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Thread: Permanently Marking Ingots ----------- Again

  1. #21
    Boolit Master


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    I don't use the muffin tin ingots anymore either. I converted all of mine to angle iron or lee/Lyman ingots. Easier to use.

  2. #22
    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    I still prefer diff molds for diff alloys. Its just easier for me.
    1# rcbs or Lyman for pure
    custom alum squares for range scrap & channel iron rectangles for clip ww.
    Lino stays in type form. SImple.
    EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
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  3. #23
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    If you're making angle iron moulds, make moulds of different lengths for different alloys. Or use your welder to write the alloy on the inside. Or use stamps for the same effect.
    Cognitive Dissident

  4. #24
    Boolit Master bruce381's Avatar
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    I label the pails

  5. #25
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by bruce381 View Post
    I label the pails
    Makes too much sense, it will never catch on.

    Don
    NRA Certified Metallic Cartridge Reloading Instructor
    NRA Life Member

  6. #26
    Boolit Buddy Ural Driver's Avatar
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    I use the Redneck Gold molds that allow you to strike (or strike out) the appropriate composition.


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  7. #27
    Boolit Bub
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    I feel inadequate after reading this thread—I just use a sharpie.

  8. #28
    Boolit Master
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    I have eight of Lakehouse's Cast Boolit molds, but I've got too much lead in too many varieties to do anything with most of it but cast big ten # storage ingots that get marked with the source and sometimes content. Then I make casting alloy with the CB molds, 120 ingots or so at a time. The content [95-3-2] gets stamped on each (no matching pre marked category except other, which the numbers cover better).

  9. #29
    Boolit Master
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    I just use a center punch and no marking = COWW, 1 strike = SOWW, 3 dots right next to eachother = Lino.
    Probably the most efficient and effective way. Marking boxes and pails is okay IF every ingot gets put back in the right place.

  10. #30
    Boolit Master
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    Black Sharpie here.

  11. #31
    Boolit Bub


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    Quote Originally Posted by bowfin View Post
    Okay, I would go way, WAY simple. Pure Lead would be "P". Wheelweights would be "W". I leave linotype in it identifiable form or I would mark it with an "L". Being a former software writer when every character carried a performance or storage hit, never use two characters when one will do the same job. It is only three or four characters one would have to commit to memory.
    LoL! Coming from a "mainframe" machine with a 3.8K main memory and incoming mortar fire, I can sympathize. A single numeric stamp generally works for me, then I maintain an index in my "loads" spreadsheet (with LibreOffice on a 32GB nanosec-DRAM, 20GzH, 8-CPU, multi-threaded Linux box) on the "alloys" page that lists the components, BHN, and some speed spec's. E.g.:
    LinoBall
    Pb 85.50%
    Sn 3.30%
    Sb 9.04%
    Ag.2.00%
    Cu 0.16%
    -------------
    Alloy Number 4
    LinoBall
    Stamp 8
    Air Aged BHN 19.8
    $19.52

  12. #32
    Boolit Buddy rototerrier's Avatar
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    Uncle Sam gives away small flat rate boxes for free. I just pack them up and label the box. I figure once I'm gone my family can sell them and they are already ready to ship. Win win

  13. #33
    Boolit Master
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    I’ve got way too much to store that way, but for smaller quantities of special alloys, in ingots of the right size, that sounds eminently well suited.

  14. #34
    Boolit Master bruce381's Avatar
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    LoL! Coming from a "mainframe" machine with a 3.8K main memory and incoming mortar fire, I can sympathize. A single numeric stamp generally works for me, then I maintain an index in my "loads" spreadsheet (with LibreOffice on a 32GB nanosec-DRAM, 20GzH, 8-CPU, multi-threaded Linux box) on the "alloys" page that lists the components, BHN, and some speed spec's. E.g.:
    LinoBall
    Pb 85.50%
    Sn 3.30%
    Sb 9.04%
    Ag.2.00%
    Cu 0.16%
    -------------
    Alloy Number 4
    LinoBall
    Stamp 8
    Air Aged BHN 19.8


    so by the time you figure out what you have you forgot what you were going to cast?

  15. #35
    Boolit Buddy
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    Shape a hose clamp to a square and failing that, weld them.

  16. #36
    Boolit Buddy Liberty1776's Avatar
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    Totally agree that marking with stamps is a good way to go. Got the small HF set. WW, PB, 31 (3 parts lead, 1 part WW) and RS for range scrap.

    I made some ingots 35 years ago. Some were lead, some were wheel weights. I knew the difference then. But as the decades went by and I got out of reloading and casting for a time, the ingots migrated to other uses, like holding stuff down or as counterweights.

    Then a bunch ended up in a gallon paint can out back in the rain.

    Then the paint can bottom rusted out. Then the ingots were in the dirt next to the wood pile.

    I almost left them when we moved to Arizona. But I gathered them up and hauled them here.

    Now I'm glad I did. Back into casting and those old ingots are still with me! A little worse for wear, but ready to melt.

    In the olden days, I just scratched a "W" into the wheelweight ingot with an icepick before it fully hardened. Not the best, but I can still see it, sorta. Everything else was pure lead and unmarked.

    Now I stamp them with letters. Much better.
    Last edited by Liberty1776; 06-28-2021 at 03:15 AM.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check