Good buy?

[Sask_Hunter]

I'm just getting started down the slippery slope in casting. Hit the local scrap yard on Saturday and ask if they sell lead. Yep they do and said he had about 200# worth of ingots. The price was to cheap to pass up and they ended up having 340 pound of the stuff in 14 ingots.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v476/Sask_Hunter/CEFFE65F-737E-4400-9287-398BCCA0327E_zpsjlcytfiq.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sask_Hunter/media/CEFFE65F-737E-4400-9287-398BCCA0327E_zpsjlcytfiq.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v476/Sask_Hunter/C1EF8327-5F8D-4448-9E32-D08BC7746710_zpsjzcfcda0.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sask_Hunter/media/C1EF8327-5F8D-4448-9E32-D08BC7746710_zpsjzcfcda0.jpg.html)

i melted a chunk down and cast a bullet by heating it on a spoon. It came out real shiny and a little bit on the light side. I also did the pencil test with the only pencil I had (2H) and it just cut the ingot.

[Cord]

That looks like linotype lead from the days when newspapers were printed
with moveable lead type on the old style printing presses.
Average weight per ingot is about right for that, too.

If that's what it really is, you made a great score
and it may sell for around $2.00 a pound.

Where'd ya say that scrap yard is?:-P
.

[knifemaker]

What you got is lino type. For pistol boolits you can mix that with pure lead 50/50 or even one pound lino to 2 pounds pure lead for boolits in the 600 to 1100 fps range. For my 45acp and 44 special, 38 special boolits I mix 1-2 ratio and get excellent boolits and no leading in the barrel. 340 pounds of lino should give you 1000 pounds of boolit alloy for the calibers I mentioned above and others if you keep the velocity to a reasonable level.

[badbob454]

good score on that ....

[6622729]

Ok so they ended up having 340lbs of this material. How much of it did you buy?

[Sask_Hunter]

Ok so they ended up having 340lbs of this material. How much of it did you buy?

Bought all of it.


Thanks for the replies

[6622729]

Bought all of it.


Thanks for the replies

That's what we like to hear! You're already headed down that slippery slope. Lol.

[runfiverun]

well now you need 12-1400 sumthin lbs. of lead to go with it.
those are linotype pigs.
maybe a little depleted but I'd bet there is still 3% tin and 11% antimony in them.

I break mine up with a couple of 2x4's and a hatchet.
hit the two corners on the flat side with the sharp point of the hatchet.
flip it over so the rounded edge is up and hit right in line [with the two notches you made] with the back of the hatchet.
the piece will fracture right on that line.

[6622729]

What do you think the best deal on soft lead is these days, recovered range lead maybe?

[Sask_Hunter]

well now you need 12-1400 sumthin lbs. of lead to go with it.
those are linotype pigs.
maybe a little depleted but I'd bet there is still 3% tin and 11% antimony in them.

I break mine up with a couple of 2x4's and a hatchet.
hit the two corners on the flat side with the sharp point of the hatchet.
flip it over so the rounded edge is up and hit right in line [with the two notches you made] with the back of the hatchet.
the piece will fracture right on that line.

do you melt them in to smaller ingots first or straight in to the pot?

[Smoke4320]

It would be much easier for you to mix if they were in smaller ingots 1 to 2 lbs it great ..
You really need to know the size of your casting pot first .. Thinking 1 linotype ingot to 2 soft lead ingots would be a great mix

PS don't mix it all right away .. your tastes or guns may like something different in the future

Just cast all the lino into smaller ingots then experimint

[bangerjim]

A classic linotype machine feed pig.

[runfiverun]

I mix 3 lbs of soft to 1 lb of linotype that gives me about a 1% tin and 3% antimony mix.
or pretty close to ww alloy.

I clean the soft lead up first of course.
then weigh everything on my bathroom scale and mix it all together and ingot it.
I get a chance to clean the alloy a couple of times, and all I have to do is run the ingots through the casting pot.
if I happen upon some ww's I clean those up and mix them with the 3-1 mix 50-50 this gives me some arsenic in the mix but cut's the tin.
[I add more soft and water drop this mix for many of my rifle applications]

leave the pigs as they are until you need to use them, they stack well enough and there is no doubt about what they are.

[jimofaz]

Sask Hunter ... I like to mix 2 lbs of lino (which a pig of which is what your pic showed) with 17 lbs of stick-on wheel weights to yield an approx. 10-Bhn alloy.
Jim

[Nose Dive]

No bout adoubt it...u dun gud!!

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[gwpercle]

I recognize those ingots, type metal for sure !
Melt them down into smaller ingots that fit your pot (mini-muffin size), mark them. Make up pure lead/range scrap into same sized ingots. Then when casting , add to pot 3 ingots of soft with 1 ingot of hard print type. Make sure your pot will hold at least 4 ingots. Get a larger pot or smaller ingot mould if needed. This is what I do.
By having small ingots of hard and soft , not pre- mixed , you can adjust your alloy in the pot , as needed . Don't forget to mark the ingots....they all start to look alike after a while.
Gary

[Sask_Hunter]

I melted down 2 of the pigs of Lino, 94 pounds of soft lead I picked up last week and a little bit of range scrap this morning. Got a good start on the lead reserves now I just need to order a melting pot.

[RogerDat]

Bought all of it.

You will go far with that approach grasshopper. :bigsmyl2:

Nice linotype score. You can use it to sweeten a bunch of plain lead into a good alloy. You can add in a touch of tin or solder and some WW's to get hardball or Lyman #2 can be made from Lino, solder/tin, and COWW's. It is a little too rich to use on it's own. As you noted light in weight and the bullets would be rather hard, tend to shatter.

Go to this post and download the alloy calculator, it will let you enter different weights of lead and alloys to tell you what that recipe will yield for a final alloy. Best way to keep from wasting the "good stuff" you scored.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?105952-Lead-alloy-calculators

Alloy calculator is a spread sheet if you don't have Microsoft Office the calculator will work fine with the Free Open Source software OpenOffice, use Calc which is like MS Excel. https://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/

You need to keep your eye out for some plain sheet lead, or lead pipe. That would be just the thing to cut that Linotype with.

[jeepyj]

Great find, Lino isn't as easy as it used to be to come by especially if you picked it up at a reasonable cost. Now put a feeler in your area for some roofing or other soft lead to mix in and that will stretch you casting dollar a long way.
Jeepyj