold, so im assuming its a bit higher than lead.

You can send it all as scrap to the refinery and they will send you back shot for a fee. They remove any alloy so what you get back is almost pure silver.

Of course you can keep it, back in 2001 Silver was about $4 an ounce, now its about $34 per ounce.

[EmmaGoldman]

Not in the aluminum molds, but you can use the iron molds that everyone else makes.

You need borax to put on the metal before melting, which acts as a flux to minimize oxidation. You'll have to make several attempts before the mold gets hot enough. Applying beeswax to the hot mold will help prevent sticking.

It is very important to drop the bullet in to water to cool it IMMEDIATELY after it has solidified, in order to keep it relatively soft. Final sizing is also critical, as molds are designed to make lead bullets that are over groove size; those few thousandths of an inch are a much bigger deal with a harder bullet metal such as silver.

Load data would be quite different from lead or copper jacketed bullets, and I won't suggest a starting place.

[r3dn3ck]

sell it for scrap. if you want to waste precious metals on stupidity then rip the copper pipe out of your house and sell it to a crackhead as scrap.

[mjmagee67]

Have you looked at the price of silver now? About $32 per oz. If you really want to cast your own boollets sell the silver and but some nice casting lead.

[Endofcomment]

Recycle the silver it's a way better return.

[Databyter]

I came into a bunch of messed up silverware and I was wondering what I would need to mold reload bullets out of it. The melt value of this kind of silver isn't much. I know Lee makes bullet molds for lead but is the melting point of silver to high for the aluminum molds?

The bullets would be for presentation but I would also like to load them for actual use (just in case werewolfs attack - joking). Is there any load data that can show what / how much powder for bullets made of silver (heavier? or is it lighter than lead)?

Unfortunately the silver bullet vs werewolf myth is debunked. They still run away and heal when they transform back (source: Hollywood Movies).

But one little known fact is that a wound with a silver bullet is less likely to become infected so this is a great round to shoot at Monsters that you just want to bring to New York City to put on display (Like King Kong).

Just don't shoot them from airplanes if the Monster is on a skyscraper.

Seriously though, whether for werewolves or other monsters with anti-biotoc properties you must use a more pure and softer alloy than sterling silver which might also be a bit rough on any barrel you try to shoot them out of unless you can purify the silver during the smelt.

Good Luck.

[Ripon83]

There is a well written story on it - I wish I could find it for you - some guy using a university facility with high temp facilities and plenty of variations for testing - very very hard to do because the temp required to mold silver....not worth it.