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I have seen sources of lead posts mixed into the forum.

But, do we have a list going? Something that shows the source / how hard or soft the lead is/ maybe some way for those that have used " lead from ????" To let us know how it worked for them for casting.

The thought being

Someone offers you lead from.x sorce you could look it up quick to see if others have used something like it and how it did.
 
Plumbers lead- 5BHn
Dental lead- 12 to 14 BHN
Wheel weight- 12.5 BHN
Telephone cover- 8.5 BHN
Lead pipe no joints- 6 to 8 BHN
Lead pipe Joints- 9 BHN
X-ray wall lead- 6 to 7 BHN
Old school stick on wheel weights- 9 BHN
Babbit- 15 BHN
Car battery lead from the inside- 18 BHN
Roof flashing- 7 BHN
 
Thanks Ron :thumbsup:

Pure lead has a Brinell Hardness Number of 5 or is it 4?

Also,X-ray wall lead- 6 to 7 BHN is this the lead in the card they stick in your mouth to take an xray? or is that Dental lead- 12 to 14 BHN?

Or is it something all together different?
 
Pure is considered to be 5 BHN.
These values were what I personally tested. Some were even from guys that sent me their samples from this site. If anyone has lead that they want tested I would be happy to do it. Ron
 
Sorry I added on after your reply. I'm tired & forgot to ask the 2nd part at first.

",X-ray wall lead- 6 to 7 BHN is this the lead in the card they stick in your mouth to take an xray? or is that Dental lead- 12 to 14 BHN?

Or is it something all together different? "
 
Sean Gadhar said:
Sorry I added on after your reply. I'm tired & forgot to ask the 2nd part at first.

",X-ray wall lead- 6 to 7 BHN is this the lead in the card they stick in your mouth to take an xray? or is that Dental lead- 12 to 14 BHN?

Or is it something all together different? "

The X-ray wall lead is the lead in the sheetrock 6 to 7 BHN. The little cards are the dental lead 12 to 14 BHN.
 
If you have a lot of it and want to test it I would test it. All I would need is 3 bullets for an average. Ron
 
Speer PRB- soft 5
Hornady PRB- Soft 5
TC Maxiball & hunter- very soft 5
CVA PRB- soft 5
White power punch- Hard 5
Speer .530 PRB- Hard 5
Hornady Great plains bullet 410 gr 50 cal- Hard 5
Chilled lead shot 12 to 14
No Excuses bullets- 5
 
My hardness tester uses a dial indicator. SO lets say we are looking at lead that is 5 BHN. On my dial indicator 5 BHN will read between .015 to .035 so I can read a soft 5 or a hard 5. When I was testing my paper patched bullets I would make a batch and shoot them. I would test for accuracy and file that dial indicator reading with the group Like this.

RCBS11mmgroup2.jpg


500SW3-22-08small.jpg


Then I would try a little bit harder,until I found the hardness that was the most accurate.
This is what the hardness tester looks like.

Cabbintreetester1.jpg
 
We might as well remove the "lead from inside car battery" information... as it's pretty close to impossible without professional equipment to "clean" that lead free of other nasty stuff it gets when inside the battery...

The lead poles on top of the battery can be cut off and used though... if you're careful about not spilling the acid inside...

LD
 
I've had very good luck on getting used Stick-On wheel weights "most" of them are pure lead. I have around 200lbs. of the stuff in 1 pound ingots. They are very soft, at least 5 or 6 on the hardness scale. They are used on Mag Wheels that wont take the clip-on type.
 
If you will do a search online, you will find a simple method for measuring how hard a piece of lead is. YOu must first have a small steel ball bearing and a piece of dead soft lead of known hardness. You put teh ball between the known soft lead and the unknown lead. Mash them together carefully in a vise until the bearing is not quite half burried in the known lead. Then you open the vise and measure the diameter of the dent in the known lead and the dent in the unknown lead. There is a simple calculation that will give you the Brenell hardness of your unknown lead. It's all online.

Here, I found it for you http://www.frfrogspad.com/miscellm.htm
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I bought some "pure" lead on ebay that ended up being the lead inside the car battery. I added it because it is so hard that it really isn't worth us messing with for muzzleloaders. I was hoping that is would be a deterrent for those wanting to.
 
I got an e-mail from Rotometals yesterday - for the next few days, you can use code HOT10 for a 10% discount on all internet orders.

I've used their soft lead for a while now, and it works fine for all my RB casting.
 
I picked up some lead described to me as window lead used on leaded glass windows today. Seems to be soft and flexible. Does have joints which appear to be soldered. I'm wondering if anyone here has had any experience with this window joint material for casting balls. I’m new at this and just received a bag mold, .535, and steel ladle from Larry Callahan that I want to use in the process.

Any suggestions or pointers would be appreciated.

I do have some samples of pure lead that I received from one of our generous members but I want to try the above if thought OK for cast RB since it is a local source.

Thanks.

Pat
 
Its scrap and not being sure I only purchased seven pounds for 1.25 a pound.
 
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