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[The Appalachian]

Been pondering venturing into casting metals, mainly for build rifle furniture. Won't be doing any iron, but brass is a no brainer.

Been working with pewter lately, mainly smelting modern non-lead pewter for the tin content to use in bullet casting.

Poured nose caps are a given but my question is, has anyone made butt plates, trigger guards, pipes, etc out of pewter?

The pewter I'm working with lately, bud vases and small pitchers, is tough in one respect, but "soft". I can sliver off pieces from the surface with a sharp pocket knife. Not what I'd really want to use for buttplates and trigger guards.

BUT, Rotometals has "zinc based" pewter which has a much higher, nearly double, melting point temperature than the regular pewter im using in bullet metal. It makes sense that type of pewter would be tougher and less apt to get damaged in the use of a muzzleloader.

Thoughts?

 

[The Appalachian]

No thoughts, interesting.....

Guess I'll be a pioneer and giver a try.

 

[deerstalkert]

I have poured nose caps and a few inlay's but no furniture. have a package of the zinc based but have not used it yet.
trigger guards might work but i think butt plate would be too soft. just my .002

 

[rich pierce]

Pewter would not be strong enough for guards.

 

[windini]

Pewter would not be strong enough for guards.

How 'bout for Militiamen?

When I was in 7th grade, all us boys took shop: one quarter each of drawing, electrical, woodworking, and metal. In metal shop, I made a casting of a stylized mask, kinda safari/Maori shield shape that was a face (one of the choices & far more interesting than garden tool handles!) out of Dad's old aluminum beer cans. I've been itching to do some more casting ever since.

Last fall I was lucky enough to catch a friend right when he was ready to pour when I'd come to borrow some aluminum black from him. Just as fascinating today as it was in 1973-4!!

I have no input regarding pewter's appropriateness for buttplates and guards, but I'd encourage you to mess around with casting and start developing a feel for it. We only live once!

 

[The Appalachian]

Pewter would not be strong enough for guards.

Have you tried the zinc based pewter?

 

[rich pierce]

Have you tried the zinc based pewter?

No, I do re-creations, not experimental work. I’m sure some alloys other than brass and steel and German silver could work for some longrifle furniture but such things would not interest me.

 

[waksupi]

Go to second hand shops, buy the fake pewter. It's generally Britannia, is quite hard, and casts well. Appearance is pretty much like silver when finished.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

Any item marked "Wilton" found in second hand stores is suitable for smelting. They were a player in producing bicentennial goods.

 

[The Appalachian]

No, I do re-creations, not experimental work. I’m sure some alloys other than brass and steel and German silver could work for some longrifle furniture but such things would not interest me.

If you can't quantify the suitability of zinc based pewter, which is infact harder and more durable than ancient pewter or modern tableware pewter, then your assessment above is of no use to this conversation.

 

[The Appalachian]

Go to second hand shops, buy the fake pewter. It's generally Britannia, is quite hard, and casts well. Appearance is pretty much like silver when finished.

Britannia Pewter is also known as modern pewter or lead free pewter. It contains mostly tin, and traces of bismuth and antimony. I suppose you could "call" it fake, compared to the original ancient formula that contained lead, but Britannia formula has been the norm for many many decades.

It is also not hard at all, and infact, soft enough you can bend it with your fingers and sliver pieces off with a sharp pocket knife. I've been buying Britannia pewter pieces and smelting them down for adding the high tin content to cast bullet alloy. I can source Britannia pewter bud vases, small pitchers, etc out of Norway and England for a 1/4 of the price of pure tin from various alloy dealers.

Zinc based pewter is not Britannia Pewter by any measure. Much harder and twice the melting point temperature. It is used today by artists to cast figurines and jewelry due to its durability.

 

[The Appalachian]

Any item marked "Wilton" found in second hand stores is suitable for smelting. They were a player in producing bicentennial goods.

Wilton Armetale "pewter" is known in the bullet casting world as, well, junk. No tin content and is an aluminum alloy designed to replicate the look of pewter. It is for all intents and purpose, what I would consider to be fake pewter.

It however, might be suitable for rifle mountings because it is very durable....that is if I can bring myself to use anything that is mostly aluminum and trying to call it pewter.

I think I'll investigate the use of zinc pewter first, at least I can live with that being mostly zinc, copper, and a minimal amount of aluminum.

 

[Kentuckyjed]

Make beer steins and butt plates.
I don't see why any of the items you listed for will not work, give it a shot.

 

[The Appalachian]

For context and reference German Silver, which does not contain any actual silver at all, is made up of zinc, copper, and nickel, and is widely accepted as suitable for longrifle furniture. I'm still trying to determine which would be harder and more durable, or if zinc pewter would be acceptably similar in that respect.

 

[LongWalker]

For context and reference German Silver, which does not contain any actual silver at all, is made up of zinc, copper, and nickel, and is widely accepted as suitable for longrifle furniture. I'm still trying to determine which would be harder and more durable, or if zinc pewter would be acceptably similar in that respect.

I've used a fair amount of it over the years for various projects.

Rotometals' "zinc based pewter" is one of the zamak alloys ("Zamak 2", consisting of 93% Zinc, 4% Aluminum, and 3% Copper). You need to die cast or spin cast them; sand casting isn't going to work. In terms of metals that might be suitable for gun furniture, the Zamak metals are absurdly brittle and corrodes too easily; they also shrink over time. This isn't theory: I've used it to prototype some flat buttplates (for older cartridge shotguns) and had them break when bumped. Over time, when tightly fastened between two points (the screws), they've also cracked between the fastening points.

German silver is 60% copper, 20% nickel, and 20% zinc. A brass alloy typical of the "good" brass castings is cartridge brass: 70% copper and 30% zinc (sometimes with a touch of lead added to increase machinibility). Both metals make good gun furniture: they are easily cast, fairly durable, easily-worked-with-hand-tools, anneal easily, and look good.

Brittania metal was also mentioned. It is usually about 92% tin, 6% antimony, and 2% copper. It doesn't cast well, the best way to work it is to spin it on a lathe. It is too soft for gun furniture. The metal will tear around a typical pinned attachment, as on a trigger guard lug. A trigger guard bow of Britannia metal could be easily smashed (when working with it I often take my off-cuts and wad them up by hand so they'll fit in a ladle for recycling).

 

[The Appalachian]

That's good info, thanks.

Britannia Pewter: know all about it. Just smashed up two pieces today, a cup, and a bud vase, from ebay, to fit into my smelting pot. Got two ingots, total weight 1.5 lbs.

13 lbs of the same will be here Saturday and go into the pot as well.

 

[mikesto44]

Why not just do it...? No since debating it on here. If it works fine if it doesn't at least you know...

 

[The Appalachian]

Why not just do it...? No since debating it on here. If it works fine if it doesn't at least you know...

It's called research.......

 

[mikesto44]

You will never know until you try. I have a lot of stuff that didn't work out as planned but for me that's half the fun.