Another newbie lead question

[HITEK REDNEK]

Hello yall new to the forum & I tell ya what a lot good info on here, but I've recently started casting my own bullets & have found a abundant source of forklift battery lead not the plates just the connectors & posts. My question is what do you more experienced casters think the hardness of this would be?

I'm told it's pure lead & without having a hardness tester I have no idea, a #2 pencil doesn't cut into it, sooo I have no idea. Any & all comments will be appreciated.

Thanks Eric.

[mfraser264]

Eric,

Welcome, have an easy way to test for pure lead learned from a friend whose family owned a scrap yard, it is the "Drop Test". Just drop the pieces. Pure lead will not make any ringing sound, just a thud.

Great base metal to start with when blending an alloy. Great to hear you have a source and appreciate it.

[bangerjim]

Did you see the thread on here about using artist's pencils for SWAG lead hardness testing?????? Works if you cannot afford a hardness tester (highly recommended!)

Those things are soft lead and might have a tiny bit of Sb for toughness but not enough to worry about I just melt them down with the pure lead and alloy with your other alloys to come up with what you need.

bangerjim

[KYCaster]

I used to get lots of it from a salvage company. I had it analyzed a couple of times and it was the same as COWW I was getting at the time (pre zinc days)..... .5% Sn, 2.5% Sb.

Jerry

[HITEK REDNEK]

Thank you all for the replies, yes I've read that thread & that will probably be the way I go cause I'm not going to spend the cash that hardness testers sell for, I'm a real tight a^*. Good to know that it's close to coww bhn though.
Again thank you
Eric