Pretty colored contamination

[Pete P]

I started to add whole bunch of small wheel weights into my 10 pound Lee pot. However when I came back to pullout all of the metal clips and flux the metal all that I kept seeing is a purple, gold and silver looking surface. The more I skimmed off, the more that showed up. Fortunately only had about 3 or 4 pounds pounds of lead in the pot at the time. I I dumped out the whole pot and decided to start all over. What got in the lead?

[shotman]

well if heat was not out the top . you have a good mix may be on the soft side as the small ones tend to run lead heavy

[Stephen Cohen]

Hi Pete, sounds a heck of a lot like Zink. We seem to be lucky over here and as yet dont see a lot of it, well I dont anyway. Pays to check all the wheel weights and not use stick on types.

[cbrick]

quick search shows this thread.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=63550&highlight=color+alloy+surface

Rick

[Pete P]

Yep, I think I over cooked it.

[lwknight]

All that coloring was the tin that was in the WWs.

[bumpo628]

The colors aren't caused by zinc. It was just too hot.

[Echo]

Right - cooked too hot. Purple - Lead oxide. Gold - Tin oxide. Flux to re-incorporate.