X-Ray Lead

[fishboy747]

I know what your first answer would be is send it to me. So here is my question I have some X-Ray lead 580lbs that was given to me. What would you add to make it better usable ww lead or linotype or superhard. I have linotype and ww lead but would have to order superhard. shooting mostly .44 250 gr and 300 grain loads. Thanks

[I'll Make Mine]

Without knowing what alloy it is to start with, there's no way to suggest what to add. Depending how it's made and installed, it might be anywhere from effectively pure to an alloy similar to wheel weights like that used in isotope container shielding (another thread on that a couple days ago).

At the least, melt some into ingots and do a hardness test (melting anneals the metal, gets rid of work hardening that occurs in rolling or extrusion), then find the chart that gives likely composition based on hardness. If you have a scrap yard that can do this, you might also take a sample to the scrap yard for analysis -- many have a "gun" or desk-sized unit they can use to (almost) instantly analyze metals based on neutron activation, electron reflection spectrometry, or x-ray fluorescence.

[fishboy747]

The lead is sheet type soft not anywhere near as hard as Sam's lead this was installed behing sheetrock.

[montana_charlie]

The lead is sheet type soft not anywhere near as hard as Sam's lead this was installed behing sheetrock.
You can treat it as pure lead.

CM

[fredj338]

X-ray shielding is sheet lead & pretty soft. So cut it 50/50 w/ your lino & you should be good to go w/ the 44 @ any sane vel..

[Defcon-One]

....cut it 50/50 w/ your lino & you should be good to go....

For .44 magnum loads, Fredj is right on the money! That would give you Hardball alloy (2, 6, 92) which is the commercial caster's replacement for Lyman Number 2 alloy.

For slower stuff (9mm, .38 Spc., .45 ACP) you might want to try 3 parts of your soft X-ray lead to 1 part Linotype, especially if your supply of Linotype is low. That would be like Clip-on WW bumped to 1% Tin. (1, 3, 96). That's also about the same as large isotope core lead, too.

[runfiverun]

3 parts of the sheet lead and 1 part lino will approximate ww lead with 1% tin.
you can even cut that again by 25% with the soft, or mix it 50-50 with your ww's for a good alloy.
or 50-50 with ww's and water drop the alloy from the mold.

[fishboy747]

Thanks for the help. I figure that using one bar of lino and and equal part soft lead will be great for the .44 and that is a very achievable goal. Now I just need a good mold for the .38.

[cajun shooter]

I've used this type of lead alloy for about three or more years now. The stuff I use is the egg shaped containers that are used in the medical field for radioactive capsules. This has a BHN of 10 and is the perfect alloy for shooting BP.
I add very small amounts of tin for mold fill out at times.
If it was in sheets in the walls then it is as was posted, pure lead sheets which has a BHN of 5-6.