Babbitt Alloy

[Littledog]

A buddy of mine gave me 40 pounds of bearing babbitt and I was wondering if anyone has a guess as to what the alloy might be. The ingots are four pounds and are marked: "Premier Diesel Babbit, N-F Metals, Seattle". They're also incredibly hard and I was wondering if they could be cut with lead to make a suitable bullet alloy.

[sixshot]

We always referred to the hard stuff as "high speed babbit" & the softer stuff as "low speed babbit" I think the hard stuff ran about 29 BHN & the low speed around 17, could be wrong here, I'm sure others with chime in. Yes, you can cut it with lead.

Dick

[badgeredd]

A buddy of mine gave me 40 pounds of bearing babbitt and I was wondering if anyone has a guess as to what the alloy might be. The ingots are four pounds and are marked: "Premier Diesel Babbit, N-F Metals, Seattle". They're also incredibly hard and I was wondering if they could be cut with lead to make a suitable bullet alloy.

Littledog,

I'd agree it is likely a high-speed babbitt. SINCE you have the marking on it, you should be able to inquire at the manufacturer as to its make-up. I'd be guessing there is some copper in it to toughen it but beyond that I'd be lost for additional info.

I wish I could find out what the alloy is of some I have, It is railroad journal babbitt and I would think that it was a fairly standard mix when it was manufactured. So far my questions to different companies have not been answered and I really have no clue who actually alloyed the stuff originally.

Edd

[deltaenterprizes]

I had some unknown babbit and took some samples to a scrap yard and asked it they would scan it with that $30,000 gun they have,they did and most of it is in the 90% tin range!
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