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Thread: Found Second Batch Of Lead

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    Found Second Batch Of Lead

    This lead has been in a bucket since pre 2005. There is an assortment of sinkers, wheel weights, some gumball sized lead & some that was poured into a large gravy spoon. There are a couple commercial lengths marked KIRK along with some numbers. One is 50 KIRK 50 & the other is 70 KIRK 80. Anyone know what these might be? Search results were not helpful. A few samples can be gouged with a "B" Art Pencil with should be about 13BHN.

    Were zinc wheel weights a problem pre 2005?

    Thank you.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 1.jpg   2.jpg   3.jpg   4.jpg  

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Are you sure it is 70 80 and not 20 80?

  3. #3
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dusty Bannister View Post
    Are you sure it is 70 80 and not 20 80?
    Ah... That makes sense. Double checked. It is actually a #3 as in 30 - 70
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 5.jpg   7.jpg  

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

    Eddie Southgate's Avatar
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    Looks like bar solder to me.
    Grumpy Old Man With A Gun....... Do Not Touch !!

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by ~JM~ View Post
    This lead has been in a bucket since pre 2005. There is an assortment of sinkers, wheel weights, some gumball sized lead & some that was poured into a large gravy spoon. There are a couple commercial lengths marked KIRK along with some numbers. One is 50 KIRK 50 & the other is 70 KIRK 80. Anyone know what these might be? Search results were not helpful. A few samples can be gouged with a "B" Art Pencil with should be about 13BHN.

    Were zinc wheel weights a problem pre 2005?

    Thank you.
    Yes, unfortunately Zinc weights were around back in 2005. Depending on how long before 2005 you might be ok. I would sort them if it were me.

  6. #6
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by lightman View Post
    Yes, unfortunately Zinc weights were around back in 2005. Depending on how long before 2005 you might be ok. I would sort them if it were me.
    I plan to sort through them, just not confident in knowing what to look for. Received advice & watched a few videos on how to sort by cutting with side cutters & drop for sound.

  7. #7
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eddie Southgate View Post
    Looks like bar solder to me.
    That sounds reasonable. Would the numbers indicate percentages of Tin/Lead?

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Yes, first number is tin, second number is lead.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by ~JM~ View Post
    I plan to sort through them, just not confident in knowing what to look for. Received advice & watched a few videos on how to sort by cutting with side cutters & drop for sound.
    Use the side snips to be sure on the questionable ones. Even using them one or two still sneak by but you can catch them when smelting. Good luck.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    Keep your smelting temperature below 700 and the zinc will float and not melt. I try to keep mine even lower around 650-675. This guarantees that the lead at the bottom of the pot is not too hot and will melt any zincs laying down there. Most, not all, but most zinc wheel weights will have a zn mark on them. And do not think the ones marked Al are aluminum, they are not. that is just a brand mark, they are lead. But like was said just keep a pair of side cutters with you and check any that are questionable, only takes a second. Best way to find out what a zinc feels like is find one marked zn and try cutting that one. You will realize real fast that a zinc weight is not going to be mistaken for lead. I have found a lot of lead weights that were pretty hard but nowhere near as hard as zinc. Now I have found some that when I did the cut test they broke and crumbled. I don't know what they were but they went in the trash, it is not worth playing with an unknown when you are looking at a max of 5-6 oz.

    Check the sinkers also because they could also be zinc. I don't like sinkers because people make them from whatever they can find and they can be a mix of lead and zinc in one alloy. I melt the sinkers in a separate batch by themselves and look at how the lead reacts below 700 degrees. If it all melts then good to go but if it is like oatmeal and it will never fully melt at 700 degrees then you have zinc. Skim off all the oatmeal, let it harden and heat it back up to 700 and watch it as it heats to see if you get any more oatmeal. If you do skim it off again. Keep doing this until you get clean lead at 700 degrees. Pour a clean ingot and do an acid test on it once it cools to test for zinc. Keep all the stuff you skimmed off if you really think it is worth something. You can always try the same process with that bunch to try to glean more lead out of it. Personally that stuff goes in my zinc bucket.

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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