Does anybody know what this is ?

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  • Last Post 19 November 2009
.41 magnum posted this 17 November 2009

A friend gave me two bars he thought were lead. They are to hard to be pure. ASARCO CORPUS is moulded into the bars.They are 32 lbs. each.  4” wide 24” long    1 1/2” thick with a leg on each corner. American Smelting And Refining COmpany has three large copper mines and produce a lot of copper.  Byproducts  of copper smelting are gold ,silver ,lead ,zinc, and a few other metals. I believe CORPUS is for Corpus Cristi ,Texas because they had a plant there at one time.I found a picture of these same bars with  smaller bars stacked on and banded to as a pallet. Does anybody have information they can share as to what this may be ?  Thanks for any help. JAY

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KenK posted this 19 November 2009

I agree with Ervin about it being a “zinc", maybe for an oil rig or something instead of a boat but I would bet it's an anode.

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Ervin posted this 19 November 2009

One other note. These are probably sacrificial anodes used on boats to stop corrosion. They come in hundreds of odd shapes and usually end up in salvage yards in coastal areas. Be very careful with this stuff as a tiny amount will ruin bullet alloy. Can also be very difficult to rid your pot of it. I know, I tried to cast zinc bullets about 30 years ago. Won't do that again!

Ervin

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Ervin posted this 19 November 2009

Asarco opperated a ZINC refinery in Corpus Christy, TX.

Ervin

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.41 magnum posted this 18 November 2009

I tried the thumbnail and could not scratch it ,so I got my pen knife and could shave a small amount from the corner .According to size to weight ratio it looks like it may be zinc but I am going to try to melt and see what I get from a bullet mold.I will not get to that till the weekend ,but I will let you know what I find.   JAY

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jhrosier posted this 18 November 2009

Find the volume of the object by placing it in a straight walled container of water and measuring the increase in depth of the water. multiply the area of the container by the change in depth to find how many cubic inches the ingot occupies.

Weigh the ingot and divide the weight by the number of cubic inches.

Lead weighs .412 lbs/cu.in. Zinc weighs .248 lbs/cu.in.

Jack

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tturner53 posted this 18 November 2009

Can you scratch it at all with your thumbnail? Just curious, either way a small test run will tell you what you need to know. Let us know how it turns out. Tim

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.41 magnum posted this 18 November 2009

Maybe while  melting I can tell if it takes longer  time or more heat to melt. JAY

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tturner53 posted this 18 November 2009

There you go .41, cut off a piece, maybe a couple lbs., try casting up a bullet, see how they turn out. If there's any significant amount of zinc they will look like $%^&, not just wrinkles, like from a cold mold, but bad fillout. If there's zinc, get rid of it and clean your pot real good, nothing much lost. If they look alright, consider blending it with some ww or lead scrap.

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cityboy posted this 18 November 2009

Why not just melt enough to cast some bullets? If fill is good, then you can probably assume zinc is not present. If it does contain zinc, fill will be poor. Not long ago there was a posting showing bullets cast using an alloy containing zinc; fill was BAD. It probably was in the CASTING section.

Jim

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amb1935 posted this 18 November 2009

I know that muriatic acid (HCL) reacts with zinc but does not react with lead. I, however, do not know if muriatic acid reacts with tin, antimony, etc. I do know that it is dangerous to handle, but is commonly available at hardware stores. Not sure if this helps or is even something you'd like to try, but just thought I'd throw in my $.02.

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.41 magnum posted this 18 November 2009

Zinc is my main concern.I am new to this melting stuff and shooting it.From what I have heard I don't  want any part of it if it is zinc.What is the best way to test ? Since I am just getting started , I don't have anything more than the basic equipment.Melt my scrap and wheel weights on a wood fire in a dutch oven. When I melted ww   some floated so they came out with the clips.  Any ideas  are welcome on how to test for zinc. THANK YOU Jay

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tturner53 posted this 18 November 2009

Haven't seen that one. It's possible to use it without knowing exactly what's in it. Check it for zinc, no zinc? melt it into ingots and make some bullets. If it seems really hard mix it with something like ww or scrap. My policy is if it melts it shoots.

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