Any ideas??

[Bowen4]

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j448/Bowen45/DSC01007.jpg
Hi all! New to site. Picture should explain,if I posted this right. Any Ideas??

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

So . . . are you thinking the chunk is lead?

[Jim]

Bowen, what's your question?

[btroj]

Looks like some hard, and brittle, alloy in that bullet. Either that or it was not fully hardened when you dropped it.
As for the chunk, what do you want to know? Looks like it could be lead. The grain structure makes it look pretty darn hard. Need way more info than a photo however.

[Bowen4]

Lyman recipe for #2 out of old book W/W, 50/50, and pure lead. Cast a couple this a.m.
and they came out with hairline fractures. I was lke what the $#$? After they cooled you
can just pull off the lube groove????

[trapper9260]

What you like to know ? If it is lead just take a nail and see if you can leave a mark on it then if you can it is lead. let us know what it comes up to.

[Reg]

Guessing at your question , but the bullet looks like it was removed from the mold before it had cooled properly. If you try to cast too quick I have seen this happen. The rock ? Looks like a Indian sex stone to me.!!

:Fire:

[Bowen4]

btroj, that's kind of the question? They seem so hard they are brittle! That ingot was poured
of what was left.

[Jim]

Bowen,
Please don't misunderstand me, but are you SURE of the metals you used to make you alloy? For example, is there any chance you might have used 95/5 or lead free solder in place of 50/50? Are you sure that what you used as base lead is really lead?

Just thought I'd ask, that's all.

[Bowen4]

Jim, no misunderstanding, that's why I'm posting. The lead was flat sheet/ W/W I melted and
the 50/50 bar was stamped. Wondering about over heating? Bad Themo? Not cool enough
before dropped? Any thoughts? Like btroj said grain looks funny like voccano rock????

[bhn22]

I reminds me of the time I bought a bunch of linotype ingots that turned out to be babbit. It made great bullets, but they all fractured at the taper crimp

[btroj]

I would go back and add more pure lead. That looks like it is way too brittle. It has the look of a high antimony alloy.
The bullets were dropped from the mould while still not fully hardened. The mould way probably too hot also. If I saw this dropping from my mould I would cool the mould, set it aside for a minute or so, cool on a damp rag, something. How long is the sprue taking to harden? If more than 5 seconds or so it tells me the mould is a bit hot.
This is a sign of needing to get a rhythm down. Once the mould is up to temp I like to watch the sprue. Once hard I cut and dump. Every so often the mound will take a bit longer to harden the sprue, that is the time to cool the mould. A touch of the bottom of the mould on a damp sponge for a second will cool it enough to get many more porous before this is needed again. The time betweens cookouts is largely dependent on the overall size of the bullet in relationship to the size of the mould. I have a GB 6cav Lee for a 420 45-70 bullet that will overheat in a heartbeat. I have a 5 cav 120 gr for 32-20 that never does. It is all part of the learning curve. Over time you start to know what moulds have certain needs.
Ultimately I would say you are up against the double whammy of a high Sb alloy and high mould temp. What you see is the best indication of this. It is a classic example.
Cool the mould, soften the alloy, and have at it. You are on the right track by asking.

Good luck.

Brad

[btroj]

One more thong- where are you located? If you have an experienced caster in your area a quick one on one learning session can do wonders.

[Bowen4]

bhn22, That's along the lines I was thinkin. Babbit's are not created equal. When I melted bars to ingot they were very shiny, (lots of tin). Wondering about freezing out( I believe thats the procedure)??

[Bowen4]

btroj, thanks, I went back and cast some pure lead and everything was fine! Not arguing
what you said, but I think its the recipe/my procedure or what I believed to be something its not(50/50).

[stubshaft]

I think that you solved your own problem. If you are certain of the components with the exception of one. Then that would be the likely suspect.

Try and cast some out of plain WW and measure/weigh against the ones in the photo.

[runfiverun]

cut the alloy you made in half with ww's. more ww's wouldn't hurt [75 % more would make nice boolits]
it looks like too much tin to me.
it looks like too much antimony ,but the extra tin has caused free tin to be floating around in the alloy making hard spots [50 bhn] of tin surrounded by un alloyed lead [ at 5 bhn]
and you still have an sbsn chained alloy in there too. [about 12 bhn]

the only other thing that would do that is about 4% zinc or bismuth or kirksite or calcite.

[NHlever]

Mystery alloy is the bane of boolit casters everywhere! I sure wish there were a way for us to find out what is in some of the material we get. Most of it is too valuable to toss, and yet keeps us guessing when we try to make boolits from it. I have a 40 pound box of alloy like that. The specific gravity matches 50/50 lead tin, but I'm sure not sure that is what it is. A 170 grain boolit comes out at 135 grains when cast from it, and the sprue is brittle, and really hard to cut when the mold is cool. Fill out is excellent, and it makes very shiny boolits. When used in an alloy tryinig for a 1-15 mix, a 170 grain boolit will weigh within a couple of grains of the stated mold weight, and within that of one cast from known 1-15. So, sometimes we just have to play around with that stuff until we get what we want. Brittle boolits will still punch holes in paper, but ones that crack when they cool are another story. You might call around to a few salvage yards, and one of them might have the equipment to tell you about what you have........... if they want to be bothered. I tried one place that said they would do it, but obviously didn't since they told me it was pure lead. Good luck sorting out your mystery. I've never seen somethiing quite like that, so it will be interesting if you find out what is going on.

[Bowen4]

NHlever, Don't have a clue,either. Gonna remelt everything and try again. Make some smaller
batches and add lead??Not saying my mold wasn't hot, or dropped to fast, just not my 1st rodeo!After rereading about babbitt (lascast) i'm really thinking thats what I've got?????or guessing?? They were 3/4" wide plumbers soldier bars that said 50/50???

[Bowen4]

NHlever, Forgot weights are within of what mold is, gonna cast some pure lead
and see differ?

[btroj]

Glad you are getting some better results. I have had similar looking bullets before. They taught me a fair amount about mold temp.

Never stop learning. Never stop trying.

Brad

[Doby45]

Looks like your boolit was sticking in the mold. I have had the exact same looking boo lit with my Miha mold and straight clip on WW, looked PERZACTLY like that.