Mystery Alloy

Raton57 said:
Why not contact the company and ask them. They have a web site with contact info.
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I think you may be confusing two different companies. If you're referring to "Federal Metals" they are metal recyclers. This product alloy was made by "Federated Metals" which appears to have been a metal alloy manufacturer that has been out of business for several years.
 
ted_dent said:
I was also getting a purple/blue film on the alloy when in the melter.

Another interesting point is that when I drained the alloy out of the melter and into my Lee ingot mould it took about 3-4 times longer to cool down to a solid state than the softer, heavier alloy.
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I don't cast but I know a little about chemicals and exposure. It's possible that blue colour was lead oxide from getting the "lead" too hot. Were you measuring temperature in the pot by any chance? That might also explain why it took longer to cool?

If that's what's happening just be aware that your exposure potential is potentially higher than normal casting. Casting is an exercise in melting lead...when you get to that point of flirting with boiling, the hazard goes up. I'm probably telling you stuff you already know...
 
Looking at the bullet weights you got I am thinking more like Pewter. Pewter is mostly tin and comes with a list of other metals alloyed into it including copper and other metals in small percentages. Used for mugs and tankards so non-toxic. I have about 100 lbs of pewter that I use to alloy my pure lead that I got at auction. I melted some pure and for giggles I cast some bullets. It casts very hard and bullet weights are about 3/4 that of lead. I had thought of putting some through a shot maker to make non-toxic shot and using steel data as it should be close in density.
 
toxic said:
I don't cast but I know a little about chemicals and exposure. It's possible that blue colour was lead oxide from getting the "lead" too hot. Were you measuring temperature in the pot by any chance? That might also explain why it took longer to cool?

If that's what's happening just be aware that your exposure potential is potentially higher than normal casting. Casting is an exercise in melting lead...when you get to that point of flirting with boiling, the hazard goes up. I'm probably telling you stuff you already know...
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Yes, I am aware of the that but it's still good practice to always keep it in mind.

I didn't measure the pot temperature because I just wanted to get the ingot melted ASAP. I also only cast 6 bullets as I only wanted a few samples to do hardness testing so the alloy was only heated up long enough to get it to a liquid. I also always wear a respirator with lead vapor rated filters.
 
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