Age hardening lead ?

[DuncNZ]

I have a supply of swaged lead balls that are about 15 years old , they don't have any oxidizing but they are now hard to load and I have had to go to a thinner patch than I used when I purchased them .
I have measured them and they are still .535 , so the only thing I can think of is they have age hardened , making them harder to load . Any ideas or thoughts ?

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Im shooting 10 years ago balls. They work just fine.
Conicals will slump, depending on the tin mixture.

 

[Rifleman1776]

If you have some recent cast balls just put them together in a vise and squeeze. If the new ball flattens you will know the oldies have hardened.

 

[Idaho Ron]

Yes age hardening happens with lead alloy. Pure lead does not age harden.
I have read that you can soften them back up by putting them in the oven and baking them. The exact heat and time I can't remember.

 

[hanshi]

I don't believe lead ball hardens to any noticeable degree. I've fired very old ball and they loaded as easily as new cast ball.

 

[deerstalkert]

Yes age hardening happens with lead alloy. Pure lead does not age harden.
I have read that you can soften them back up by putting them in the oven and baking them. The exact heat and time I can't remember.

try 350* that seems to be the only temp used in our house!
only age hardening i have ever encountered is with alloyed lead.

 

[waksupi]

Even alloyed lead will begin losing hardness after a few years. But very slowly.
If your balls are swaged as you say, they are pretty much pure lead, and have not hardened. Something else changed, patch maybe?

 

[Whitworth]

Just walked over to my Civil War stuff and grabbed a random Minie ball to check for hardness. My fingernail easily scratched the 160 year old bullet. YMMV

 

[DuncNZ]

Even alloyed lead will begin losing hardness after a few years. But very slowly.
If your balls are swaged as you say, they are pretty much pure lead, and have not hardened. Something else changed, patch maybe?

Maybe it is the nut holding the butt has got older and worn out

 

[Woody Morgan]

Maybe it is the nut holding the butt has got older and worn out

There's a lot of that going around.

wm

 

[olskool]

i have been a handloader for over 50 years and a bullet caster for 40 years. i have never heard of that, and i have some old lead bars that is fine.

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

Pure lead does NOT harden with age, it has been in the ground for many, many years (maybe millions?) and is constant in it's malleability.

 

[longcruise]

It's probably a misconception based on wheel weights. If you melt and cast with wheel weights they will gradually slightly harden ov about two weeks. Usually settles at right around 12 BHN.

 

[nhmoose]

Only alloys will age harden. WW are alloys

 

[smoothshooter]

I have a supply of swaged lead balls that are about 15 years old , they don't have any oxidizing but they are now hard to load and I have had to go to a thinner patch than I used when I purchased them .
I have measured them and they are still .535 , so the only thing I can think of is they have age hardened , making them harder to load . Any ideas or thoughts ?

IIRC, even pure lead can age harden some.
Curiously, it seems to go through some kind of cycle, any one of them being measured in months or years. They can start out softer, get a little harder, then slowly soften again.
Water quenching the hot balls/bullets right out of the mold instantly hardens them a little, but I think even those will soften over time.
The guys over at the cast bullet forums can give more specific info.
The Lyman Cast Bullet Loading Manual addresses this issue as well.

 

[johnfrommd]

As said before, pure lead does not harden. It tests at 5 BHN and will do so forever if not alloyed. Search the web, the evidence is readily availalble.