I Found some ingots..

[housedad]

I have been buying lead WW recently, and I finally found some time last night to start going through the ton or so.

I found some ingots, molded in a lyman mold. About 50 of them.

I do not know what they are for sure, but there were a couple of wads of lead and clips at the same level.

Should I hit them with a hardness tester? What do you think I should do to minimize any zink that could be in there?

I just don't know what to do with them to ensure they are OK. I don't know what they consist of. They could be the guys personal mix for all I know.


Please advise me with what to do. Thanks


Bion

[fredj338]

The best way to tell is melt them. I would put a small amount, # or so, of known alloy in the bottom of your smelting pot & melt it. Check the temp & set it @ 650deg no more than 700. Drop the unknown ingots in. If they melt, they are likely good to go. Then you can run some test bullets to check BHN.

[454PB]

Cast some boolits up from your mystery alloy, then weigh and measure the resulting slugs for comparison to a known alloy. If they are lighter and larger in diameter, they have more antimony than the known alloy. If you have a hardness tester, that's another test to run.

However, what does it really matter what the alloy is? If it's casts well and is hard enough to prevent leading, keep it separate from your known alloys and use it up as "mystery metal".

[housedad]

Excellent Ideas. I will put them to good use. Thanks guys.

I'm always open to new ideas on anything!!

[Down South]

A second vote to cast a couple lbs of it and compare to your known alloy.

[rhead]

If it cast well and shoots well use it. The deer will not know what the alloy mix was and if he did he would not understand the significance of the knowledge.

[jdgabbard]

Cast up a few boolits and test them on the hardness tester. It should give you an approximate idea as to the alloy.