Babbitt and Misc Lead

[jeff_jones_86004]

Came across some Babbitt/Bearing marked ingots in a lot I traded for. Ingots have quite a "ring" when banged together. Wondering if I should mess with these by mixing with wheel weights, soft lead. My pot is only 20 pounds.


Jeff

[Firebricker]

I don't know a lot about babbit but there is high and low speed babbit. You might be able to find out from the markings. I have some a plan on cutting with pure lead. FB

[Bigslug]

My limited understanding of babbits is from the dead-soft lead rods used in S&W armorer's classes to thump off-kilter revolver cylinder cranes back into alignment without marring the gun's finish. My resident rifle builder's babbit is a hammer handle that came with a mold for re-casting the lead head when it gets too boogered up to use - which is frequently. For bullets, I would tend to think babbit material would need hardening, not softening.

[bobthenailer]

There are about 13 different grades of bearing babbit , but most of what ive run into over the years tested at 30 bhn . if you alloy about 10 to 15 % BB with the rest PB it will be about 10 to 13 Bhn

[leadman]

I have never run into soft babbit but it could exist. Most is very hard and contains other metals like copper.
I don't remamber what the designation was of the last babbit I used but it was very hard. It did make a good addition to soft lead. Had no problems when shooting it either.

If the babbit has letters or numbers on it you should be able to do a search. I think Rotometals sells some babbit also.

[303Guy]

I got hold of some Babbit grade eleven. It's mostly tin (86%) with copper and antimony @ 7% each. I thought Babbit was specifically formulated as a castable bearing material or maybe that's just some of them. Added to lead, it makes quite a soft alloy that holds together quite well in an expansion test.

[Mk42gunner]

Here's an article about using babbit metal by Felix: http://www.lasc.us/FelixBabbitbulletAlloy.htm

Robert

[rintinglen]

I managed to lay hands to some babbit from a highspeed turbine a few years back and it worked great smelted 1 to 4 with Wheel Weight metal. Most Babbit metal runs from 75 to 88 % tin, with the balance being virtually any combination of lead, antimony, and copper. I understand there are some babbit alloys that contain aluminum as well.

[MikeS]

There are 2 different types of babbit, lead based, and tin based. Both kinds can have both lead and tin in them, it's just a matter of which metal is the dominant metal in the babbit. within each type there are several different grades of babbit, with differing percentages of various metals. Read Felix's article, it's got lots of good info in it!