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Thread: Inherited Ingots

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
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    45

    Inherited Ingots

    A guy at the club passed on and had a pile of lead ingots that he labeled "631". Does this designation mean anything to you all? He had some labeled LT which I assume is Linotype, and WW, which is wheel weights, but I'm scratching my head on the 631.

    This raises another question of how do you label your alloys? Personally, I have Lyman #2 that I make from 10# of wheel weights and 1# of 50:50 Pb-Sn bar, what I call "3% Sn" that is range lead plus 3% tin, and then pure led that I label Pb and use to make the 3% Sn. Most of my casting is for pistol, so the simple 3% Sn alloy works fine. I save the wheel weights, Lyman #2, and any linotype for gas checked rifle bullets. FYI, I use either Lyman Alox, or a homemade lube that is 5 parts beeswax, 1 part moly disulphide grease, 1 part ATF. I only use Alox when I run out of beeswax...

    Tarkid

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

    jcren's Avatar
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    96-3-1 Maybe?
    "In God we trust, in all others, check the manual!"

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master

    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    England,Ar
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    I would only be guessing at what 631 means. 96-3-1 is as good of a guess as any. If you have very much of it you can get it tested. We have a member here that can do it for you.

    I stack mine in milk crates and zip-tie a label on the crate. I use mostly words and symbols that are easily understood. I start with a batch # which is the date that it was smelted. Like batch 02-12-2018. Then I use letters like coww, soww, lino, isotope, range scrap, misc soft, misc hard, ect.

    I smelt in batches of between 350 and 400# and tend to add like scrap together. Plumbing lead and soww go together. This includes sheet lead and roofing lead. Misc hard stuff gets blended with the coww. Range scrap goes together as does isotope lead. I leave any lead type in its original form.

  4. #4
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    RogerDat's Avatar
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    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?29218-BNE The member is BNE he "charges" 1 pound of lead per sample tested. Only needs a pea size piece to test.

    I stamp letters such as WW or PB for coww or plain lead. TM for type metal (letters etc.) I have some ingot bars labeled with black marker and packed in boxes that are labeled. Pretty much all my lino is still in the form of pigs or letter strips. I'm also a fan of a big batch of like metal, which I then get tested and store in mostly larger ingots of 10 - 12 lb. slabs from bread loaf pans.

    The alloy I make from those slabs of raw ingrediants will also be big batch but that will be poured into smaller angle iron molds as bars or muffin tins as pucks that will fit in a 20# melter. Those ingots often get stamped but sometimes I just mark them with black marker. By keeping them together the ingots would all have to become unreadable before I couldn't tell what the alloy in that stack was. Harbor Freight stamp set is cheap, and makes the markings permanent. L2 is Lyman #2 a favorite alloy. Good as is or cut with plain.

    I do make 96/3/2 a lot but will sometimes have that tin up at 3 so it can be cut 50/50 with plain for softer revolver bullets that will still be 1.5% tin. 96/3/1 is a classic alloy but only way to know is to have it tested. At 1# of lead that doesn't seem too high of a cost to find out what you really have.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  5. #5
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Posts
    45
    Good info. Given the way the various ingots were labeled, you all are probably right that they are 96-3-1. I appreciate the input. Most of my castings are 9mm and 45 loaded lighter than factory loads, mostly range lead plus a bit of tin and I get very little leading. If I see any I run a swab wrapped in a bit of bronze wool and it flakes right out. It's been a while since I cast and shot rifle bullets but I never had any problems using lyman #2 made from wheel weights and 50/50 bar solder, gas checked and a good lube, up to around 2200 fps. Been a while though. Nowadays it's all pistol loads. Thanks again for the input.

    Tarkid

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check