Is this lead?

[rdfact]

I want to get into casting but need to find some lead first. I local seller has this which they described as "hardened lead". Doesn't look like wheel weights.

[incredablehefey]

Could be linotype and roof jacks. So yea it could be lead.

[bruce381]

the pipe is pure lead the blocks are printing lead either mono or foundry type very high in alloys can be mixed like 1 part to 2-3 parts of the pure to get a real good all round alloy.

[rdfact]

Thanks for the info.

[fal_762x51]

The blocks look to be linotype. Good stuff to up the hardness of your cast.

[stilly]

I want to get into casting but need to find some lead first. I local seller has this which they described as "hardened lead". Doesn't look like wheel weights.

If those blocks are Lino, and they look like it like what others said, look closely and see if you can see some with letters on them, like a typeface or something. Then, when you melt down yer lead, Keep the lino SEPARATED. In fact, keep it like it is now, do not melt it down into a larger mess. IIRC, you only need about 4% of Antimony in your lead mix and you can get very hard boolits from it. Lino is a lot of Antimony, so if you mixed about half a pot of lead and half Lino, you would be wasting the Lino by mixing too much.

The thing to do is see how soft the lead pipes are. If those are pure lead, melt them down first and keep those ingots separated from the Lino ingots if you melt them down.

You should consider your lead collection as ingredients for making boolits. SOMETIMES you want pure lead for HP applications, other times you want some hardened up stuff.

Also, for the record- Pure lead that is very soft will be worth about $1.00/lb while Lino will be worth $2.50/lb or so. I do not pay $2.50/lb, but I heard it was the going rate a few months back. I do not look for Lino, I have about 90 lbs and I use it to add to my melt so I can have that 4% mixture.

[wbunning]

Linotype is 82% lead, 12% antimony and 4% tin. I often mix it 50-50 by weight with pure lead which produces a mix of 92-6-2 % of lead, antimony and tin known as "hardball". There are other ratios that are quite useful, and having a good supply of linotype and pure lead is really handy. I'm not sure either, if that stuffyou have is really linotype. It doesn't look like the stuff I have.

[rdfact]

Is 'pure' linotype too hard for bullets? Or would a bullet made of lino be lighter/heavier than a bullet made with a higher lead content?

[wbunning]

Is 'pure' linotype too hard for bullets? Or would a bullet made of lino be lighter/heavier than a bullet made with a higher lead content?

It depends on the bullet, firearm and load. The Lyman reloading manual lists many loads using bullets cast from linotype, mostly for heavier bullet loads such as .44 mag. It is not suitable for all cast bullets by any means.

[rdfact]

It depends on the bullet, firearm and load. The Lyman reloading manual lists many loads using bullets cast from linotype, mostly for heavier bullet loads such as .44 mag. It is not suitable for all cast bullets by any means.

Thanks. 44mag happens to be one I will want to cast for. I do have, and have read, the Lyman Cast Bullet handbook. I will be sure to review it again before my first casting session. I have the 49th and 50th editions of the Lyman reloading manuals as well.

[NapalmCheese]

Is 'pure' linotype too hard for bullets? Or would a bullet made of lino be lighter/heavier than a bullet made with a higher lead content?

You can cast pure linotype for very hard bullets, but they tend to be brittle. Depending on your application that can be a bad thing. Really hard bullets are rarely what you want anyway, unless you happen to have a bunch of lino that you want to get rid of (though you could probably trade it for lead or sell it if that's the case).

[rdfact]

So I went to the guys house to buy the three buckets shown in post 1. Very nice guy but his front yard is probably hated by his neighbors - junk everywhere.
He couldn't find the bucket with the lead pipe. [emoji53]
So I bought the two buckets of linotype (or is it monotype?). 215 lbs total. Here's a sample. Most are solid, some have the space cutouts like the bottom middle.

[knucklehead0202]

Dang it reminds me of about 10 years ago I was under a house and they had an entire pallet of lead ingots sitting there. Shoulda bought it off them while I had the chance. Still use it occasionally in plumbing too and it's not cheap.

[JagerDog]

If you paid lead prices, you made out.

You do want to mix that with lead or trade for pure lead at say 2:1.

Generally linotype is too hard for cast bullets.

[bruce381]

that's mono type way more alloy tin and antimony than you need.

google mono type and or go to the cast boolits site they have a free downloadable alloy calculator that you can plug into to get whatever alloy you want.

you can trade tp pure lead to make a good alloy again maybe 1 part mono 3-4 parts lead, mono is very hard by itself worth $2-3 Lb at least