What is the oddest lead item you've made ammunition from?

[Griz44Mag]

Thanks. Was hoping the letter E would tip someone smarter than me off to if it is or is not lead. I can't spend $120 on a tester for one chunk of materiel.

Might be a bit too far to ship, but to anyone that wants to know the REAL hardness of their lead, just send me a ball or small sample and I would be more that happy to test it. If it is old, it will test a bit harder, so I normally melt the sample after first test and re-cast into a flatnose bullet mold and test again the next day. So if you wanted to shave a couple hundred grains off and send it to me, I can tell you what it is. A letter stamped on a muffin tin ingot has no meaning. You can also use water displacement to get a volume, then use the displacement volume and weight to calculate the density, which will give you the material. Displacement calculators are all over the internet.

https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight/substance/lead

 

[Eterry]

Might be a bit too far to ship, but to anyone that wants to know the REAL hardness of their lead, just send me a ball or small sample and I would be more that happy to test it. If it is old, it will test a bit harder, so I normally melt the sample after first test and re-cast into a flatnose bullet mold and test again the next day. So if you wanted to shave a couple hundred grains off and send it to me, I can tell you what it is. A letter stamped on a muffin tin ingot has no meaning. You can also use water displacement to get a volume, then use the displacement volume and weight to calculate the density, which will give you the material. Displacement calculators are all over the internet.

https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight/substance/lead

Great!!! Now i gotta go look up a Decimole...just when i thought i knew everything !!! LOL.

 

[hawkeye2]

Great!!! Now i gotta go look up a Decimole...just when i thought i knew everything !!! LOL.

decimole (plural decimoles)

1. An SI unit (symbol dmol) of amount of substance, equal to 10−1 moles.

That's 10 to the -1 power. It can't be a very accurate measurement as everyone knows moles grow to various sizes and why moles? Mice are more common, why not decimice?

 

[Boomerang]

I go to California and look for dead condors to melt down and get the lead out of them.

 

[Patocazador]

I go to California and look for dead condors to melt down and get the lead out of them.

Yes! According to their wildlife publications, there must be thousands of dead condors laying around due to lead poisoning.

 

[Brokennock]

Are you familar with the lead pencil hardness test that has a link in this post? --->>> https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/shot-my-gpr-again.87958/#post-1116244

Thank you. I will read the link in the posting you linked to. I had not read that thread.

 

[Juice Jaws]

I go to California and look for dead condors to melt down and get the lead out of them.

Good luck, live in Calif all my life and never seen a condor expect in a zoo. Had to go all the way to Page Az. last week playing tourist and seen one sitting on a bridge below Lee's Ferry on the Colo. River. And that one had a tag in its wing. Ugly damn bird.

 

[Treestalker]

decimole (plural decimoles)

1. An SI unit (symbol dmol) of amount of substance, equal to 10−1 moles.

That's 10 to the -1 power. It can't be a very accurate measurement as everyone knows moles grow to various sizes and why moles? Mice are more common, why not decimice?

Is that equal to a vole to the 10th power?

 

[Bon Sauvage]

Lead wool.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Thank you. I will read the link in the posting you linked to. I had not read that thread.

Not all pencil lead is created equal. Not all pencil lead is graphite, not all pencil lead is the same density. Using pencil lead as a hardness tester is about as accurate as water witching. We had a bit of a bet going a couple of years ago. There are those that swear by it, and pay up when the bet is lost.... I have won more than one case of brew from that fallacy.
Fingernail scratching is in the same realm. Not all fingernails are the same hardness. Take my wife for instance, her claws could open cans 25 years ago, now they can't even tear skin loose anymore. I only use mine to pick my no//// ok I'll stop there....
If you really want pure lead, or a known hardness for specific pressure point loading, get a tester or get to know someone that has one.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Good luck, live in Calif all my life and never seen a condor expect in a zoo. Had to go all the way to Page Az. last week playing tourist and seen one sitting on a bridge below Lee's Ferry on the Colo. River. And that one had a tag in its wing. Ugly damn bird.

View attachment 11252

That is even uglier than a Texas Turkey vulture...............

 

[hawkeye2]

Lead wool.

Importation of sheep that give lead wool has been banned in California. I believe it has to do with the decline of the coyote population and possibley other predators too.

 

[Juice Jaws]

That is even uglier than a Texas Turkey vulture...............

But it isn't as ugly as my ex mother-in-law.

 

[Dibbuk]

Window (sash) weights.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Window (sash) weights.

Odd but true story, a man I once worked with would take his vacations in the San Juans and dig around old mines entrances with his metal detectors for gold ore, which he did find some. While digging around in an old collapsed miners cabin deep in the mountains miles from any road, he recovered a sash weight. He hung it on a rope in his study for decoration along with some old steam whistles and other stuff from mine explorations. Three or four years later his son while playing in the room knocked the display over and it crashed against a ore cart wheel, gouging the side of the sash weigh, which revealed the sash weight was a gold bar that had been dipped in lead to hide it's true nature. The gold in the bar was more than 18# of gold coated with enough lead to bring it up to 20#.

 

[Eutycus]

I've always heard of sash or window weights but all I've come across was cast iron.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Odd but true story, a man I once worked with would take his vacations in the San Juans and dig around old mines entrances with his metal detectors for gold ore, which he did find some. While digging around in an old collapsed miners cabin deep in the mountains miles from any road, he recovered a sash weight. He hung it on a rope in his study for decoration along with some old steam whistles and other stuff from mine explorations. Three or four years later his son while playing in the room knocked the display over and it crashed against a ore cart wheel, gouging the side of the sash weigh, which revealed the sash weight was a gold bar that had been dipped in lead to hide it's true nature. The gold in the bar was more than 18# of gold coated with enough lead to bring it up to 20#.

Griz that story is too good to begin with " Odd but true story ", it needs to begin with " Hey listen this is no s@#t ".

 

[Eterry]

Griz that story is too good to begin with " Odd but true story ", it needs to begin with " Hey listen this is no s@#t ".

I've always heard the difference between a children's fairy tale and an adult fairy tale is....one starts with "Once upon a time", the other begins with "you guys aint gonna believe this S!#T !

 

[Griz44Mag]

Griz that story is too good to begin with " Odd but true story ", it needs to begin with " Hey listen this is no s@#t ".

I am in Texas Juice, so it starts like this, - Here hold my beer, look at this sh%$. LOL. I worked with the guy for 7 years, I did not see the item myself, (he did sell it) but I did see the pictures and the rest of his Colorado mine equipment collection. The old miners did a lot of odd things to hide their gold, buried cans, hollow places in walls, and apparently disguising it as lead. It makes sense that they would use lead for sash weights since the mines produced many hundreds of pounds (probably thousands) of lead. The money bought college educations for both his kids.

 

[Juice Jaws]

I am in Texas Juice, so it starts like this, - Here hold my beer, look at this sh%$. LOL. I worked with the guy for 7 years, I did not see the item myself, (he did sell it) but I did see the pictures and the rest of his Colorado mine equipment collection. The old miners did a lot of odd things to hide their gold, buried cans, hollow places in walls, and apparently disguising it as lead. It makes sense that they would use lead for sash weights since the mines produced many hundreds of pounds (probably thousands) of lead. The money bought college educations for both his kids.

Like they say, truth is stranger than fiction.