are silver dollars made.out of pure silver

[DiGarrett]

Ah, if only things were so pure and simple! While they're called "silver dollars," the classic U.S. coins you're likely thinking of are not made of pure silver. It turns out that pure silver is a bit of a softy and can't handle the rough-and-tumble life of a circulating coin.

To toughen them up, the U.S. Mint played matchmaker and alloyed the silver with copper. The famous silver dollars minted for circulation before 1965, like the Morgan and Peace dollars, are composed of 90% silver and 10% copper. So, they're more like "mostly silver dollars."

Now, if you're talking about the dollar coins you get as change today, those are just silver in spirit. They contain precisely zero silver and are mostly a mix of copper, zinc, manganese, and nickel. However, modern collectible and bullion coins, like the American Silver Eagle, are the real deal. They are indeed made of 99.9% pure silver, but you're not likely to use one to buy a gumball.

Incidentally, the provided search results were about as useful as a chocolate teapot for answering this question, so this information is pulled from the general vault of numismatic knowledge.