Yes, yes, I know. The EPA would have a fit, and a fella could end up "mad as a hatter," but I was just rereading Samuel Baker's 1890 book "Wild Beasts and their Way," where Baker specifies a 648-grain solid bullet of 1:10 tin or 1:13 quicksilver over 160 grains black powder in the .577 Express for use on heavy game.
Is there an experimental archaeologist in the house who has carried out any mercury alloy experiments in the name of science and curiosity?
OK maybe I'm way out in left field but I was under the impression that mercury and lead don't mix. In fact I have heard of a couple of "gunsmiths"(not sure of their credentials) using mercury to remove a stuck bullet from the barrel. The mercury causes the lead to crystallize and become brittle.Not sure if making an alloy of them would work, but I'm sure someone else will come along to help
Mercury will disolve lead , or at least the old timers I know claim it is the best way to remove lead from your barrel .
I was told to plug the barrel and fill with mercury .
When the mercury will not remove lead any more distille the lead out of the mercury and reuse it .
I have never tryed it .
Distilling the lead out could be real bad for your health .
Maybe if you add the mercury to molten lead it will mix in .
Johnch
And I carry a LOADED Hell CatYea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
The best thing to do with mercury is not to fool around with it at all, especially when heat is involved. It's a very hazardous heavy metal that gets into your body very easily.
Joe
Guys, I realize the health issues associated with mercury. I am just interested in hearing if someone, somewhere has found it as useful in alloying bullets as some of the best travelled shooters of the 19th century did. You won't catch me fooling with the stuff, although I am old enough to remember my dentist giving me a small droplet of it in a plastic bottle to take home and look at. And if you dropped it on the floor, it broke up into tiny little silver balls that mom would have to get up with the vacuum cleaner. Ah, the uncomplicated joys of growing up in the late 1950s and '60s.
This is way off subject and I apologize.....but did you know several uboats used mercury for ballast and have been laying in pieces on the ocean floor for decades?
Dale
HI,
Mg(mercury) is already a liquid at room temp., I don't recall it's vaporization point offhand but the process of alloying it with a solid would give me pause. Heating Hg up to the point that Pb melts might release a lot of Hg vapor.
I believe it will almagmate(sp?) w/ both silver & lead. This may be what happens
in the Pb removing process in barrels.
The old fillings for teeth were Hg & silver I believe. There are alot of us walking around with that in our mouths.
U-boats with mercury ballast......we should tell someone at EPA about that, maybe they'll be distracted for a while and leave lead alone.
I don't paint bullets. I like Black Rifle Coffee. Sacred cows are always fair game. California is to the United States what Syria is to Russia and North Korea is to China/South Korea/Japan--a Hermit Kingdom detached from the real world and led by delusional maniacs, an economic and social basket case sustained by "foreign" aid so as to not lose military bases.
The elemental form (Hg) vaporizes at any temperature down to almost 40° below zero. The vapor also has no taste or smell. The specific gravity of mercury is 13.546; therefore, it is heavier than lead and, like lead and other "heavy" metals, it is a potent poison.
Exposure to metallic mercury or mercury compounds, even in small quantities over a period of time, can cause severe poisoning. Mercury can enter the body by inhalation of vapors or mercury-containing dust, by swallowing (ingestion) or by absorption through the skin. Symptoms of chronic mercury poisoning are weakness, fatigue, inflammation and ulcers in the mouth, bleeding gums, loosened teeth, excessive salivation (spittle), tremors (shaking) and emotional instability. Acute poisoning causes nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, headaches, diarrhea and, (occasionally) cardiac weakness.
Joe
Abert Rim, Baker's use of a 2-bore rifle that he named "Baby" suggests that he may have ingested some of his boolit makings and made himself "as mad as a hatter!"Originally Posted by Abert Rim
Eagles have talons, buzzards don't. The Second Amendment empowers us to be eagles. curmudgeon
yep..the Brits sunk ~25 uboats off the coast of Ireland after the war in fairly shallow water. Now they are taking bids ( in the 100's of millions of Pounds) to raise them because of some 'pollution' hazard they represent. Why didn't they recycle them back then?
I tried to post this last night, but encountered problems accessing the server.
Mercury Info
I realize that no one in their right mind would want to mess with the stuff, but here's some info on mercury from the CRC Handbook of Chemistry & Physics and other sources.
Hg amalgamates with readily with silver, lead, tin, and gold, among others. The use of silver/mercury amalgam was very common in filling teeth and is thankfully no longer used, but many of us still have such fillings. The jury is still out on the long term health effects, but it does not look promising. If one can afford to do it, it's a very good idea to have them replaced.
Mercury is used to recover gold from its ores, in lighting, and in many other industrial processes, despite its extreme toxicity. It is readily absorbed through respiratory system, intestinal tract, and directly through the skin. It is considered a cumulative poison due to the body's ability to rid itself of only very small amounts at a time. It is extremely volatile and dangerous levels build up very quickly in air. It's boiling point is 356.58C or about 674F at 1atm of pressure.
Chemists use fume hoods with special filters and wear protective clothing to handle and work with it. The more we learn about it, the worse we find out it is if improperly handled.
Information on mercury poisoning in people is readily found by doing a simple search and I hope you have a strong stomach.Star Metal's posting goes into more detail.
Anyone who wants to know more about what happens when it and other metals like cadmium, selenium, chromium and even antimony get into the environment should read The Toxic Metals by Anthony Tucker. Be glad there are no pictures.
Born OK the first time.
..........To answer Abert's question, no I never have used a lead-Mercury alloy. I'm curious to find out what the benefits of such would be. As to growing up in the 50's-60's, I'm 52 so been there-done that. I don't recall where it came from but I do remember putting Mercury on our good old silver coins back then and making them shine like a, ah .......... newly minted dime!
When I did a lot of gold panning back in my 4 WD days, I used Mercury to glom onto the gold in the pan, then poured it back into it's bottle. In the old days a panner would take a white spud, cut it in half and carve out a cavity . Place the gold filled mercury into the cavity and wire the 2 halves back together. It was then placed into a fire and the spud absorbed all the mercury leaving the gold behind.
..............Buckshot
Father Grand Caster watches over you my brother. Go now and pour yourself a hot one. May the Sacred Silver Stream be with you always
Proud former Shooters.Com Cast Bullet alumnus and plank owner.
"The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."
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Did they eat the spuds then Buckshot?
We use to put mercury on a penny to make it silver, not on silver coins. Sure you haven't ah maybe got too much mercury in ya pardner?
Joe
We played with it on silver coins, too, as kids. My older brother was especially fascinated by it, and I am positive it contributed to his reading and learning disabilities. Being several years younger, I was only allowed to watch, not touch, and resented it greatly at the time. Now, however, I have a different view of things....
Born OK the first time.
O.K. I admit in my younger days, I had to try it. problem no. 1 is the vaporization temp of mercury is just afew degrees, over the melting point of lead, 30-50 if i remember right. So if you cast hot, your mercury vaporized, and no effect on the bullets. If you cast cold the bullets were ugly, and didnt shoot worth a damn. With a lot of effort I managed to get a decent looking bullet that shot fair, the terminal effect was exactly what i was looking for, after initial penetration there was complete disintegration, and i was never able to find a piece bigger than a pin head. My original goal was to sell a bullet for self defense that wouln't overpenatrate. mass production wasn't viable and hand production was't safe, and later Glaser had a better idea. D.M.
D.M.: I am surprised that the alloy disintegrated. What was the ratio of lead to mercury? Baker suggested 1:13 for a hard bullet that would penetrate in elephant, rhino and Cape buffalo.
Buckshot: Being of the same ripe age of 52, I might note that I have also done some gold panning, but never seriously enough to have needed mercury to recover my color. I have also heard of the potato trick.
I work with a fellow whose Dad WAS a gold miner. He also used mercury to "glom " onto the gold. He would then heat the amaglum to seperate the two.
One cold winter day about five years ago, he decided boredom had got the best of him and he was going to cook some gold. As it was about fifty degrees below zero, he decided to do it in the shop, instead of outside. He inhaled some vaporized mercury, how much I don't know. He was taken the hospital and flown to Seattle. The best specialists couldn't do anything. Four days later, my friend Karl lost his Dad.
He had done this so often, he got careless.
Pleasde leave this stuff alone.
This thread reminds me of the fairey tale thing. A northern fairey tale begins with " Once upon a time ", a redneck fairey tale begins with " You ain't gonna believe this **** ". If you have the urge to do something so blatently stupid please don't involve others. This is sorta like playing russian roulette. Sooner or later someone is gonna try it and eventually they are gonna lose.
Nighthunter
Nighthunter
Isn't there some beer brewery up near DuBois?
Joe
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