Really hard lead

[Mandoair]

I was by the gun shop today and found some lead some really really hard lead. I could not scratch it with my finger nail not even a mark. So my question is is there such a thing as lead that is too hard. I want to cast heavy bullets for heavy loads and a 10 mm?. Thanks for your input all I can tell you about the lead is one said LYMAN and then there was a different ingot that like the LYMAN had a number 12 in the casting thanks

[megasupermagnum]

There's an alloy called Lyman #2, which is quite hard. It is a bit pricy, but it does make fantastic bullets.

[Hogtamer]

Excellent for buckshot

[Winger Ed.]

I'd grab it if the price was half way decent.

Either use it like it is, or alloy it into more pure Lead for slow speed stuff.

[nhyrum]

There's a book that should be free. It's an e book called "from ingot to Target" by Glen fryxell. In short, yes, there is lead that's too hard. It could be Lyman #2, it could be monotype or linotype. Hard lead becomes brittle.

Lyman makes ingot molds. It very well could be that the Lyman on the ingots is simply from the mold

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[Mandoair]

Hay thanks for the advice‼️‼️

[Petander]

There's a book that should be free. It's an e book called "from ingot to Target" by Glen fryxell.

http://www.lasc.us/fryxell_book_contents.htm

[GregLaROCHE]

You should buy it if the price is reasonable. Hard lead usually goes for more than soft lead. You should eventually test it for hardness. The pencil test is probably the simplest. Look for it in the search box on this site.

[swingingblock2520]

http://www.lasc.us/fryxell_book_contents.htm

Thanks for linking the book,on a side note I see you’re Finnish.
I have a very close friend who lives in Pori,we met about 25yrs ago thru an international pen pal program in school. Mira and I remained friends after all these years. She has visited us a few times and my wife and went to visit her when our oldest daughter was 5,Mira took us to the big jazz festival.

[JimB..]

Or it could be zinc.

Does the shop have a story about the source of these ingots?

[Wayne Smith]

Or it could be zinc.

Does the shop have a story about the source of these ingots?

A couple drops of muriatic acid will determine that. Muriatic acid is the stuff they use in swimming pools, so it is readily available, at least in the US.

[charlie b]

FWIW, I use Lyman #2 alloy for all my bullets. It is normally 16-18bhn. Many years ago it was THE alloy for rifle and heavy pistol loads.

[waksupi]

I suspect it will be too hard for a 10mm, but will most likely work in rifles.

[oley55]

Mandoair,

First of all, Welcome to the Forum!

An FYI, the 'Lead and Lead Alloys' sub-forum about 2/3 the way down this Casting and Reloading section is chocked full or all types of lead and alloy information. It would help with your alloy hardness/identification efforts. There are just so many areas related to specific interests in our addiction, the forum managers saw the need to break topics down into more manageable (and readable/findable) sub-forums.

I have no familiarity with 10MM and don't know whether hard or mid-level hardness is appropriate. 45 ACP doesn't need to be hard, while 9MM does a bit....

[farmbif]

if your new to casting your own bullets, never, never pass up opportunity to get inexpensive lead or other casting alloys such as printers type, wheel weights, lead bars or pipe, solder, old pewter, ect. or stuff you find in gunshop.
as for pricing, look at what rotometals.com charges for different alloys, a great source if your wanting to buy alloy that you can be assured of purity.

[Petander]

Thanks for linking the book,on a side note I see you’re Finnish.
I have a very close friend who lives in Pori,we met about 25yrs ago thru an international pen pal program in school. Mira and I remained friends after all these years. She has visited us a few times and my wife and went to visit her when our oldest daughter was 5,Mira took us to the big jazz festival.

Now that's nice.

I have one hour drive to Pori.

I've worked in music scene all my life, also with some bands from Pori.

Hard lead? Good to have some!

[Cast10]

I cast for my 10mm’s. I’m a newby so have been doing lots of studying over the past year. I arrived at a mix to try that should be around 11.3 BHN. I shoot a Glock 20 stock barrel and a 16” carbine.

My lead mixed was Hardball with SOWW. It came out to 1% SN, 2.57% SB, and 96.4% PB.

I have no leading in either the Glock or the Carbine. I push them to 1600 fps in the carbine.

Best of luck to ya!

[WRideout]

I acquired some mystery metal from an estate sale, that I assumed was clip-on-wheelweight. When I molded pistol bullets out of it, it was actually too hard to go through a lubrisizer die. I had it analyzed by BNE from the forum here, and it is looking like melted down chilled shot. I use a small amount to harden up my recovered range scrap.

Wayne

[Mandoair]

Hay thanks for the book. From Ingot to Target ‼️ Reading it now.

[FISH4BUGS]

FWIW, I use Lyman #2 alloy for all my bullets. It is normally 16-18bhn. Many years ago it was THE alloy for rifle and heavy pistol loads.

You are not the only one.