Lead Wire Question

[jsizemore]

I picked up a partial roll of lead wire from the scrapyard. It's .236" dia. weighs about 18lbs. It takes a fingernail mark easily but doesn't appear or bend like pure Pb. The only writing on the sheetmetal spool says "% Ant. Lead". Is this any good for swaging?

[midnight]

I would use it. If its soft enough to mark easily with a fingernail, it's pretty soft. That's about the right diameter for 30 cal & 8mm bullets.

Bob

If it is slightly hardened but has no antimony, it must be tin. A little antimony is better than a little tin.

[500bfrman]

I would use it. If its soft enough to mark easily with a fingernail, it's pretty soft. That's about the right diameter for 30 cal & 8mm bullets.

Bob

If it is slightly hardened but has no antimony, it must be tin. A little antimony is better than a little tin.

Why is antimony better than tin?

[midnight]

Why is antimony better than tin? I must confess I don't know. I passed along something I read here on the forum without confirming it elsewhere or with my own experience. I have since tried to confirm it and have been unable to do so. Maybe someone else here can tell us why. My own logic tells me there should be no difference provided the BHN is the same.

Bob

[clodhopper]

Tin makes lead tough. Thus harder to swage.
Antimony makes lead hard.

[500bfrman]

Interesting. Any ideas at what pct that happens?

[reed1911]

IIRC small amounts of Antimony in the lead aid in its lubrication/flow for core swaging. Most of mine is 1/2% some go up to 2%. In the small calibers harder alloys are still rather easy to swage the cores, in the larger alloys it becomes very tough very quickly. Someone with more knowledge of the specific metallurgy will chime in. BTSniper or Bulletmaker57

In practical terms of bullet performance there is little to no difference, only in the swaging process. At least that has been my experience. Keep in mind we are talking about nearly pure lead with only small amounts of other metals for alloy, not harder alloys. Once you really start increasing the hardness, then yes you will see a serious difference in terminal performance. We experimented with some harder cast bullets as cores, bonded to jackets in .40 and .41 cal. To say it was a chore is an understatement. Performance was considerably different.