What kind of alloy is this??

[chango17]

Hey guys, Im new to the forum. I've been reloading since I was 19 (so only a couple years). I love loading my own almost as much as I love shooting, and was interested in making my own projectiles so I picked up casting only a couple months ago, so I am new to this side of the Reloader's bench.

Anyhow,Ive got a coffee can 3/4 full of some type of cut up ingot that was included in a trade I did for about 90lbs of lead a few months back.

I would ask the gentleman whom i traded with, however he does not cast or reload so he has no idea what it is. He said it was given to him by his neighbor's family. He said his neighbor was retired LE and was big into reloading and casting but passed away a few weeks before the trade. So asking the owner is not something I could do.

The other lead that I got was cupcake ingots and were labeled RL4, RL3, and soft lead.
I know that stuff is lead. But not sure what the labels mean but 4 seams to be harder then 3 and of course soft lead being closest to pure lead than the others. I've already used some of the 3 and 4 molded into a bunch of 12ga slugs using Lee's slug mold and they came out fine and shoot just fine also.


But what im interested in finding out, is the 4th coffee can full of stuff that I was given.
It looks like it was molded into some type of pan then cut into squares.
The marks on the edges shows obvious signs of being cut.
I scratched a smooth surface with my nail (shown in one of the pictures).
It may look deep but when I rub my nail over the indentation I can barley feel the scratch.


Anyone have an idea of what it might be or how to find out?
If it is something I can use, I don't want it to just sit there collecting dust.

Thank you!

click on the thumbnails to see the hi-res photos.

http://s10.postimg.org/g1e3on8yd/20140303_150249.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/g1e3on8yd/)

http://s10.postimg.org/j6ypeurkl/20140303_150253.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/j6ypeurkl/)

http://s10.postimg.org/fm2tvmn11/20140303_150258.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/fm2tvmn11/)

http://s10.postimg.org/ry14vdlhx/20140303_150306.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/ry14vdlhx/)

http://s10.postimg.org/8ewjm0mqd/20140303_150336.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/8ewjm0mqd/)

http://s10.postimg.org/6pngdy711/20140303_150448.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/6pngdy711/)

[Echo]

No telling. Find the Brinnell hardness number someway, and go from there. The Artists Pencil method works OK - do a search to get the particulars.

[chango17]

Okay so I took a #2 pencil to the ingots I had

... soft lead was easily scratched..
RL4 was a little harder to scratch
RL3 was a little harder than that
some range scrap that I have that was said to have tested and had a BHN of 15 was a little bit harder
and the lead ingots i have made from #7.5 shot taken out of federal shotgun game load shells did not scratch.

The ingot I made out of the unknown stuff ended being scratched. And id put it at or around the same level of the RL4 lead I have. Does this mean it is good to go? Or is the hardness of it not enough to give it the green light?

[454PB]

While there are ways to determine what you have, it's not really worth it for that small amount.

I'd suggest you cast some boolits with it, note how it behaves (weight, mould fillout, and diameter), and then if acceptable, load some up.

If you're really curious, you can send me a sample for hardness testing.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'd get a good thermometer, since you're just getting into this, you'll want one sooner or later. Then find the melt temp by Heating then cooling and watching the thermometer.

also, cast some boolits with the various mystery alloys and your known alloys and some soft lead...do you have any COWW or Linotype. Then you can compare weights.

Lastly, since you seem to attract mystery alloys, you may as well think about getting a hardness tester. Myself, I find it an invaluable tool, as I tend to attract scrap and mystery alloys as well.

There is lots to research as well as published charts about what elements contribute to raising or lowering the melt temp as well as hardness.

it's not as simple as showing us a photo and scratching a nail on a ingot...unless you are just wanting to shoot some plinkers. Heck, for 38 spl and other low pressure cartridges, you can get by loading and shooting soft lead.

[runfiverun]

I'd just drop it on the cement.
if it tuds it's soft.
if it makes a ringing sound similar to one of the other alloys throw it in with that and use it.

[bangerjim]

Agree..............not enough to really worry about. Melt it and shoot it.

Test for the sound as run mentioned above. I bang it on a 1.5" x 12" steel bar and listen to the sound. Dull = pure, sharp = hard or zinc!!!!!

You will want to get some tin to add in (1-2%) from solder/pewter/pure to allow good fill-out if it proves to be a non-fill lead alloy. Only casting a few will tell you.

You are just shooting in the dark with small dabs of lead like that. I just throw stuff like that in my melt as filler, draw off a 1/2# ingot, cool it and test hardness with my Cabine hardness tester and adjust accordingly with lino, hardball, pure, COWW's to get to either my ~10bhn for subsonic and ~14 for sonic and rifles. Hardness can increase about 4-5 units in a week or so and you must keep that in mind when testing fresh ingots. I powder coat everything today so I really do not worry about hardness anymore (9 and above). Just do NOT shoot pure lead except BP and shotgun slugs. (PC also eliminates the need for grease lubes and there is NO leading!)

Welcome to the habit!

banger :guntootsmiley: