Can anyone identify this ingot/strip?

[TheDoctor]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_138294e5a5fc5ae2b1.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1964)


It's about half pound, if my hand is calibrated correctly. 3/16 inch thick. Seems harder than pure lead, very difficult to scratch with thumbnail. Bends fairly easily, can touch end to end and does not break. Recycler has about 1/3 of a 55 gal drum of these, told me he would sell them for 60 cents per pound. Not sure what I have. Thought it might be a linotype, but I have read that it should break if it was. Any ideas? Good deal, or forget about it? Thanks.

[Sonnypie]

Yeah.
It's a one dollar bill.

Probably worth more than the POC laying above it. :bigsmyl2:

If you have enough, you could get it analyzed. Or just melt some down and see what it melts at if you have a thermometer. Then do a hardness test on it.

Now, for my time and advice email me the dollar and we can call it square. [smilie=p:

[468]

Dang if it don't look like a decoy weight...

[kbstenberg]

I will be the second for a wraparound decoy anchor. I have a few doz. of them in my basement. The hole is for the sting to tie to that leads to the decoy.

[MikeS]

I would check it first to see if there is any zinc in it, and then for hardness. If there's no zinc in it, you can use it either to shoot as is (after casting into boolits), or to alloy with other materials to make almost any alloy you would want to make. If there's any zinc in it, then forget about them, they're not worth the trouble to try and remove the zinc. Depending on how hard they are right now, and what kind of boolits you want to cast, and what kind of shooting you want to use them for, would determine what if anything needed to be done to them to make them into the alloy you want to use. That price is a good one, and if it's zinc free I would buy as much of it as you can, as lead is only going to get more expensive as time goes on.

If you don't have a lead hardness tester, I would grab a set of art pencils, and use them to determine their rough hardness. There is a sticky on how to do this, and it actually works better than you might think. To test for zinc, you can get some muriatic acid, and put a drop on the piece of lead you have. If it bubbles or fizzes, then there's zinc in the lead, and then I would avoid them, as it's not worth the trouble of trying to remove the zinc. If the drop of acid just sits there, or just makes a dark spot on the lead, than it's zinc free, and good casting stock.

[TheDoctor]

Did not know about the acid trick, have to remember that one. This thing does not seem brittle like a zinc wheel weight, but it is definitely not pure lead. Takes real effort to make the least scratch with a thumb nail. Was hoping for linotype, praying for no zinc. At least I know how to check for that now. About the only thing I cast for right now is cowboy loads in .45 Colt. Need to find a source for fairly soft stuff because I want to start casting shotgun slugs. Was checking if anyone knew what that strip was, didn't know if it was used in a commercial industry/application that would make them common and easily recognizable. And, since I've never done the duck or goose thing, would not know a decoy weight if it bit me in the tail. If it doesn't seem to have zinc, I will get a few more to have enough for a very small batch, and see if it will fill my molds out properly. Thanks for the responses. Had no idea what it was, and neither did the local recycler.

[Sonnypie]

To test for zinc, you can get some muriatic acid, and put a drop on the piece of lead you have. If it bubbles or fizzes, then there's zinc in the lead, and then I would avoid them, as it's not worth the trouble of trying to remove the zinc. If the drop of acid just sits there, or just makes a dark spot on the lead, than it's zinc free, and good casting stock.

And that's another thing to love about Cast Boolits... tricks of the craft!
Being as I have a pool in the back yard, I have muratic acid on hand.

Do you suppose that would work, Mike? :idea:

[whd45]

+1 on the decoy anchor, you see a lot of those here.

[Matt_G]

Yep, decoy weights. probably fairly close to pure lead. The reason it's hard to scratch is because of the oxidation on the surface.
If it wasn't pretty soft, you wouldn't be able to bend it like that easily.
As others said, at 60 cents a pound you should grab it all if you can afford it.

[TheDoctor]

Scraped the oxide off a portion, the lead underneath scratched very easily with a thumb nail. Now all I should have to do is the acid test, and I think I'm in business.

[MikeS]

And that's another thing to love about Cast Boolits... tricks of the craft!
Being as I have a pool in the back yard, I have muratic acid on hand.

Do you suppose that would work, Mike? :idea:

I sure hope so, that's what I use to test for zinc!

[white eagle]

I have those type of weights
work real good ...both ways