Divers Weights question

[glockky]

My local scrap yard has buckets of what looks like lead shot. They said they came out of divers weights. Whats the composition of this lead. It seems little harder than pure.

[lwknight]

It could be anything. My diving weights are #6 shot and I would not break open a pouch to test the contents.
Nearly all shot is harder than pure lead and has some arsenic in it to help roundness at casting but there are different alloys.
The arsenic as a side effect also speeds up age hardening.
Give it a melt and enjoy experimenting.

[lancem]

I believe it is standard shot. My understanding is a lot of recycled shot is used for things like ballast and divers belts.

[glockky]

Ok we'll ill prob pass on it then. I am needing pure lead I have lots of WW right now.

[Zymurgy50]

How much pure lead are you looking for? Maybe we can work out a trade.

[725]

Don't pass on anything! Get it put it in ingots and save it. Who knows what you may want tomorrow. -- Just my ever shrinking $0.02. :-)

[glockky]

Well I might give it another look. It wasn't perfectly round like shot so it might have been soft enough to deform during use. I usually dont pass on lead but I have 2 tire shops who keep all there wheel weights for me and I am getting 2-3 5 gal buckets a month that are about 90% usable weights.

[montana_charlie]

It wasn't perfectly round like shot so it might have been soft enough to deform during use.
Take home enough to make a few test slugs, than check the hardness.

Anything you get from us will just be guesses.

CM

[KYCaster]

Where in KY?

I have soft lead and may be willing to trade for shot. Send me a PM if you're interested.

Jerry

[Tar Heel]

Commercial lead divers weights produced today are "Antimonial Lead" or roughly 6% antimony. Pure lead gets beaten up too bad so the antimony hardens the weights to withstand normal use and abuse.

[lwknight]

I don't think its going to matter about lead shot in a pouch getting beat up.

[evan price]

If it is reclaimed shotgun shot (and a lot of it is, you can get it cheaply) figure that a small percent will be magnum 3% antimony shot. The rest will be nearly pure. However in my experience melting and ingotizing shot is a PITA if it has been oxidized and turned white.
If you can get it cheaply enough, it's still worth it.
Check what rotometals charges for a barrel of reclaimed shot, per pound basis.

The fella mentioning 6% antimonious lead for commercial weights was thinking about the type of dive weights that are cast as a chunk. Those in my experience could be whatever the maker could find, often it is antimonious lead because antimonious is often cheaper than pure. Also a lot of the old dive weight guys made them from wheel weights because they used to be cheap and available.

[Tar Heel]

I don't think its going to matter about lead shot in a pouch getting beat up.

Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to the larger belt weights referred to in the industry as "hard weight" versus the shot weight in the bags referred to as "soft weight." The commercial dive weight suppliers have informed us that the shot used in the soft weight bags is indeed "shot" and is procured by them in vast quantities from the same suppliers of shot that produce the lead shot for the shooting industry.

I had also read before that lead shot is "hardened" to prevent plastic deformation during acceleration and by its passage down a restrictive tube and the likely presence of a choke restriction at the end of the barrel. While I'm not absolutely sure about it, it seems to be harder than pure lead and the manufacturing process would, it seems, be easier with antimonial lead versus pure lead.

Anyone with a BHN tester can melt some, cast a slug, and test it for hardness. Any volunteers?