Re: Hardened Lead Balls
- From: "Don T" <-painter-@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:58:46 -0700
Actually no. Pot Metal was ~ 67% Cu, 29% Pb, 4% Sb. Another variety was ~80% Cu, 20% Pb. "Pot Metal" alloys were made of numerous metals: zinc, lead, copper, tin , magnesium, aluminum, iron, tin, and cadmium, among others. All depended on the intended purpose.
--
Don Thompson
Stolen from Dan: "Just thinking, besides, I watched 2 dogs mating once,
and that makes me an expert. "
There is nothing more frightening than active ignorance.
~Goethe
It is a worthy thing to fight for one's freedom;
it is another sight finer to fight for another man's.
~Mark Twain
"John O. Kopf" <kopfj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:IqHWk.41549$_Y1.40902@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Another lead alloy consisted of lead alloyed with up to 10-12% of copper. Commonly called "pot metal", it was used for casting cooking pots and wine taps (way back before people realized that you shouldn't eat lead! :-) ) Later, used to cast things like car handles and carburetors.
John Kopf
LBussy wrote:On Nov 24, 2:24 am, Richard J Kinch <ki...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:Lead does not harden. Whoever says that is ignorant of basic metallurgy.
Hrm ... as are you apparently. Lead is hardened the same was as any
metal, by alloying and manipulating the crystalline structure through
heating and cooling.
Lead is alloyed with tin and antimony to improve the castability
(tin), lower the melting temperature (tin and antimony) - also known
as creating an eutectic mixture, and to harden the product
(antimony). A cast piece may also be quenched to achieve a higher
degree of hardness. Folks that are serious about casting their own
bullets have done the leg-work[1] and determined that quenching and
sometimes heat-treatment cycles improves the hardness of the cast
product. Wheel weights are a crapshoot as far as alloying goes; they
can be and often are just about any hrdness with varying percentages
of tin and antimony[2]. They can certainly be used as grinding media,
but chances are they won't last as long as a harder allow with more
antimony (such as linotype or monotype).
I recently spent a number of hours casting my own lead balls from
linotype obtained from a gentleman who was well acquainted with the
maintenance of his alloys. He had them regularly tested and used plus-
metal (a high concentration of antimony to lead, used to add back
metals lost through oxidation in the melting/casting process) to keep
them where they should be. The resultant balls were hard (could not
scratch with a nail at all) and shiny, like a ball bearing almost;
HUGE difference from soft lead.
Did I need to go through all that trouble and spend extra money? No,
but it makes me feel better.
-Lee
[1] Stronger bullets with less alloying, by Dennis Marshall, The NRA
Cast Bullet Book by Col. E. H. Harrison, page 119 & 121; Heat Treating
Lead, Antimony, Arsenic Alloys, by Rick Kelter, Heat Treating Lead -
Antimony - Arsenic Alloys.
[2] The Truth About Wheel Weights, by Dennis Marshall, The NRA Cast
Bullet Book by Col. E. H. Harrison, page 133.
.
- References:
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- Re: Hardened Lead Balls
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- Hardened Lead Balls
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