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View Full Version : FOUND some kind of lead alloy...?


The Black Spot
09-13-2012, 12:10 PM
found one of those "torpedo" looking things that the usgs uses off their boats for water testing.
anyone kniw what alloy this is? harder than lead for sure. when I "clank" two ingots together the tone is similar to #2 alloy. thanks
captaint
09-13-2012, 07:06 PM
Since we can't make any kind of educated guess - it might just be high(er) antimony lead indeed. Only way to know for sure is take it to a scrapyard and get it anylized. Most times (especially if you know some of the folks) you can get it done for free. enjoy Mike
sqlbullet
09-14-2012, 09:52 AM
The real test is if it makes good boolits. Nothing fancy needed to test that. Melt some and cast it.
xd4584
09-16-2012, 04:36 PM
Are you sure they aren't zincs? They use zinc on boats for stray electricity in the water so the zinc corrodes and not the hull material
The Black Spot
09-19-2012, 10:09 AM
not sure. zinc is lighter than lead correct? I may cast some to,see how they cast, then compare the weight against a pure lead cast bullet of same mold.
xd4584
09-19-2012, 09:51 PM
Any pics? I used to build commercial pontoon boats. I can prolly tell you from a pic if it's a zinc
I'll Make Mine
09-19-2012, 10:18 PM
Be sure to do an "acid test" to make sure they aren't zinc before you melt them; zinc and lead don't mix well, and if your lead has tin and antimony in it, zinc mixes even more poorly. Zinc does make usable boolits, but you need to keep it separate from lead.

You should be able to distinguish zinc and zinc alloys from lead alloys by weight, too -- zinc weighs about 2/3 what lead does, per volume, and most cast zinc alloys add aluminum, making them lighter still (and the small amount of copper in some doesn't really increase density much).
The Black Spot
10-01-2012, 01:06 PM
well, I melted down some of that "torpedo" lead. it filled out a lyman 454190 mold real nice! so I cast five bullets. then I melted some #2 alloy and cast some in the same mold. the weight of the "torpedo" alloy bullets was average of 253.5 gr the average of the #2 alloy was 253.9. I weighed already cast/lubed wheel weight bullets from same mold and thos came to a rough 263 gr average.