Brittle?? Never seen it

[srk]

Hi
I "Thought " I had some lead, but as I went to knock the
sprue, material more or less shattered like glass??
I was pouring some .50 cal. from a Lee mold.
When they cooled down, I tried the old finger nail
across the nose of the bullet, and It wouldn't leave a mark.
Nothing.
So I abandoned the pour and cleaned out the pot.
Anyone have any ideas, using this little amount of info and
no pictures.
It was like when white metal breaks, but a much finer grain structure.
Thanks

[C. Latch]

I've never cast with linotype or other typemetals but what you describe sounds like what I've read of them.

[srk]

Hi
The mold is supposed to pour a 320 grain boolit.
I weighed one or two and they were only 260-265 grains as well.
So I knew right away something was wrong.

[dbosman]

In the absence of an analysis that would seem to be a batch of high tin or antimony or both, alloy.
Time to stop by some scrap places, looking for more lead of course, and asking if they have an XRF gun.

[StratsMan]

Is that what zinc can do to an alloy???

[birddog]

Pick up some muriatic acid and check if the **** starts bubbling when applied.
Charlie

[ACrowe25]

Pick up some muriatic acid and check if the **** starts bubbling when applied.
Charlie



This would be my next step

[bangerjim]

High-tin alloys will be a different color than pure or, say WW's. It has a shiny, slightly yellow/silver look to it. Lino is similar, due to the alloys in it.

Tin will not make it ultra hard, but you may have some allow of solder which could be as high as 22Bhn. Without a hardness tester, you are just wildly guessing. Your fingernail is good for scraping paint, not testing lead alloys!

As mentioned, try to stop by a yard and have an ingot with you and ask if they will shoot it with their xray gun. Mine do it all the time for me, as long as I am buying something. Funny, going to the scrap yard is like going to Costco.......you cannot get out the door without buying something!

I definitely would NOT shoot any slugs made from the stuff until you find out what you have. You may be wasting Sn.

banger

[powderburnerr]

a long time ago , I melted some batteries and had brittle shattering bullets from the melt,
dont forget to read the long time ago part, I do not do it now

[rmark]

You might have ingots of high antimony lead shot. Years ago I had some 30 caliber bullets that would fracture when bent with pliers and I'm pretty sure the ingots were old shot.