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gator
Senior MemberPosts: 1,746 Senior Member
Lead.........what to get?
gator
Senior MemberPosts: 1,746 Senior Member
Ok I've got a pot for melting, a burner for the heat, a dipper and a mold on the way, now I need some lead.....looking at the Rotometals site and they have a bakers dozen of lead and alloys to chose from.
To start with I will be casting Lee Real bullets and round balls for muzzleloaders.
Should I just get pure lead?
To start with I will be casting Lee Real bullets and round balls for muzzleloaders.
Should I just get pure lead?
USMC 80-84
-96 lbs
-96 lbs
Replies
Yes. Pure lead for muzzleloaders. Any alloyed lead with much hardness at all will shrink and cast undersized bullets. And the hardness can make them a major pain to get started in the bore. And they won't 'bump up' when pressure from the powder charge hits them to completely seal the bore.
― Douglas Adams
I understand wheel weights are alloy so not to be used for ML then?
-96 lbs
Life member of the American Legion, the VFW, the NRA and the Masonic Lodge, retired LEO
I will fear no evil: For I carry a .308 and not a .270
If you have an indoor range close by where they shoot a lot of 22's that's another good source for soft lead when they clean the bullet traps out.
-96 lbs
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Jacketed pistol slugs will tend to have soft cores that can be melted out. Shotgun slugs - unless you're talking about exotics like Brenneke's - are also very soft if you find any laying on the berms. Neither of these is likely to be 100% pure, but that's where the hardness testers come in handy - to help you figure out the "close enough" threshold.
Scrounged cast pistol bullets will be an amalgam of tin and antimony. They're worth picking up if you are going to cast other things, but best kept separate from the other types. This allows you to mix as needed.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
Rule of thumb; if it will fit in a 55 gallon drum, then you can smelt it at home with the use of some bricks to set the drum on, and leave room for a wood fire underneath. Hole in side of drum to let melted lead run out on piece of roofing metal. Thin lead up to an inch responds to an ax for cutting out chunks.
Scrap metal yards sometimes have lead sheathing from roofs of old buildings, and lead from industrial use. Lead is used, or was, to level heavy machinery. The machine was jacked up level and a form built around the mounting leg. Molten lead was poured in and when cooled, the machine was bolted down. I've seen machines weighing at least a thousand tons leveled this way in paper mills.
― Douglas Adams
― Douglas Adams