What to do?

[FISH4BUGS]

I was just given 4 large coffee cans (probably 100lbs all told) of lead ingots of unknown composition. All I know is that it is lead. I don't have a hardness tester so no way to tell that.
I have pleny of WW's and Linotype to alloy it with......I just don't know what to do with it and what mix to alloy it with.
Any suggestions?

[44man]

Without a hardness tester, the only tool you have is your finger nail. Soft lead will scratch pretty deep, hard lead will not. If it is soft, just add something to it, if it feels hard just make boolits. It all shoots.

[Bass Ackward]

I would melt some of that down first and just see how it casts. Make sure that there is no aluminum or zink in it. Then mold a few bullets. Send them to someone that has a hardness tester if you want to know for sure. You can PM me for my address and I will test a couple of bullets for you. Or use 44s method.

But I would definately test castibility before I alloyed with any of my stock that might amount to waste. Just in case.

[kenjuudo]

You could cast some up and put them in a vise with the same design in a known alloy, should tell ya enough.

jim

[NVcurmudgeon]

Bugs, if you have "plenty of WW," some of them are probably tape-on weights. Make an ingot each of linotype, common wheel weights, and tape-on weights (pure lead,) as well as your mystery alloy. Do edge-to-edge slam tests and the amount of denting between samples will show you where your mystery alloy is on the hardness scale.