PDA

View Full Version : X-Ray lead or ??


FALaholic
03-30-2015, 08:41 PM
So I finally broke down and bought a Cabine Tree tester to see what I actually have on hand. I had acquired a whole mess of x-ray foils and ingots from my dentist (recently switched to video so no more lead). He said a former patient was getting them from him and had passed a couple years ago. The patients widow called him up and asked him to take the lead back. It had been sitting in his garage for the past several months.

At any rate the ingots were cast with an old LYMAN mold with the oval impression around the logo and some were marked "X RAY 1983" and others just plain. All of them appear as if he would pour the melted foils as he acquired them based on the multiple pour crevices.

When I test these they measure about 8.5 BHN, but I was told that X-ray foils were pure? Any thoughts on this?
zomby woof
03-30-2015, 08:58 PM
The lead they use is Lead >96%, Tin 1.5% +/- 0.1%, Antimony 1.5% +/- 0.1%.
bangerjim
03-30-2015, 09:02 PM
Your tester is right. X-ray pack EXPOSURE foil is as said above.

X-ray SHIELDING lead (the stuff they put in walls) is pure.

The Cabine is good. The Cabine is wise.

banger-j
RogerDat
03-30-2015, 09:21 PM
The ones I had gunned came in close to zombie woof's numbers, antimony gunned a bit higher at 2.5% but same on the tin 1.5
FALaholic
03-30-2015, 09:24 PM
Yep the Cabine was right on for some Lyman bars I bought from Roto.

So the next question: I recently cast up a bunch of round balls for my BP Colt and Remington Army. Are these round balls going to be too hard to shoot in these muzzle loading re
RogerDat
03-31-2015, 02:53 PM
Yep the Cabine was right on for some Lyman bars I bought from Roto.

So the next question: I recently cast up a bunch of round balls for my BP Colt and Remington Army. Are these round balls going to be too hard to shoot in these muzzle loading re

Short answer is probably yes. Not an authority on BP revolvers but those are the folks that tend to want the dead soft plain stuff. Some cast large enough that the ball shaves a thin ring when going into the cylinder. Soft does that a whole lot better than the alloy in the foil would.