Lead Ingot Motherload mystery.

[John Boy]

Since you have many hardness tests to do, the Cabine Tree tester will be your fastest one to do tests ...
http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.as...59279&CAT=3903

[runfiverun]

the TUD drop test would differentiate between plain lead and printers lead.

the real test would be to have it XRF checked.
it might cost you a pound of tin or a couple pounds of lead to get it done but it would surely let you know what you have.

most guys store their stuff separate.
lead over here, tin in that crate, mixed stuff piled up under the casting pot.
I keep lino-type and lead bricks together but it's easy to tell the difference between a 25 lb 2' long triangle and a 12X4X1 brick of lead.
the ingoted lead, mixed alloys, and other alloys are separated physically and have a note in the bucket.

[bruce381]

send a bar to BNE on this site he will run do X-ray for price of a ingot.
fast and good guy very helpful

[lightman]

Whatever you have, thats a good score! Just more reinforcement that all of us should consider a way to mark our ingots and have a legend close to them. I would be real tempted to sort the best I can, make a large batch of simular types and have them tested. There is a member on here that was testing samples for members for a pound of lead per sample.

[OS OK]

Whatever you have, thats a good score! Just more reinforcement that all of us should consider a way to mark our ingots and have a legend close to them. I would be real tempted to sort the best I can, make a large batch of simular types and have them tested. There is a member on here that was testing samples for members for a pound of lead per sample.

Attachment 171266Harbor Freight has the letter sets cheap and you can put all the info on the ingot that represents the rest of them in that row/stack/area/however you put them away, one of the ingots has all the info you need to remember that batch.

[spfd1903]

Several years ago, I contacted a large metal recycling company in the city 20 miles from home. Their non-ferrous division sells 50/50 solder and 96/2/2 alloy, which I have purchased in the past. Talked to the non-ferrous manager about XRF testing. He suggested sending any samples (they only needed to be small 10-20 grain slivers) in the mail with a SASE envelope for return. He would not charge me as I was a buying customer. Have sent over twenty samples in and sometimes it may take a month, but he comes through. Recently bought a lot of ingots from a garage sale. The ingots either had an "L" or a "W" marked on them. They both rang when dropped, but rather than guess, I sent them in. The "W" were wheel weights, and the "L" was linotype. No unknowns.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Years ago when I started amassing piles of different types of lead I started seperating them in large auto parts trays. They are marked for linotype, monotype, wheel weight, and of course pure lead. I keep the tin/pewter in a seperate smaller tray and the isotope cores and smelted into ingots into yet another tray. I have each tray marked as to what is in it. As has been already said, when I`m breathing dirt others can figure out what type it was.Robert

[PBaholic]

Measure their hardness:

[scottfire1957]

Measure their hardness:

"


Measuring the hardness tells you the hardness, not the alloy, if the alloy matters.

[Budzilla 19]

Mark your stuff legibly and then you will know for sure. Not going to help in your current situation, but when you DO find out, just mark them accordingly and no more guessing. (last time I suggested marking with metal stamps, on this forum, I got my macadamias roasted!! Was told that " if I couldn't remember 1,2,3, or A,B,C, then maybe reloading wasn't for me!!!!) HAHAHA!!! Good luck.

[DerekP Houston]

Mark your stuff legibly and then you will know for sure. Not going to help in your current situation, but when you DO find out, just mark them accordingly and no more guessing. (last time I suggested marking with metal stamps, on this forum, I got my macadamias roasted!! Was told that " if I couldn't remember 1,2,3, or A,B,C, then maybe reloading wasn't for me!!!!) HAHAHA!!! Good luck.

Ehhhhh they all go bang in a nice soft pistol round , worst case scenario for me is I'm spending more on the alloy than I need to. I've actually had better luck leaving them in the nice packaged USPS MFRB boxes and just writing what it is on the side. Takes up a bunch more room for sure, but it is like opening a present each time I need more as well.

It appears as one gains interest in this hobby, the associated "tools of the trade" seem to accumulate quickly and require more strict alloys. I am not quite there yet, so I keep it simple. When/if I start casting for 30 cal rifles I will probably start over like I did with my pistol work up. Purchase a foundry/known lead source and test with that, and see how far I can cut it with my scrap until it doesn't work for the purpose I need. I suppose like anything you can make this as complicated or as simple as you like.

[lightman]

I agree, the hardness does not tell you the alloy. But, the hardness and the melting temperature will get you close enough for what we do. While new, exact alloy is nice to cast with, we don't have to be that exact.

[PBaholic]

Measuring the hardness tells you the hardness, not the alloy, if the alloy matters.

The hardness tells you a lot.

BHN 5-6 = nearly pure lead
BHN 10-12 = Wheel weights
BHN 18-22 = Linotype
BHN 25-35 = Pewter or Tin
BHN 50 = Foundry lead

Since we are talking about casting boolits here, I don't really care what the alloy is exactly, as long as my hardness is correct.

I cast at BHN 10, and PC. I take all my alloys, and melt them into ingots. Then I measure their hardness at 1 hour and 24 hours, and mark them with a Sharpie. I then mix them to get my BHN 10, which I cast in 2.5 lb ingots, cause they fit in my Lee pot well. I use simple math here. 1 lb of BHN 6 and 1 lb of BHN 14 will make 2 lbs of BHN 10. (6 + 14 = 20 / 2 = 10)

1 lb of BHN 20 and 2 lb of BHN 6 works like this: 20 + 6 + 6 = 32 / 3 = ~ 10. That's pretty EZ.

[mkj4him]

Now that kind of math I like. My biggest question is whether my "gold" ingots are an alloy with a high Tin content, or actually pure Tin.

So once my hardness tester arrives, can I just shave a flat surface on the old ingots and test, or should I melt and cast a few bullets with it, shave a flat surface and test then? I currently don't have any ingot molds. I assume I should test after 1 hour and 24 hours? All air cooled I assume. No water quench.

[PBaholic]

Now that kind of math I like. My biggest question is whether my "gold" ingots are an alloy with a high Tin content, or actually pure Tin.

The gold ingots are pure tin or pewter.

I test for hardness right on top of the ingots. Yes, you will be more accurate if you cut it in half, and test it, but so what.....

I do the 1 hour, as I want to see some ballpark figures. 24 hours is usually only 1 or 2 higher. Yes air cooled. You will change the hardness if you cool it quickly. I used to water drop my boolits before I powder coated, and got an EZ 2-3 BHN harder.

[Comrade Mike]

If you can sample your ingots I can run XRF on them for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nagantguy]

send a bar to BNE on this site he will run do X-ray for price of a ingot.
fast and good guy very helpful

This is sound advice BNE has done great work for me, his price used to be a small amount of lead, so you won't be out any loot if that's still the case. Then you know.for.sure, and could separate and use appropriately!!! What a score, you won't have to.scrounge for a while!

[4719dave]

The pl could be plumbers lead..i had a bunch turned purple blue and looks like those ingots do .

[mkj4him]

I'm thinking getting the ingots sampled will be the best bet in the long run. I was thinking of sending several representative ingots in a small flat rate box. How much would you charge?

I'm a bit confused about the "gold" ingots. There are actually more of those than the darker "lead" ingots. Unless they are a very high Tin content? I know the original owner shot a lot of 30-06 competitions. Maybe he needed high Tin to get higher velocities? I know that would make the bullets much lighter.

[DerekP Houston]

I'm thinking getting the ingots sampled will be the best bet in the long run. I was thinking of sending several representative ingots in a small flat rate box. How much would you charge?

I'm a bit confused about the "gold" ingots. There are actually more of those than the darker "lead" ingots. Unless they are a very high Tin content? I know the original owner shot a lot of 30-06 competitions. Maybe he needed high Tin to get higher velocities? I know that would make the bullets much lighter.

Yes, especially if he was casting for rifle rounds those would be higher tin content. My "pure" tin was a nice goldish hue when I was casting it out to smaller parts.