from what i was told most printing shops made there own spacers out of linotype. So it is linotype but it could be older linotype that has lost some of its antimony in lead from be used over and over.
from what i was told most printing shops made there own spacers out of linotype. So it is linotype but it could be older linotype that has lost some of its antimony in lead from be used over and over.
I can't remember if it was Glen Fryxell that wrote the following information or not but there was a paragraph or two that stated for the bullet caster to stay away from foundry type. Maybe it was in the Lyman casting book.
Shooter of the "HOLY BLACK" SASS 81802 AKA FAIRSHAKE; NRA ; BOLD; WARTHOG;Deadwood Marshal;Bayou Bounty Hunter; So That his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat; 44 WCF filled to the top, 210 gr. bullet
Last edited by tmd17; 02-12-2023 at 08:03 PM. Reason: typo
My Lee Hardness Test Kit indicates about 20 BHN, but a 2H pencil will not scratch it!
I trust the pencils. Remember to scratch the lead with a square edge on your pencil lead. In other words, the lead of the pencil must be ground flat. Hold at 45 degrees to the lead. Work your way up the pencils in hardness until one scratches it. No matter which type of lead you end up having, you have some prime material for alloying soft lead. Congrats!
This is an old thread, but my wondering about the answer isn't. I began to wonder about some stock I bought on eBay and so was thinking about posting a question, but a search turned this thread up. Maybe someone else will find what I found to be helpful:
https://swamppress.com/pdf/Type%20Identifier-new.pdf
As usual, the subject of printing lead alloys is a bit more complex than first meets the eye, and alloy composition is not always the same, even with alloys that go by the same name.
I hope this helps; I now have some sorting to do and math to recalculate.
We go through life trying to make the best decisions we can based on the best infomation we can find, that turns out to be wrong.
Oh those pictures bring back flashbacks with the type galley's and the composing sticks and the linotype machine. I really miss those days. I ran a letterpress all the way up till 1988. But the Kluge letterpress I was running there used solid wood blocks with a thin 1/8" formed metal plate as the printing medium. I am not sure what those plates were made of. I still have a few around here somewhere, I will have to send off a sample to BNE and see what they are. Certainly not lead.
We go through life trying to make the best decisions we can based on the best infomation we can find, that turns out to be wrong.
I remember the Goss presses, I never ran one but I saw them in operation. They are still using Rotogravure machines to this day. We had a smaller one color gravure press in the place I worked and I did run it a few times when the regular operator was out. It was a nice smooth machine to run. I do not remember the brand. It was 58 years ago but I still remember the press lineup in that shop! A Miele vertical, that grovure press, and old hand feed platen press, the Heidelberg that I ran most of the time and the paper cutter. halfway across the shop from the paper cutter was the Linotype machine, the lead shower special we called it. I am sure you know why. And opposite the first three machines were the type galleys and lockup area. On the far side of the shop were "Those OTHER guys" you know, the lowly offset presses. LOL.
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 |