Material identification

[Rally Hess]

These are some clean bars I got in a deal from buddy of mine that owns a gun shop. He got them from a retiring caster. They are about 15" long and triangular in shape. They appear to be slightly harder to bend than pure PB. Anybody have an idea what they are? Composition?

 

[fiver]

Body lead.
anywhere from 5-10% to 30% Tin.
they also come in round bars of various diameters.
airc the size indicated the Tin content.

the higher or lower Tin contents were used on flatter or more vertical surfaces since you could use more or less heat to melt the lead and work it into place smoother without it running onto the floor.

now the sucky part,,,, I can't remember if bigger was more tin or less.
I'd bend it and listen to the creaking and popping if I heard it pretty well I'd call it 30% if just barely 10%.

 

[Rally Hess]

Thanks Fiver.
I can't hear it creak at all but my ears aren't what they used to be either. I can scratch it easily with a thumbnail, and it bends back and forth easily, but doesn't break. It is harder than swaging cores in .35 cal, which I also got quite a few of in this deal. I'm assuming the cores are pure but not sure of the body lead.
There are no markings on the bars at all. I got about 60 lbs of it and it is clean.

 

[fiver]

the cores are probably pure lead but could also be antimony bearing alloy.
swaging and casting are two different worlds.

I got some of the body lead in different forms too and had no idea what to make of them.
so I just started throwing a 4 oz chunk in a pot of alloy.
it wasn't really enough to add anything to the mix but it used up the lead.

 

[KHornet]

Interesting! Have never run into Body Lead! Any day you don't learn something, is a day wasted!

 

[Rally Hess]

Yea Khornet, that's where I'm at. I've scrounged lead all over the states and some overseas while in the service, and have never come across any of this body lead either. I got some ingots in the deal also, and am now wondering what they contain. I'm more curious than concerned now. LOL

 

[Brad]

I have a few pounds of 30% Sn body solder left. My old mechanic traded me about 15 pounds of it, in bars, probably 20 years ago for some 9 mm ammo. He provided primed cases and some jacketed bullets. Cost me time and maybe 1/8 pound of Unique.

 

[freebullet]

I picked up a box with round body lead sticks and a couple tools to apply/shape it at an auction. No idea on content other than soft. It's probably still in the box on a shelf at my father's shop.

A real old timer we knew showed me how to use it on a 1968 mercury cougar I was restoring at 16-17 yrs of age. That fellow was in his high 80's in the 80's lived in his pickup and knew everything there is to know about flathead fords. As we had several I really enjoyed picking his brain. He was a dying breed at that time.

 

[Mike W1]

Only way to know for sure is have somebody test it with a XrF rig. If you don't know anybody there is a fellow on Cast Boolits that will do it. One sample and all he wants is a pound of lead for doing it. Sample only has to be about the size of a BB. PM him over there for particulars. BNE is his user name.