Yellow powder in lead?

[WM5L]

I was attempting to melt some antimony shot in 2 pounds of lead in my Lee furnace. I put my Lyman thermometer in it and it went all the way around past 1000 to 200. I figured that was hot enough right? Well what I got was a bunch of yellow and brown powder and almost no lead. I guess the antimony melted? What gives? how do I do this right and what ratio of lead to antimony do I use to get a hard 44 mag bullet? I am borrowing a Saeco lead tester for a few days. I think I want something around Saeco "12" or BHN 22-24. I have about 300 pounds of "Telephone" lead . How hard is it? I also bought a 55 gal drum FULL of WW. Dang near tore up my 3/4 truck hauling that home!

[lwknight]

Your out of my experience realm.
I just melt the lead / antimony at 700 or so degrees.
I never tried to melt the pot along with it.

[onesonek]

"Hot enough"?,,,,, way too hot from what little I know. 650 is hot enough and 750 is plenty with most alloy. Hard telling what the yellow brown stuff is, just foreign matter burning off the lead likley. Just me,,, but I would put some solder in for tin content for better fillout. And just my opinion, but for a hard non expanded boolit out of a 44 mag. BHN 15-16 likely be hard enough. Search for a Lyman #2 recipe,,,,,, or just use your WW's and water quench them.

[WM5L]

I thought the the straight (not alloy) antimony beads melted around 1125?

[onesonek]

Ahhhhh, I read that as or like antimonial lead shot or mag shot. Beyond my experience as!!! well.

[Bent Ramrod]

The yellow powder is "litharge," lead monoxide, which on further heating turns to a brown powder called "massicot." Further oxidation gives a red form, called (of course) "red lead." This is sometimes mistaken for rust in lead pots.

It appears you heated your lead too hot and it oxidized. It's my understanding that alloying antimony with lead is a little more complicated than simply melting them together, and the best course of action is to buy some high-antimony alloy from someone like "The Antimony Man" and use that. Once the alloy is made, it melts and dissolves into molten lead at normal temperatures.

The antimony shot should have gone right in, except for the oxidized surface of the pellets, which should have skimmed off as dross after fluxing.

[home in oz]

Sounds complex

I just use molten wheel weights-except for my .54.

[lwknight]

The antimony shot can be dissolved into the lead like salt in water.
High temperatures just make it harder because of the lead oxidation.
700 degrees will do it. You need the right flux to dissolve the antimony.
Simply melting it won't do the trick.

There was some discussion on fluxing antimony into lead here and if I can find it I will post a link. The easiest way is to buy antimony lead like the 30% superhard from rotometals.com Its actually cheaper than pure antimony if you count the balance of lead as worth anything.

Also you need a little tin to make the antimony behave and stay in fluid suspension.

[KYCaster]

Like Bent Ramrod said, you're way too hot.

Adding Sb doesn't require excessive temp. Normal casting temp will do. The process has been described here several times. Search for Antimony and posts by 44man.

If you're looking for 22-24 BHN I think you'll be disappointed in the method you're pursuing. That's in the range of Linotype, 4% Sn, 12% Sb. It would probably be cheaper in the long run to buy that alloy from Rotometals or another foundry. You can also reach that hardness by heat treating wheel weight alloy.

Good luck.
Jerry

[WM5L]

I did get some super hard and tin when I ordered that Sb shot. It just looked cheqper to me to use the shot so I got 1 pound of it. Guess I will try a superhard and ww mix for some hard bullets. What ratio of WW to Super hard would be a start for a Saeco 10 or BHN 22?

[WM5L]

Are you reffering to water quenching WW when you say heat treating w?


.
Like Bent Ramrod said, you're way too hot.

Adding Sb doesn't require excessive temp. Normal casting temp will do. The process has been described here several times. Search for Antimony and posts by 44man.

If you're looking for 22-24 BHN I think you'll be disappointed in the method you're pursuing. That's in the range of Linotype, 4% Sn, 12% Sb. It would probably be cheaper in the long run to buy that alloy from Rotometals or another foundry. You can also reach that hardness by heat treating wheel weight alloy.

Good luck.
Jerry

[old turtle]

I have always been fascinated by the way different metals can be combined and the results might or might not have any of the characteristics of the original metals. Melting points, hardness, and even appearance can be very different. This discussion points this out very well.

[sgabel1]

Take note oxides of lead are hazardous to your health. Avoid breathing that dust at all cost. Avoid over heating alloys.

[ahhbach]

I have about 300 pounds of "Telephone" lead . How hard is it? I also bought a 55 gal drum FULL of WW. Dang near tore up my 3/4 truck hauling that home!

I too use alot of Telco lead and depending on the type Aerial, buried, sleeve, seam solder, wedge, et al... it will vary in hardeness. You will find that most Aerial cable lead is hard enough to shoot with a pistol Straight whereas Buried or underground tends to need WW.

I use cable lead, old range lead-used as filler, wedges (Very hard) and WW's for my allow. I mix 50-60 lbs of alloy up at a time and pour both my Pistol and rifles boolits out of it.

Thanks
Murph