You can add things to lead to harden it. Can you do anything to pure lead to make it softer?

H. C.

No, Henry, a primary metal has to be alloyed with something complimentary (researched, if you will) to be adjusted by heat treatment. Yes, a primary metal, and its alloys, can be hardness altered by hammering, stretching, like sizing a boolit after casting. Practically speaking for most applications, sizing is not to be considered into the equation in terms of final hardness. ... felix

Anything you add to a pure metal will harden it. If a pure metal has been work hardened it can be softened by annealing.

Stick it in the oven at 450-460 degrees for a half hour then turn the oven off and let the whole thing cool down naturally and very slowly.

(ovens vary both on thermostats and front to back inside the oven, going up to 475 on some ovens will give you a pool of molten lead on the back side of the tray when you go to take it out)

If it really is pure lead this really won't do much of anything. If it has some alloying elements present then it will be as soft as it can get.

Oldfeller