unknown leadalloy

[Refraktorius]

Magnesium is easy to identify:

Scrape a spot clean and apply a drop of vinegar. If it starts bubbling, its magnesium.

Aluminium and zinc will not react with vinegar.

[jnovotny]

we came to the conclusion that this stuff was zinc I sent it to Double d he's gonna make some cannon balls

[briang]

Start a hotttttt campfire and toss it in...if it burns like mad and looks like a welder ...it used to be magnesium

Caution if you get annebriated and then throw 7 - 17 pound magnesium pipeline anodes in a roaring campfire you had better be a safe distance from flammables (vinyl siding melts right before it burns) and also be prepared to talk to local law enforcement, and the fire chief.

Sounds like one h*** of a Friday night to me.

[Charlie Sometimes]

That magnesium episode sounded like a personal experience.
I melted some old trophies down one time- they were so old some were beginning to crumble. I poured them into Lyman ingot molds and when they cooled they were about 60% the weight of lead. I figured they were die cast metal (zinc). Tried to cast some 30 caliber rifle bullets from it- VERY hard to cut sprues, and of course they were too light to actually use for most load combinations. I have heard of some people actually using this alloy for bullets, but never met anyone except the cannoneers. Some of those guys use pop cans full of concrete as projectiles, too. I'll bet that stuff would have made great cannon balls.