Whatzit?

[shaman]

My buddy, the Blacksmith, has been waiting 4 months to see me. Along the way, he gathered some belated birthday presents. One of them is a hunk of what appears to be pure lead, but the shape looks a lot like a Civil War-era artillery round. Before I go melting this thing down into musket bullets, I was just wondering if any of y'all have any idea what it might be:

Here's the business end:

 

[44Bro]

Medical radiation isotope holder/shield.

 

[Brazos John]

So, could it be radioactive?
You could cast some BP tracer rounds!

 

[shaman]

Medical radiation isotope holder/shield.

You're the second fellow who has mentioned that, and that's the answer I'm going to go with.

The other option was a round for a parrot gun. The general shape is right, but the parrot gun round was not case from lead.

Thanks all!

 

[NorthFork]

A big hollow point healed bullet death ray?? Sorry that's all I got.

 

[44Bro]

Yup. I've melted few. They are for low grade isotopes and after they are "expended", the isotope canister is removed and the shield/holder is exposed to the sun for some time until the radiation in the lead has decayed to almost zero.

 

[smoothshooter]

Yup. I've melted few. They are for low grade isotopes and after they are "expended", the isotope canister is removed and the shield/holder is exposed to the sun for some time until the radiation in the lead has decayed to almost zero.

I don’t think sunlight has anything to do with diminishing radiation.
If the isotopes were in their own sealed container, no radiation would transfer to the lead.
The lead shielding is a blocker, not an absorber. The lead ( or any other substance ) cannot become radioactive unless there is particulate contamination leak or deliberate physical attachment of radioactive materials to the lead.

 

[44Bro]

The bombardment of the lead by the rad source causes the lead to become a low level Alpha emitter. Sunlight and heat speeds up the decon process.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Melt it - shoot it, especially on federal owned land even better yet if your shooting it in california.

 

[oldwood]

Used to be in the hospital equipment business. Most every hosp. Imaging dept had some of these around. They are excellent for m/l bullets.

 

[smoothshooter]

The bombardment of the lead by the rad source causes the lead to become a low level Alpha emitter. Sunlight and heat speeds up the decon process.

I used to be an Industrial Radiographer, using Iridium 192 ( and trained on other radioactive materials ) and never heard of that in school or on any of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission exams we had to take.

 

[Nobody85]

Just start casting uranium rb. It’ll turn to lead if you don’t mind waiting

 

[FlinterNick]

Looks like something from Chernobyl

 

[Ranger94]

Looks like something from Chernobyl

INCORRECT!!

Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine!

 

[Urban Coyote]

Do roundballs cast from this material achieve warp speed? Beam me up Scotty.

 

[oldwood]

There's nothing "warp speed " about these isotope containers , as they take a large size lead pot to melt them.

 

[shaman]

There's nothing "warp speed " about these isotope containers , as they take a large size lead pot to melt them.

Yes, I'm figuring that I will have to take the Sawzall to it and turn it into hockey pucks.

 

[oldwood]

Back when most of the excess lead I could get were like 125 lb. pcs. , and smaller , my friend and his gunsmith buddy , puddled the big pcs. w/a gas welding torch. Worked.