Back in the 90's I was doing a bit of shopping at my local (now defunct) electronics parts store caled Delta Electronics. The were based out of California, but had 20-30 stores throughout the country and several of them were here in the Atlanta Georgia area. Anyway, one day I walked in and stood face to face with this giant 10' tall pyramid made 1lb boxed rolls of Gardiner .020 63/37 XM-200 solder. In front of the pyramid was a bin filled with a couple thousand more boxed rolls of it and a sign that read $5.00 ea or buy 4 rolls and get the 5th roll free. So I got me 5lbs of this stuff. For those of you who use Kester 44, this is the same stuff. Kester bought Gardiner and continued to use its line but with the Kester name. After about 20+ years, I'm down to 4lbs of it and its my goto solder. The one pound I went through was only half used by me and the other have given to friends and family members who needed a bit of solder over the years.
As to the question about Radio Shack solder earlier in the thread, dont touch it. If its the old stuff they sold in the 70's and 80's then by all means use it. I still have a some of a 1lb .032 60/40 roll rosin cored Radio Shack roll from back in the 80's and I use it for larger connections that I need to clamp the parts when soldering. Works great and I've never had a flow or wetting issue with it. Just have to clean the residue though. But I've used the modern Radio Shack solders from time to time (at a friends place or on a job and out and about) and its just plain garbage. The last time I used it was about a year ago and it was installing a new head unit for my uncle in his truck. I was wiring up the harness over at his place and he had a cheap direct plug in firestarter type soldering iron and bought a little roll of Radio Shack 63/37. So I clean, braid and flux the joints of the harness (not forgetting the heat shrink first ^_^), and after each joint I watched it slowly cool to a solid point. Must have taken 4-5 seconds for each joint to go solid. Meaning that it was not as it was labeled a 63/37 solder and it was fairly dull when it cooled. Not frosty like it had been over heated, just dull with a look of age. It also peeled off the wires with far less strength than it should have taken. The wires were decent copper strand, the flux was reasonable quality (I had it left over in my glove box when I forgot to place it in my toolbox on a job), and the cheap soldering iron wasnt way out of wack. So it really leaves the solder as the culprit.
So avoid modern Radio Shaft tools and parts as they are total junk now days. There was a time back in the 70's and 80's when they sold decent parts and tools for a decent price. There was also a time when
Radio Shack sold radio gear (hence the name), but now they just sell low rent consumer junk, and their staff is made up of kids and morons. A good example of this is to go into any store and ask any employee about what ham gear they have. By default, they will go stiff and their face will melt off like Thot in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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