identify ingot?

[randyrat]

I found some ingots that look similar to a Lee 1/2 lb lead ingot but have the letter "P" looks like it was made right in the mold...They seem a little lighter than a 1/2 lb lead ingot and when dropped they make a good "ting".. Could this be tin and/or antimony. They came from an old bullet maker estate sale. How can i I.D. these.

[ANeat]

Randy Ive seen people selling those ingot molds before so it could be anything. You can check the hardness or I can check it for you if you like. That will give you some clue. You can also check the temp which it melts at. Also casting a bullet and comparing to other known alloys in the same bullet will give some clues.

If its got a "ting" to it when you drop it it probably has some antimony in it. After that it could be anything from WW to Linotype.

Adam

[piwo]

When I drop an ingot of pure dental lead, it has a "ting" to it as well, unlike the pure plumbers lead I have. Maybe tin.

[ANeat]

Some sheet has antimony in it. The add it to give it a little more strength. I believe its in my Magma handbook where they list several types of sheet lead that contain antimony.

[randyrat]

There are "tings" and there are "tings"and then there are thuds this has a special "ting" and seems a little harder than my other ingots of allyed lead and others that are pure lead. My guess they are tin and antimony balance lead. keep comming with the advice. I may just send one out to be I.D.ed

[NVcurmudgeon]

Randy, can't help with identifying the ingots. The "P" cast into the metal, and your saying they look about 1/2 lb., makes them seem like they were made in a Potter ingot mould. Potter was a company in Florida that sold lead pots and ingot moulds to boolit casters. I have a Potter pot and a 9 oz. ingot mould that are about 40 years old. Undoubtedly you have ingots from some caster's stash, most likely it is good usable boolit metal. You would need a hardness tester or ingots of known metals to slam together with what you have to even be able to guess. I say, cast it and shoot it.

[Nueces]

Heck, write up some poetic sounding nonsense about the good old days, and put the ingot on ebay. Take a photo that shows Elmer's finger print on it! Wills tells me some galoot spent $60 for a Lyman ingot with a backward N. I'm now hunting for my own 40-year-old Lyman ingot mould. :roll:

[randyrat]

Heck, write up some poetic sounding nonsense about the good old days, and put the ingot on ebay. Take a photo that shows Elmer's finger print on it! Wills tells me some galoot spent $60 for a Lyman ingot with a backward N. I'm now hunting for my own 40-year-old Lyman ingot mould. :roll:
LOL Heck these could have come off the Mayflower, or "P" for "pocahontis" and were made for high velocity muzzle loaders

[NVcurmudgeon]

Heck, write up some poetic sounding nonsense about the good old days, and put the ingot on ebay. Take a photo that shows Elmer's finger print on it! Wills tells me some galoot spent $60 for a Lyman ingot with a backward N. I'm now hunting for my own 40-year-old Lyman ingot mould. :roll:

Nueces, this is your lucky day! For a limited time I am able to offer a genuine Lyman ingot mould with the coveted backwards N, for the mere pittance of $59.99, shipping included.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Nueces, this is your lucky day! For a limited time I am able to offer a genuine Lyman ingot mould with the coveted backwards N, for the mere pittance of $59.99, shipping included.

Also, it so happens that one of my maternal great grandmothers was Lavinia Mavity, nee Keith, who lived in Southern Indiana, not far from Missouri, where Elmer Keith first saw the light of day. (The last sentence is true, here is where the baloney starts.) My records are sadly incomplete, but it is possible that Elmer was a great uncle of mine. Further evidence is that I am short and like big hats. For no additional charge I can arrange for the mould to bear the right trigger finger print of a possible shirttail relative of Elmer Keith.

And if you think that is a fantastic claim, I really saw at a gun show last year a Krag with a paper tag on it that read, "1896 Krag carbine, possible Rough Rider use." (Pay for the gun, but not the story.)

[Nueces]

Chuckle Chortle LOL

Thanks for givin' it back, Guys!

Mark

[Pilgrim]

My Rifle/Handloader magazines are currenlty in storage, so I can't find the article for you right now. However, somebody on this forum can give you the issue number of one of those that has a method of determining the exact alloy you have based upon comparisons with a cast boolit of pure lead from the same mould. I tried it once and was pleasantly surprised that my "figguring" alloy of WW + magnum shot + tin was very close to the actual ratios per that article.

Perhaps we could put a scanned copy of the article on a "sticky" (after we find it again!!) as the question has come up quite a few times. FWIW...Pilgrim

[Nueces]

That would be Handloader #50, July-August 1974, page 18, by Rick Jamison.

I'm heading off to work and our scanner is part of a new printer we're not yet familiar with. (If Churchill can end a sentence with a preposition, then bloody well so can I)

If no one else has it done when I get back, I'll give it a shot. Need to learn how to do it anyhow.

Later, Mark

[stubert]

Take a ball bearing put it between an ingot of a known lead alloy and the one you are unsure about. Put it in a vise and tighten it up a bit. Whichever side has the biggest dent is the softest, smaller dent is harder. You can't tell the hardness but you can see if it is harder, softer, or about the same.

[floodgate]

NV curmudgeon:

As I think I have mentioned before, I bought a Colt .41 DA "Thunderer" in New Mexico in 1956, with the guarantee that it had NEVER been owned by "Billy the Kid". When I got it home, I checked, and indeed, there was no "Billy" inscribed inside the grips. Also, a serial check showed it as made in 1912 - so I think the "backstory" holds water; a true rarity!!

floodgate

[Nueces]

With respect to my post 13, this thread, it occurred to me that posting this copyrighted article would require permission from Wolfe Publishing. Think I'd better decline until that is cleared up.

Mark