Is there zinc in these COWW ingots? Please advise.

[jsizemore]

No fizzing or bubbling, no zinc. Cast some boolits and see what happens.

[dbosman]

Rainbow colors are usually associated with pure lead. Blue to gold is my experience.

[toallmy]

Make some boolits:

[lightman]

It would be hard to say. I would do an acid test for zinc before I mixed it with anything else. Then I would cast up a few bullets and see how well it fills out the mold. Thats about all you can do unless you sent off a sample to have analyzed.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

This guy is not a boolit caster, he is a metal scrapper in the area and he makes/sells fishing sinkers for the area tackle shops and make ballast weights for the model airplane guys with the lead he collects. He knows that there is a market for COWW with the boolit caster group around here (not many though) as well and that we pay a little better. I just happen to run into him and asked if he had any COWW handy and he said that there were 100 lbs. on his shop floor in ingots ready to go for $60.00! ! ! So, naturally I jumped on that. Then I run into another guy who I know casts boolits and he warned me of his product.


Now on to this mornings events. I had to wait for the hardware store to open to pickup a jug of muriatic acid and more propane as well. I get home and get a glass jar and a wooden dawl rod and began mt tests. . .this is a first time for me. I laid out 10 ingots that I purchased from the "scrapper dude" and using the dawl rod, put a couple drops on each ingot. There was zero fizzle, but the ingots turned a rainbow color almost like oil sheen or color case hardening. . .what the hell does that mean? ? ? Also other ingots near my glass jar turned the same only not as dark just from the fumes off the acid! I put a few drops on ingots that I made and it did the same thing. So, does that mean all is well or is there an issue?

My first thought was, I wonder if those ingots were cast in a iron mold or a rusty Iron mold, then if there was some iron oxide particles on the ingots, if that would give case colors?

But then youtube...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECmNO0VMSgo

Cadmium !

Cadmium is typically in automotive battery plate alloy.
Ask your scrapper dude if he has melted some automotive batteries?

FYI, I recall reading that melting a lead alloy that contains some Cadmium isn't too healthy for us boolit casters.

[jsizemore]

I don't see what happened with the cadmium. It looked to stay white with a couple streams of bubbles. Maybe my monitor needs upgrading.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The Cadmium appears to turn dark in color. But yeah, it was difficult to see in the video.

[OFFSHORE]

My first thought was, I wonder if those ingots were cast in a iron mold or a rusty Iron mold, then if there was some iron oxide particles on the ingots, if that would give case colors?

But then youtube...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECmNO0VMSgo

Cadmium !

Cadmium is typically in automotive battery plate alloy.
Ask your scrapper dude if he has melted some automotive batteries?

FYI, I recall reading that melting a lead alloy that contains some Cadmium isn't too healthy for us boolit casters.

It would not surprise me if "the scrapper dude" melted down whatever lead he found, but I tested COWW ingots that I made myself and they came from clean ingot molds with a clean smelting pot/ladle and they reacted in the same manner. There was no fizz or bubbles (like in the video) and the coloration just spread across the ingot. I'm getting ready to cast some boolits from the "scrapper dude" purchase to see how they do as a final test. If all works out after this my mind will be at ease. . .I'm 90% sold after the acid test though. Thanks to everyone for their helpful advice and guidance.

[lightman]

I use an eyedropper to put just one tiny drop on the lead that I test. They are pretty cheap at Walmart or Walgreens. The area around the acid turns dark gray. I have intentionally tested known Zinc weights just to see how they react and to know what to look for. I wash that lead off under the faucet to get rid of the acid, not wanting to ruin any clothes or anything else that it touches.

[RED BEAR]

I guess i just got lucky. When i first started smelting my wheel weights had no idea about zinc being in them. Still have some of those ingots . Tried the acid on them and nothing. They cast just fine. Water dropping gives me about 25 bnh. I still don't pay much attention to weather there is zinc in them. I don't melt them at high heat but if some melt in i am not all that worried about it. My bullets come out nice and pretty and shoot better than i am able. My nephew has a sw that he can drive tacks with when using my 44 reloads. I can't believe i am lucky enough to not have any zinc in it. As long as they cast good i will continue to just melt them and what i get is what i get.

[lightman]

A little zinc will not hurt much. Too much will cause problems but if you miss one or two, not a big deal. I sort them out and try for zero, but........ I remember melting a few back in the 80's (yeah, there were a few then), when a weight would float to the top unmelted and I would push it back under.

[Tripplebeards]

I am not a perfectionist by no means so after a lot of studying I chose to control my melting temperature rather than sorting coww , so far no trouble . Hopefully your muffins are good

Once in a while I'll miss one and it will float to the top of my pot. I just scoop it out. No mixing yet and I've done a couple of tons so far with no zinc contamination.

[Tripplebeards]

Once in a while I'll miss one and it will float to the top of my pot. I just scoop it out. No mixing yet and I've done a couple of tons so far with no zinc contamination.

A pretty easy way to check without jumping through hoops is to melt your alloy down and see how it casts. If it's sludge looking and won't pour or fill out a mold it has zinc or something in it mixed with lead. If you cast nice, shiny boolits with good fill out your good to go. Doing a BH test will help as well. I have some old coww that test at 14.3 BH. I would assume 15 or higher you might question the mix.

[Youngtimer]

I would do the muriatic acid test. I did a experiment a while back where I intentionally melted a very small amount of zinc into known pure lead. I believe it was about 2 lbs of lead and about 1/4 oz. of zinc. I made a ingot with the mix and after cooling I put a drop of muriatic acid onto the contaminated ingot and instantly bubbles appeared even at that low of concentration.

[lightman]

I would do the muriatic acid test. I did a experiment a while back where I intentionally melted a very small amount of zinc into known pure lead. I believe it was about 2 lbs of lead and about 1/4 oz. of zinc. I made a ingot with the mix and after cooling I put a drop of muriatic acid onto the contaminated ingot and instantly bubbles appeared even at that low of concentration.

Thats good to know. I was not sure just how small of a concentration of zinc it would take to react.