what have i got , tin,or lead bottlecaps...?

[badbob454]

i went to the recyclers yesterday and got 380 lbs of scrap lead for .65c a pound in it i found cerrobend ,some pure lead ingots, and this strange bottle cap ,16 total they bend like tin or firm lead and are oxidised a white-ish yellow they are made to screw into threads inside the bottle and are round and flat on the top , look at least 100 years old , im 60 and have never seen this stuff before .... any ideas..?

[el34]

Got a picture?

[badbob454]

862128621186213...
here are pics

[SCHUETZENBOOMER]

Zinc lids for fruit jars. They had a porcelain liner, which has been removed.

[el34]

If you can get some muriatic acid (pool supplies) put a few drops on one. If you get bubbles more than just a few per second it's probably zinc. Or you can see if they melt at 650-700F.

Zinc is noticeably lighter than lead but only after you develop a feel for that.

Squeeze them with wire cutters, if those are lead they should cut almost like butter. But that's another 'feel' thing.

[w5pv]

what is the diameter of the rings?If small enough they could be cast boolits that have been shot against a steel backing plate.I have some 45 cal that splatter against the steel backing plate I use and the pictures you have up resemble them.The tumble loob groves make them look like the could screw into something.I would post a picture but I put a hand full of them back in the melt this afternoon.Also the bottom looks like they have been shot by the concaved bottom.

[badbob454]

definatly not zinc bends fairly easily , and melts in fast ... ill try the muriatic acid to be sure ,but im thinking tin ,also not shot bullets these are definatly screw on lids of some type...rings are approx 1 1/4''....ok tested with muriatic acid no reaction exept to boil off the white coating then nothing ...

[dbosman]

86243Too small for zinc canning jar lids.
My guess is minie ball slugs.
Here is a picture of pre-impact minies.

[fryboy]

i doubt at a inch and a quarter they be minie balls either , in the first picture i can see the edge of at least two of them ( looks like a large silver dollar's edge or something ) where one would grip them ,my first thought was old milk bottle lids but i've never seen any that looked like that , i'd smelt all save one or two of the best examples ( for future reference ) and then do further testing ( melt temp and hardness etc )

[Sensai]

Looks like lead pipe caps for plumbing or electrical conduit to me.

[Sasquatch-1]

I did a quick on line search for lead plugs. Could they be what I have pictured below?

86263

[Skirmisher]

.69 minies off steel plate.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

they are very curious looking threaded plugs/caps. I suspect tin as well. Pure Lead or near pure should have a more blueish patina/oxidation. 2 years ago, I got a bunch of scrap 'block tin' (tubing used in refrigeration). It had an white-ish oxidation like that and a melting point much below 500º like tin should have.

The yellowish part, I suspect is likely from whatever substance the plag/cap was containing.

[el34]

If it's worth the time I was thinking 2 things that would be big clues. One is find the melting temp as JonB stated, and the other is determining the specific gravity of those things. It's found by dividing the weight of them in grams by the amount of water they displace in milliliters. You'll have density in gm/mL, grams per milliliter. Water displacement is easy to do, check google if you're interested.

Lead is 11.34
Tin is 7.2-7.5

But it'd be good if someone simply recognized them.

[John Boy]

The mini ball posts have my vote also

[el34]

If it's convenient you could cast some boolits with them and compare their weight to lead boolits from the same mold. Big clue.

And paying attention to fillout, tin is famous for that.

[Sasquatch-1]

Are the lines on the objects actually screw thread or are the parallel lines?

[badbob454]

these are screw thread and like a quarter edge on themm made for gripping , definitly not a boolit... ill melt some and cast to compare to coww.s by weight , they melt easily making me think tin , but i hate to melt something possibly old and rare ...

[Sasquatch-1]

I am thinking that they could be some sort of plug used in a 55 gallon drum or something of that nature. Or possibly the drain plug from a very old P-trap.

[badbob454]

oh well i'lll melt em all , and cast a few and weigh them against standard coww's