Is my lead too hard?

[tuscan]

came across white metal, aloy 4 bearings, casted some RB and r.e.a.l.s, they seam to be too hard.
70% pipe lead, 30% white metal.
pure r.e.a.l.s weight 200grs, my new ones 170grs.

 

[nkbj]

Sounds pretty hard Dude.
Do you have a steel ball bearing? Sometimes it's pretty easy to tell where it is hardness wise just by squeezing a ball bearing between soft lead and the piece in question and comparing the indentations. It's all relative but the results can be very informative.
A bench vise works. Or an improvised hammer arrangement can work if the pieces are controlled.

 

[Norinco]

Scratch some known pure lead with your thumbnail. Remember how you scratched and how it came out. Then scratch unknown lead. If you get good at it, it's a decent test.

 

[Bearbait2]

Mr. tuscan,
In our rifle the REALs cast from wheel weights were harder to load and much less accurate than those we cast from pure lead.
When shooting PRBs there was no noticeable difference between those cast of pure lead and those cast from WW.
Best Wishes

 

[Joel/Calgary]

came across white metal, aloy 4 bearings, casted some RB and r.e.a.l.s, they seam to be too hard.
70% pipe lead, 30% white metal.
pure r.e.a.l.s weight 200grs, my new ones 170grs.

It sounds like you found some tin-based Babbitt bearings (there are lead-based ones, as well). These are not of particular use in muzzleloaders, except perhaps for alloying in making "hardened" balls for greater penetration. Everything that I can recall about conicals of all types suggests that one wants pure lead, or at most a small percentage of tin, with very little or (preferably) none of other elements like antimony, copper, zinc, etc. I did a quick web search, and found specifications for a "No. 4" tin-based Babbitt alloy of 80.5-82.5% Sn, 12.0-14.0% Sb , 5.0-6.0% Cu, and 0.35% (Max) Pb. http://www.alchemycastings.com/lead-products/babbitt.htm http://www.frymetals.com/pdf_uploads/referenceguide.pdf
That might be interesting to work with as an alloying ingredient for more modern bullets (although that might be enough copper to make casting more challenging - I can't really recall), or perhaps valuable as trading material for that purpose, possibly in exchange for pure lead.

FWIW, your batch of alloyed metal should be approximately 70% Pb, 24.45% Sn, 3.9% Sb, 1.65% Cu. That would be much higher tin but lower antimony than linotype alloy (4% Sn, 12% Sb, 84% Pb), monotype alloy (10% Sn, 16% Sb, 74% Pb), or foundry (movable) type alloy (18% Sn, 28% Sb, 54% Pb). I have no idea what the hardness would be. This batch of metal with the composition known would likely still be valuable alloying or trading material.

I hope this helps,
Joel

 

[tuscan]

pure cast white metal real bullet is 130grs.
cant schrach it, it hard on file, too.
i think it wont matter on PRB cus patch drives it,
reals got me woryed.
well, allway can remelt, add more lead, can i?
btw, dont need em for hunting, just for paper work.

 

[nkbj]

Uh oh, metal's too hard.
You should get a 1911 to go with that alloy.
:nono: Waste not want not.

 

[tuscan]

you were all right. to hard. done some smoking today, couldnt even load REAL bullet. way too hard. :cursing: no more experiments, pure lead the right stuff :thumbsup: