Copperized Lead

[Heelerau]

Gents, have any of you tried the above for round ball or bullets for say a .451 Volunteer or Whitworth rifle? I imagine that it would be to hard for Minnies' or Pritchett bullets. Also will it likely damage either aluminium or brass mould blocks?

Cheers

Heelerau

 

[nkbj]

I've used #2 babbitt (with an appreciable amount of copper in it) to harden lead alloys... but that's all I know about casting with copper. The copper makes it more difficult to get good fill out, needing higher temperatures. Really have to keep fluxing and stirring the pot too.

I've seen instructions for temperature control for "de-coppering" the mix (separates out the copper) to make it easier to cast with but I haven't done it except by accident.

 

[coloradoclyde]

On another forum you said it was roofing material....I'm curious what the hardness is.

Also is this a copper matrix or simply a copper clad material.

 

[Idaho Ron]

Gents, have any of you tried the above for round ball or bullets for say a .451 Volunteer or Whitworth rifle? I imagine that it would be to hard for Minnies' or Pritchett bullets. Also will it likely damage either aluminium or brass mould blocks?

Cheers

Heelerau

If you have a lot of it and want a hardness test. I can do it for you. Just send me three bullets and I can get it done.

 

[Heelerau]

Mate I am guessing it is a lead copper alloy.(matrix)

 

[coloradoclyde]

With out seeing it, I would guess that it is lead coated copper roofing material.....Melting it would be difficult and the yield would probably be quite low.
If it is an alloy....it's probably a lost cause...I don't think you could separate the lead and most if not all copper lead alloys are less than 10% lead.

Might be fun to experiment with though.....