Cast vs swaged

[aarolar]

Will pure cast lead ever be as soft as swaged? I have a homemade cabine tree style tester and swaged hornady round balls test at .035-.040 my pure cast lead balls test more around .060, I have tried both lead pipe and lead sheet and tje results are the same.

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[aarolar]

I just sorta confirmed my suspicion, tested a piece of pipe without heating it at all and it tested .040. Can I anneal it back and if so what temp should I use?

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[lwknight]

Pure lead is as soft as it gets. Heating or quenching will not change it. Lead pipe is not necessarily pure lead. Often it has tin from the solder joints and antimony in it. What you are calling pure lead probably is not pure or it would be as soft as any other lead product.

[aarolar]

Pure lead is as soft as it gets. Heating or quenching will not change it. Lead pipe is not necessarily pure lead. Often it has tin from the solder joints and antimony in it. What you are calling pure lead probably is not pure or it would be as soft as any other lead product.I was careful to remove all the solder joints and use just the pipe.

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[lwknight]

It probably still had antimony in it if you can get any reading that is not as soft as any lead you ever tested. Pure lead cannot be tempered or annealed. It simply just is what it is. Dead Soft.

[runfiverun]

antimony is added to lead to make it flow better under pressure.
it is used in window came, pipes, and such that is extruded under pressure.

I have never measured the BHN of pure lead after swaging it.