Is this normal deformation of lead media?

[Juiceh]

I've used these 200 lead balls in a tweaked up harbor freight "ball mill" drum to make BP. I've made probably less than 10 Lbs total with this media in the mill. Sure, I was expecting wear on the media, but I thought I'd see a more uniform wearing on all of the media. As you can see the majority of the media is just fine, but a handful of the balls got beat up pretty good. Some smaller lead bits were sifted out of meal dust in previous batches and are not pictured. One ball even looks to have fused with another! Anyone ever seen that?

 

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3747/dsc02577i.jpg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9648/dsc02578p.jpg

 

 

These are "Hardened lead balls" with antimony etc etc. Really they were hornady ammo with the label removed on some of the packages but not all of them...

 

After reading harrys posting about the lead balls he sells I think I may have to wander over to skylighter and give some of his media a try.

[Xtreme Pyro]

Sure it is. Perfectly normal, lead is a very soft metal so its going to deform pretty easily especially with all of the constant tumbling of the media that happens when it's in your ballmill. I use hornady .50 cal ammo and mine are starting to deform a bit. Edited December 20, 2010 by Xtreme Pyro

[marks265]

Usually firearm lead is softer to protect the barrel. I have a 75 cal and save things like wheel weights for mill media and plumbers lead for the smoke stick. I would not expect your media to change much more than it has now. At least for a while. I have made media from many types of lead and have seen little change over the years. They may look a little out of round but thet still do there job. No worries, pick out the small tidbits if you like and keep milling safely.

 

Mark

[Juiceh]

Thanks! I figured it was probably normal. I just didn't expect only a handful of the balls to show such severe deformation while the rest were just fine. I sorta thought that all the balls would wear down at about the same rate. I certainly did not expect to see 2 balls fused together either.

 

 

Does anyone have any experience with the lead balls that Skylighter carries?

[Algenco]

I used .50 cal Hornady balls for awhile, they wore quickly but never showed abnormal wear as some of yours do.

I have molds and make mine, don't have any to offer at present.

 

I'm fairly certain Harry got those from a guy offering on PF

 

Email him leadball@brightdsl.net

[psyco_1322]

When I used .50cal round balls, all I seen in wear was the diameter reduced to something significantly less, didnt measure it. My cylindrical media gets this drum-bell look to it after a bit.

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

Ive noticed that my media which is 50 cal lead bullets make rounded points, I dont see chipping or breaking off, but a build up and fusion. I wish I had hardened lead, or a different media, because I am suspecting that the non hardened lead is contaminating my BP significantly, slowing it down. My meal straight from the mill is grey, not black at all. It bugs me quite a bit.

[Mumbles]

All meal powder is gray until you wet it.

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

Oh really. Wow. I've been worried for no reason. About the gray part that is. I would still like to try a cleaner media them compare meal.

[WSM]

I've used lead in the past and it gave my potassium nitrate a grey tint which didn't seem to harm its performance. Lead would tend to speed things up and lead has been used historically for white fire.

 

For milling raw materials, I prefer ceramic media. For meal, I recommend either brass media or stainless steel (304 or 316). A friend uses 316 and swears by it and will never go back. It's easy to clean as well. The 316 stainless steel media should work for almost everything and last nearly a lifetime.

 

WSM