Many different types of lead

[bensonwe]

This topic has probably been addressed before but I am unable to find an answer to my question. So, here it is. I have a lot of lead that I have collected over the year but it came from too many different sources to list; so how do i prepare it for casting boolits? Do I melt it all together and have one hardness? Do I try to seperate it and melt it into hardnesses? Or is there a better way? Thanks

[runfiverun]

i keep any known lead separate.
then go to the hard, medium, and soft route.
after that i shoot for a bhn reading.
and make as big of a final batch as possible by blending several smaller batches.
yep a lot of work,but i end up with one really big consistent batch of known bhn alloy.
don't really know the composition but it makes good piles of boolits.

[sqlbullet]

Depends.

If I know it's composition I keep it seperate until cast time and alloy to purpose.

If it is generic unknown alloy but harder than pure (bhn 9-12) then I just melt it all together and treat it like WW. About 80% of the scrap lead I get falls in this category.

[bruce381]

if it casts I shoot it but I do keep my lino seperate from soft lead and ww

[evan price]

Anything you know is pure dead soft, keep it out separate.
Anything you can identify readily, like solder or type metal, keep it separate.
Most of what I get in scrap is generic antimonious lead of random hardness. If it clanks it goes with the clip wheel weights. If it thuds (but not pure soft) it goes as range scrap.

[badbob454]

ok drop it on the cement and listen to it
if its dull put it on your left
if it rings put it on your right
if its in letter form its lino or mono type store in its original form .
or add to the hard lead if there isnt much , this can be added to the hard to make
magnum velocity boolits
test for zinc the ones on the right with muriatic acid if it bubbles set it away from the rest
melt and ingotize soft dull lead , keep in a separate container . try to melt as much as you can to keep it all the same hardness mark the container soft Pb

do the same with the hard ring- ing lead mark hard lead

if you have any solder melt separately and if possible check for zinc first this is your tin / antimony/lead mix , may have traces of silver .copper ,, assume it is @ 40percent tin and use accordingly to aid bullet fill-out mark it and store separately

now mix as you would to get as hard a boolit as you desire from the soft and the hard you can do this as you are casting , add 3 Pb to 7 hard lead for most non magnum applications and test hardness , it will age harden some in 2 weeks , this is what i do if i dont know the composition of my lead , hope this helps