Casting pure lead

[Griz44Mag]

So I bought a batch of what is supposed to be pure lead and when it arrived the bars had an iridescent blue color. I have been casting alloys for the "unmentionables" for decades but have never ran across this before. Is this from excessive temperature? The guy I bought from claims to be melting 25# slugs to break it down into 1# bars to sell. I tested the material with my Cabine Tree tester and it shows to be pure lead. I always add some tin to my lead to make it cast smoother so the finished balls came out nice and shiny.

 

[Le Loup]

So I bought a batch of what is supposed to be pure lead and when it arrived the bars had an iridescent blue color. I have been casting alloys for the "unmentionables" for decades but have never ran across this before. Is this from excessive temperature? The guy I bought from claims to be melting 25# slugs to break it down into 1# bars to sell. I tested the material with my Cabine Tree tester and it shows to be pure lead. I always add some tin to my lead to make it cast smoother so the finished balls came out nice and shiny.

Could be excessive heat Griz, I have noticed some blueing when scraping the slag off in the past, but the ball always turns out bright silver.
Keith.

 

[Eterry]

20 years ago I bought 200 lbs in 5lb ingots and it had the same blue tint to it, but it cast fine and i still have about 50lbs.
If you don't want it send it to me... lol .

 

[Griz44Mag]

20 years ago I bought 200 lbs in 5lb ingots and it had the same blue tint to it, but it cast fine and i still have about 50lbs.
If you don't want it send it to me... lol .

I think I will take that lead out and bury it.... (In a berm and next month in a deer or two.)

 

[hanshi]

Just sounds like dead-soft lead to me. Quite normal.

 

[Kansas Kid]

I have had that from high temps.

 

[Cowboy]

Just sounds like dead-soft lead to me. Quite normal.

I agree 100% !

That’s quite normal my friend.

I might also add that there isn’t really a need to add tin for better flow or fill out.

Personally, I cast from 750-800 temp. Perfect flow and fill out as long as your mold and ladle is up to temperature as well.

The Blue color in the lead is a good sign as being pure my friend.

Respectfully, Cowboy

 

[TFoley]

So I bought a batch of what is supposed to be pure lead and when it arrived the bars had an iridescent blue color.

Today [and tomorrow if I'm spared], I was casting some lead from a local church roof [legally acquired, I hasten to note - they have gone over to using a 'f'ake' lead with the appearance of lead after having the roof stripped of 95% of its lead by members of the travlling community] when I noticed the same hue appearing on the surface. I quickly turned the heat down, and after skimming a few times and a good fluxing, it went completely and did not return. I was casting Minié ball, and they all looked good. The lead I was using had been put there sometime between 1902 and 1905.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Tonight I sat down at the scale, put my little doughnut on the plate and started implementation of the DUTCH ball weighing.
By weight averaging, I figured there were about 340 balls in the batch. As I passed though them I watched for the heaviest, replacing the heaviest one found with the next one that weighed more, and dropping any that were 1% or more off (2.3gr) into the recycle bowl. That eliminated 15 or 20 balls. After finding the heaviest, I tared the scale off the heaviest and ran back through and discarded any that were more than 1.9gr light (<1% weight deficient). The total cull was about 50 balls. (about 1.5%) Not bad out of 340 on the starting count. I have been casting for decades, so I have a great feel for mold and melt temps, timing on the cycle and what I consider near perfect casting technique. Casting pure lead is new for me, so the blue color took me by surprise. I cast alloy up to 24 brinell and am used to seeing gold and yellow hues due to the antimony. For these alloys, tin is essential. SO I have just been told, for pure lead it is not so necessary, so I will definitely try that on the next batch. These are rejects, and I can't say for sure if they were from the early casts or sometime later. I usually don't worry about that til the deed is done, then sort them out. Casting balls is ridiculously easy. They cast easy and fall from the molds like rain from a summer storm. Here are the rejects. The flaws are obvious and the reason they are light. The non-rejects are smooth and shiny.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Griz, This ain't Rocket Surgery or Brain Science! Two things:
If ye add tin to the lead, it ain't pure lead any more. Also, if ye can scratch with yer thumb nail land leave a mark, it's probably pure lead. I've always used pure lead to cast ML ball. So far, so good, but it's only been 50 years or so.

 

[Vomir le Chien]

With all the bad weather and wrecked Sail Boats around,soft lead should be in abundance,Keel weights,, weight in the tons.look around it's out there.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Tanglefoot, I have been casting longer than most on this earth have been alive. Tin makes lead flow like water, even pure lead. And I agree, pure lead is much easier to cast into round balls than any alloy with antimony in it. But then, any one can cast a round ball with minimal instruction.
I have been collecting lead for over 40 years, have several tons of it in buckets and barrels. Most is range scrap, a lot is old wheel weight, a few hundred pounds is Lino. I have it separated by hardness (I have a quality tester) and it ranges from dead soft to 24 Brinnell. I just did not have very much PURE lead. BTW, the one keel I salvaged years ago was NOT pure lead, an ion scanner showed it to have 7 different metals in it and it tested at 14 Brinnell, a long way from "soft'. I am also not new to casting, been at for decades, just new to round ball. Round ball is super-super simple compared to hollow base with hollow point and 4 lube grooves. My ONLY curiosity here was the oddball color that I had never seen before. Please note the pile of round balls in the picture. It certainly did not keep me from casting it.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Blue tint in cold lead is a puzzlement to me. Frequently seen on top of a pot of melted hot lead. But cold? And, agree with others, no need to add alloys for rb ml shooting. My preference is lead as pure and soft as I can get. BTW, I need to build up my stock of lead. No wrecked sailboats near me.

 

[Dr5x]

Gee Whiz Griz, You have a great set up for casting.
The only test I ever used was to see if I could cut into the lead with my thumb nail..
If you can, it is soft enough to be made into balls.
The tin you add might harden the balls to where they are hard to load, but in respect to your judgement I don't think you are having any problems with that.

Dutch

So I bought a batch of what is supposed to be pure lead and when it arrived the bars had an iridescent blue color. I have been casting alloys for the "unmentionables" for decades but have never ran across this before. Is this from excessive temperature? The guy I bought from claims to be melting 25# slugs to break it down into 1# bars to sell. I tested the material with my Cabine Tree tester and it shows to be pure lead. I always add some tin to my lead to make it cast smoother so the finished balls came out nice and shiny.

View attachment 423 View attachment 424 View attachment 425

 

[M. De Land]

The main purpose for tin is to get casts to fill out more fully and to facilitate the mixing of antimony into the melt. Tin addition will only marginally harden lead and only temporarily as it will begin to soften after about a year unless kept in a freezer.

 

[Eterry]

I started using scrap lead from car batteries and house flashing/vent pipes. I've scrounged/bought/cajoled it from friends and strangers for over 35 years. 20 plus years ago went to salvage yard and found 250 lbs. of linotype, straight off the presses. Bought it for scrap lead price and thought I'd hit the mother lode. Converted it to Lyman #2 for CF pistols/rifles.
Over the years ended up with some Babbitt, just blended it with pure lead and shot it in my ML'ers. Never saw a problem.
Lately with pure lead in short supply I've taken to blending pure with wheel weights...so far no problems. I know of several who shoot straight wheel weights thru their M/Lers, they seem happy.
BTW Grizz...nice set-up you have there.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Today was a good day to set up and do some casting. Not too hot, not too cold. I try to do most of my casting for the year in the winter. Today it was more .54 round ball, seems to be my favorite these days.
The yield today was 168 balls, and using the Dutch method, the "outcasts" (1% underweight) for the day was only 11 balls.
I raised the temp to 810F and ran the mold at level 4 on the plate. That results in a very quick pace to keep the rhythm fast enough to keep the mold that hot. Results were excellent. Peak weight is 231.2 with pure lead and an ounce of tin in 6#.