[en] Neutron diffraction patterns from K-KCl and Rb-RbBr liquid solutions at various compositions are examined in an ionic-mixture model which neglects screening and aggregation due to the metallic electrons. The main feature of the observed diffraction patterns for wave number k above roughly 1A^-1 are accounted for by the model. The approach to the metal-rich end of the phase diagram is analyzed in detail from different viewpoints in the K-KCl system. Short-range correlations of the potassium ions are described in this region by a metallic radius deduced from properties of the pure liquid metal, but a simple expanded-metal model must be supplemented by the assumption that considerable disorder is introduced in its structure by the halogen ions. Features of short-range ordering in the salt-rich region that are implied by a shoulder on the high-k side of the main peak in the diffraction pattern are also commented upon. (author)