Dead soft lead

[hortonstn]

What is dead soft lead and where does one fine it?

[Nhgrants]

I would say lead roofing flashing is as soft as it will get.  I am not an expert on the subject.
It's my understanding that all lead is recycled so basically nothing is pure. Flashing is
Supposedly close to be all lead ad has a hardness of around 5.

[bob in the woods]

I've got a 100 pound bar of what was described to me as plumber's lead. Seems pretty pure

[mossyhorn]

I'm using Hornady precast roundballs in .310 and was wondering if they are pure lead?

[Scota4570]

If all else fails:

https://www.rotometals.com/pure-lead-nuggets-99-9-approximately-1-pound/

[Daryl]

I'm using Hornady precast roundballs in .310 and was wondering if they are pure lead?

The balls Hornady sells at .310" for muzzleloading rifles, are about as pure as you will find.

We started using the term dead soft when describing the balls we cast, due to some nit-pickers who said our pure lead, plumbers or roofing flashing wasn't pure as
it contains up to 1 1/2% of other alloys or materials - thus, the 98.6% pure Plumbers lead was not 100% pure.
We lucked in to the lining from the X-ray room at the hospital when they changed rooms. It is more pure than-is plumbers lead as I have to add a bit of tin, 1/2" of 50/50 to 20 pounds,
to prevent excess crusting on top from oxidation.
So - roof flashing - quite pure - dead soft
Sewer roof vents - quite pure - dead soft
E-Ray Wall lead -- quite pure - dead soft

If you drop a 1 lb. ingot of this dead soft lead on the concrete floor, it goes thud & gets a huge dent. IT does not ring. Lead with any appreciable amount of antimony in it, will ring & deny much less.  Tin/lead mix is easily see (shiny not dull) to be alloyed. Alloys are very difficult to cut easily with a thumb nail, or pocket knife.  You can cut a chunk off a piece of dead soft lead, but almost impossible to do that to a piece of alloyed lead.
Pure lead, ie: plumbers lead has a brinel hardness of 5.  Lead clamp or crimp on wheel weights used to be brinel 10 to 13 depending where they came from.  Lyman's #2 alloy for shooting lead bullets up to 2,000fps in modern guns has a brinel of 16. Linotype has a brinel of 21/22.  Monotype has a brinel of 26 to 28. Dead soft pure copper has a brinel of 35.

[hanshi]

I had several hundred pounds of roof flashings and X-ray lead in addition to 1970s era WW.  The roof flashings were extremely soft as was the X-ray lead; very easy to bend and cut.  The WWs were used for casting modern bullets as well as "hardened" ball for a smoothbore.  The difference in softness between them was substantial.  "Purity" is not something to worry over; the "thud" and "fingernail" tests are all that's needed.

[Mike from OK]

Thumbnail is all I use. I figure if I can scratch or leave a line in it with my thumbnail then it's close enough for my purposes.

It might not be exact, but it works.

Mike

[Old Ford2]

Another check for soft lead, is to take your favorite needle nosed pliers ( the ones with the prongs about  2 1/2" long )
Pinch a known soft round ball remember or keep as comparison, then try with the new balls if they pinch like the soft balls, you are ok to start casting.
A cast ball from wheel weights will not compress, no matter how strong you are.
It is important to keep the same pliers for measure. Not very scientific but it does work.
Also if the  bar rings when you drop it, it is hard lead, use it for sinkers, cartridge bullets, what ever but not for round ball muzzle loaders.
Have a great day!
Fred

[Daryl]

Of course, if you HAVE to use lead that is not pure or dead soft, get a mould that casts 10 to 20 thou. smaller than your normal .010" or .005" smaller than the bore,

and use a thicker patch, with the hard ball.  Trouble comes from using hard lead that is too large. Cutting the patch on loading, then burnouts happen with increased

fouling buildup, poor grouping and fliers are the result.

Loaded 'correctly' even with hard lead, there is no fouling buildup and accuracy is maintained.

Here are a couple groups illustrating this, a grossly undersized ball and using 2, .017" denim patches & different patch thickness with larger ball, done at 50 yards.

The rifle used is a 14 bore, or .690" cal.  The top group, with the undersized ball, was with a .662" ball, grossly undersized to the .690" bore, ie: .028" undersized.
I used a doubled 8 oz. denim patch, which I measured at .017" thick(compressed).




the dark knight rises weapons

[Mike from OK]

Of course, if you HAVE to use lead that is not pure or dead soft, get a mould that casts 10 to 20 thou. smaller than your normal .010" or .005" smaller than the bore,

and use a thicker patch, with the hard ball.  Trouble comes from using hard lead that is too large. Cutting the patch on loading, then burnouts happen with increased

fouling buildup, poor grouping and fliers are the result.

Loaded 'correctly' even with hard lead, there is no fouling buildup and accuracy is maintained.

Here are a couple groups illustrating this, a grossly undersized ball and using 2, .017" denim patches & different patch thickness with larger ball, done at 50 yards.

The rifle used is a 14 bore, or .690" cal.  The top group, with the undersized ball, was with a .662" ball, grossly undersized to the .690" bore, ie: .028" undersized.
I used a doubled 8 oz. denim patch, which I measured at .017" thick(compressed).




the dark knight rises weapons

I did that while goofing around one day... Loaded a .445 ball in my .50... Just stacked up 2 or 3 patches and pushed it in.

I was shooting at a white spot (heron @#$%/!!) on a log across the creek... Shot just as straight as the .490 balls did.

Mike

[rfd]

roto-metals "pure lead" is as pure as it'll get.  i buy that along with their "pure tin".  the lead alone is for muzzy balls, the lead and tin is for 16:1 slick PPBs in .45-70 cartridges.  sticking with one lead/tin source is a reasonable attempt at consistency.

[thecapgunkid]

When I used to cast I always used X-ray lead because my wife and brother in law used to work in hospitals.  Then I learned that the reason it was discarded was because of contamination.  Along with contamination in general from lead, my question is...

How come none of us turned into superheroes with super powers? How mundane...

[Daryl]

I do not know where the 'contamination' "goes", but I was told the sheet lead would not hold onto it or it would never make it to the public.

Like asbestos, there would be a very elaborate and expensive removal regime.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

yeah.  from what I understand of radiation is that it would have to change the lead into something else that was unstable.  Or whatever the original source of radiation is would have to get on or in the lead.  I don't think the lead catches the radiation, gets saturated, then begins emitting radiation.  I don't think it works that way.

Which explains why you didn't get any superpowers.

[thecapgunkid]

I don't recall it being the lead itself, but rather the residual adhesive, dust or dirt that was on it once out of the vest..  Not being sure was enough of a warning, but I cannot say I ever shot tracers....

[Mike from OK]

Can lead be irradiated? I guess it depends...

https://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q11137.html

Mike

[Daryl]

Ahh- yes- there is the kicker and why pure lead is used in the walls of Xray rooms.

"Lead is not a material that becomes activated significantly in normal usage, even with the high-energy beams; however, some materials that might be in an alloy with the lead can be activated: tungsten, iron, aluminum, and antimony."

[OldMtnMan]

For those who don't want to cast their own. Here is a good choice that's better than Hornady.

 100% lead cast, accurate, and good price. I've won BP shoots with them.

http://www.octobercountry.com/cast-round-balls-45-to-8-bore/

[Hungry Horse]

What about radioactive isotope containers from the hospital? I got several of them for free from the local hospital several years ago. They are about twenty pound each, and are not quite pure lead, as far as I can tell.

  Hungry Horse