Mil-Spec Silver wire from early 70s

[powerbuy]

I bought a HUGE amount of silver coated mil-spec copper wire from a military base. I have been selling it slowly on Ebay for some time now, but got to looking at it closely the other day. It has a date code of 1973, and was extremely high dollar wire back in the 70's. I was told by a reputable source that some of the older mil-spec wire used over 30 years ago was over 10% silver by weight. Here are the details of the wire that I have....


Specifications:

Description - Mil-Spec Silver-Coated-Copper Wire
Part Number - M27500-20MR2S12
Wire Size - 20AWG x 2
Conductors - Two Conductor
Stranding - 38 32AWG Strands (2x 19, 32AWG Strands)
Voltage Rating - 600 Volts
Temperature Rating - 200°C (392°F)
Jacket Diameter - .127 Inches (3.22 mm)
Insulation - Two layers of FEP/Polyimide Tape with Modified Polyimide Coating
Shield - Silver Coated Copper Braid, 85% Coverage

As you can see, this wire has 38 strands of copper wire, each coated with silver. It also appears to have a silver plated copper braid according to details found online. Anyone have any experience with this wire, and could it be refined for the silver content?

I have probably around 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of the wire. Any chance it could be refined professionally along with my 4-5 tons of computer boards? Could they melt it down the same way as the circuit boards in a refinery?

I am including photos of the wire..... any input or advice would be appreciated. I would be willing to send a generous sample to anyone who would want to test for silver content by volume, and they could keep any refined product in exchange for the information.

 

[lazersteve]

PM sent.

I would be very interested in processing a sample of your wire to determine it's silver content.

[email protected]

Steve

 

[CHARLIE GREENLER]

Thats nice looking wire!!!!!! I have military spec wire too.The woven sheilding can have platnum in it too depending on the manufacturer.The silver is allways the best and is usulay a thick coat rater than a thin plate.The best that I have is the sheilding oit of the old mil spec AMPHENOL coaxal cables ,it looks pink to a peach color.Thats because its platnum and gold with a little copper.There almost isnt any nowadays.The conectors like the 58 A/U AND THE 271A/U are good and test out like unstable 10kt gold with a touch of platnum or palladium and had 2 rare earths and some rhodium in them.But back to the wire,if you get them processed there is a suprising amount of gold ALLOYED WITH THE copper core itself in the mil spec wire and woven sheild wire,it all adds up. SO MAKE SURE AND TEST THE COPPER CORES FOR GOLD AND PLATNUM.PS SELLENIUM WAS USED IN SOME MIL SPEC SO WATCH OUT FOR PHOTO (LIGHT) SENSETIVITY.i USE MY NITERIC (SODIUM NITRATE BASED NITRIC) IN THE SHADE.

 

[Harold_V]

Charlie,
You've been out in the sun too long. Best come in and get some rest.

What on earth makes you think there's platinum group metals in these things? There's no good reason for them to be there, and manufacturers aren't known for being stupid.

If you have anything to substantiate your comments, please post the evidence, so I can offer my apology.

Oh, yeah, while you're at it, lose the all caps posting. I don't appreciate people hollering at me, as if they speak loud enough, I'll believe what they're saying. I don't.

Harold

 

[CHARLIE GREENLER]

Sorry,it doesnt hurt to test sometimes.Most of what I have is millitary spec electronics.I will get a digital camera eventualy and post some pictures of what I am writing about.Its posible that in 3 tones he might have some if the peachy pink wire and woven sheild wire that looks like silver and copper .Its worth checking thats all !!!!!!

 

[kdaddy]

I have a 20 gallon container full of mil spec peachy pink amphenol coax stripped from RBS equipment. If you believe it's mostly platinum, gold with a little copper, I will sell it to you for 10% platinum spot. Free shipping!!!!!

 

[Harold_V]

I have a 20 gallon container full of mil spec peachy pink amphenol coax stripped from RBS equipment. If you believe it's mostly platinum, gold with a little copper, I will sell it to you for 10% platinum spot. Free shipping!!!!!

<<<<<<<<<<snicker>>>>>>>>>>>

Yep---that's exactly the kind of thing I'd expect when people start finding platinum in everything.

I agree with Charlie---especially when one is first starting to refine and learning about precious metals. It is smart to test things, but it's just as smart to gain some common logic along with the tests. Not expecting everything you encounter to be valuable is a good step in that direction. It will keep one from endless disappointment, plus when you do make a good discovery, it's a pleasant surprise. They're out there---just hard to find.

Harold

PS--

Free shipping, eh? Sounds like the deal of the century.

 

[Findm-Keepm]

WebFLIS (US DoD Logistics site) lists your wire as being spec'd to ASTM B298, which details the percentage (1.5-10%) of silver plating on the copper core wires.

NSN for your wire is:
6145-01-053-1118, and the PMI (precious metal ID code) is "S", meaning economically, silver is recoverable. Beyond this, I have no other info to share.

Cheers, Brian

 

[Oz]

Nice first post Brian. Do you have a links to those sites? They would be valuable resources for many members here.

 

[lazersteve]

Here's a previous discussion of the process of using the NSN number to determine precious metals content of milspec scrap:

Milspec Lookup

Steve

 

[Findm-Keepm]

Nice first post Brian. Do you have a links to those sites? They would be valuable resources for many members here.

For Webfils:

http://www.dlis.dla.mil/webflis/pub/pub_search.aspx

Just enter your part number in the part number box, hit go (its up the page, by NSN, kinda non-intuitive) and see the results. Click, one by one on the resulting NSN link(s) and pay attention to the Characteristics, and the PMI code. They break down (with some accuracy) the component PMs - including Ag, Au, and PGMs. Not that even if the PMI states no PMs present, the item may still have some PMs present. I've got a couple of older Hughes chips dating from the early 70's (when PMs weren't tracked by DoD) that do indeed have gold (and possibly other PMs) in them.

ASTM can be found with a simple Google search. Don't buy the standards - most public or University libraries subscribe to them (our City uses the library subscription) and you can access them as reference materials there.

Brokers such as ISO Parts (in a link elsewhere in the forum) get their NSN data staright from DoD via a web application. Better to go straight to the source.

22 years in the DoD taught me a few things. Steve's videos, documents, Hoke and the members of this forum are my new teachers! Thanks for a wonderful resource!

Cheers and Merry Christmas,
Brian