Made a batch of alloy today...

[Deep Six]

I've been collecting various lead scraps (apart from my main stash) and today I smelted it all down. Made about 40 lbs worth of ingots. It consists of the following:

~15 lbs electrical cable sheathing
~a 5 lb chunk of "straight lead" from the local scrap dealer (it's a pretty big operation - they make pallets of 52 lb ingots, this was a chunk off one of the ingots)
~15 lbs wheel weights
~2.5 lbs of really super hard (I'm guessing 25+ brinell) commercial bullets I didn't like
~1 lb of magnum #4 shot from some old rusty shotgun shells I took apart
~1 lb of the new plumbing solder (supposedly 90% tin with balance of copper, silver, and bismuth - got it for $18 at the "11% off" sale at the local home improvement center. Figured I needed some tin in this batch)
~1 lb of range lead I mined out of my backstop.

I plan to use it for general handgun loads in .44 and .45. Any guesses on what the hardness will be? I'm thinking I may need to water drop the ones I plan to stoke up in the 44 mag.

[AlaskanGuy]

Best thing to do is cast some with it, and check the hardness with a lee tester, or the pencil method described elsewhere in this forum....

Best guess would be somewhere in he 15-18 range of hardness.. But that is a total guess in the dark.....

[ballistim]

THIS is why I figured it was worth my while to finally purchase a hardness tester and bought the Cabinetree. I recently cast some boolits for my .45 ACP using a mixed scrap alloy that came out to be 10 BHN and worked perfect for the load used. I'm now able to find what works in alloy hardness and eliminate the guesswork. I've been where you're at before many times...

[bangerjim]

That is why I got the Cabine.......fast easy accurate tests. When I am mixing, I do the math by weight from the spreadsheet and then draw a sample off in a 1/2" Lee mold. Cool it and check the hardness. I shoot for 11-12 right after cast, knowing in 3-4 days the hardness will be 7-8 bhn higher. Works for me!

bangerjim

[bumpo628]

I estimate you have 40 lbs of an alloy with the following specs:
2.5% tin, 1.25% antimony, with the balance of lead and trace elements
The hardness should be @ 11 bhn or so according to a formula from rotometals

I assumed the lead sheathing was pure lead and the commercial bullets are hardball for the calcs.
See my alloy calculator below if you want to run the numbers.

[SciFiJim]

I just ran the numbers in an alloy calculator. Had to guess at the "super hard bullets", but it should be around 11-12 bhn. Water dropping of course will result in harder.

[Deep Six]

Well I checked the ingots this morning. They were poured into the ingot mold, allowed to solidify, dumped out and then allowed to air cool to ambient. I was quenching the empty ingot mold between pours down to about 200 °F (just enough that the water would evaporate off in a few seconds).

Anyways, the stuff is pretty hard. I don't have a tester, but my fingernail wouldn't leave a mark at all. A nail punch dragged across the surface with a fair amount of pressure left only a light line. I tried beating one of the ingots with a 2 lb sledge and it held up pretty well, much better than the cable sheathing did prior to melting it. The ingot didn't show any signs of cracking or shattering when I was beating on it. I'm guessing these will be 18 brinell after a week. Definitely won't be water quenching this batch. Perhaps I should save it for 44 mag and rifle loads. I think the solder must of had quite a bit of silver, copper, and/or bismuth in it because nothing else in the mix was very high in antimony other than the 2.5 lbs of hard cast bullets.

[bumpo628]

I use a spring loaded center punch as a rough hardness tester. I just make dents on known samples and the unknown and compare to get an approximation. Just make a few dents on each piece to make sure it is consistent.