Well, in that case it goes into my "mystery lead" pot to be used for something other than my rifles.

JerryH

Jerry,

A great way to test relative lead hardness (low tech version) is to make an ingot of the unknown lead, and have similar size/shaped ingots of known hardness.  In your case, cast one of known pure lead.

Then, hit the two pieces together at 90 degrees to each other, making two similar edge/corners be the contact point.  If they are the same alloy, the dents will be identical between the two pieces.  Any difference at all, the harder alloy will be almost undented, and the other will dent much more.  You can do it several times, it's surprising how repeatable the dents are.

I usually stamp my lead with WW, A, or 20 for wheel weight, Antimony lead (usually range scrap mixed with WW) and 20:1. 

If I forget to stamp a batch and forget what it is later, I can easily determine what it is by hitting it against known samples.

I've heard all kinds of advice about not using unknown lead.  However, I have one rifle that really likes the "A" lead better than anything else.  I get some repeatability by making up batches of about 80 pounds, which is what my lead pot will hold.  I mix about half WW and half range scrap, and add 1:20 tin to it to make it flow better.  I stamp all that batch A1.  Then I repeat, and stamp the next batch A2, continuing on till I have about 240 pounds.  Then, I put an equal number of each batch into the pot, and remelt and re-ingot it.  By now, the lead is getting quite clean, from the initial scrap and ww mess that has been remelted, skimmed, etc repeatedly.  I repeat this mixed batch process until I have alloyed all the 3 batches together equally.  Then, I stamp that "A" and shoot it.   I'm not sure it's worth all the time it takes, but it works for me, and is cheap.