Casting supplies
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Coal Creek Davis
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:17 pm
- Location: Bagley, Iowa
Casting supplies
Were do you fellows get the lead you use for casting bullets?
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Lee Stone
- Posts: 2817
- Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 2:27 pm
- Location: Lacombe, Louisiana, USA
- Contact:
Coal Creek Davis,
Buffalo Arms sells pure lead (I have purchased a few hundred pounds from them) and pure tin:
http://www.buffaloarms.com/
Also The Antimony Man does too:
http://www.theantimonyman.com/
If there is by any chance a company close to you that makes batteries, you may be able to buy pure lead from them. I was fortunate enough to find such a company not far from me. Save paying freight since I can go pick it up. And since selling lead is not their primary concern, they do it as a courtesy, they only charge what the lead costs them.
I do not like to use wheel weights (although a lot of people use them very successfully) because you never know what is in them. For the same reason I prefer not to use scrap lead unless I can be reasonably sure it is pure. A lead hardness tester is very usefull.
Buffalo Arms sells pure lead (I have purchased a few hundred pounds from them) and pure tin:
http://www.buffaloarms.com/
Also The Antimony Man does too:
http://www.theantimonyman.com/
If there is by any chance a company close to you that makes batteries, you may be able to buy pure lead from them. I was fortunate enough to find such a company not far from me. Save paying freight since I can go pick it up. And since selling lead is not their primary concern, they do it as a courtesy, they only charge what the lead costs them.
I do not like to use wheel weights (although a lot of people use them very successfully) because you never know what is in them. For the same reason I prefer not to use scrap lead unless I can be reasonably sure it is pure. A lead hardness tester is very usefull.
Lee Stone
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ironramrod
- Posts: 1364
- Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2003 1:12 pm
- Location: Dakota Territory
Coal Creek,
For pure lead I use scrap lead obtained generally from scrap metal or salvage yards. The best is lead water pipe, sheet lead from roofs, roof jacks, some medical lead (for lack of a better name) from x-ray units, joint lead from sewer pipes and cable sheathing. However, some of the medical lead, joint lead and cable sheathing has some alloys in it. To test your lead for purity bring a cast iron ladle of your lead up to about 750-800 deg. If it is pure it will for a collage of colors on the surface; first the yellows and golds, followed light greens, and then the reds and blues.
Wheel weights are all alloys as is linotype and monotype (I think that is the right word). Apparently all wheel weights are made by 2 manufacturers in the U.S. and I understand they use almost the same identical alloy mix. Wheel weights are quite versatile, and the smokeless powder shooters use a lot of them. I use them in several different rifles, and they shoot very well. I drop them out a hot mould into a bucket of cool water (60 deg. or so). After a 24 hr. hardening cycle the BHN is about 26 or so. They can also be oven heat treated at 450-475 deg. for 1-1.5 hours and then water quenched. Again after a 24 hr. hardening cycle the BHN is about 35. These things hit both silhouettes and big game with serious authority; a long flat nose design bullet is a real killer.
Regards
For pure lead I use scrap lead obtained generally from scrap metal or salvage yards. The best is lead water pipe, sheet lead from roofs, roof jacks, some medical lead (for lack of a better name) from x-ray units, joint lead from sewer pipes and cable sheathing. However, some of the medical lead, joint lead and cable sheathing has some alloys in it. To test your lead for purity bring a cast iron ladle of your lead up to about 750-800 deg. If it is pure it will for a collage of colors on the surface; first the yellows and golds, followed light greens, and then the reds and blues.
Wheel weights are all alloys as is linotype and monotype (I think that is the right word). Apparently all wheel weights are made by 2 manufacturers in the U.S. and I understand they use almost the same identical alloy mix. Wheel weights are quite versatile, and the smokeless powder shooters use a lot of them. I use them in several different rifles, and they shoot very well. I drop them out a hot mould into a bucket of cool water (60 deg. or so). After a 24 hr. hardening cycle the BHN is about 26 or so. They can also be oven heat treated at 450-475 deg. for 1-1.5 hours and then water quenched. Again after a 24 hr. hardening cycle the BHN is about 35. These things hit both silhouettes and big game with serious authority; a long flat nose design bullet is a real killer.
Regards
I've read in other posts that wheel weights are not good for casting BP bullets. What would be the reasons? I have access to them if I need to. Just wondering the pluses and minuses. Thanks, LeRoy.
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Vbull
Archdlx, Coal Creek,
I also get my "pure" lead from the junkyard. Lead pipe and roof flashing has always been dead soft for my uses. Most especially the lead pipe. It is generally clean and is plentiful here in the northeast where lots of the older homes get their pipes replaced with copper or plastic. The lead flashing is good too, but sometimes has tar on it and really smokes when I melt it down into ingots.
Although I've used wheel weights, there is no guarantee of the alloy content. I occasionally use them for practice when shooting smokeless. You have to watch out for the ones that are made from zinc. They are the stick on type without clips. If one of them gets into the pot, you're batch will be ruined. The good news is, they can be found for free in many places just to haul them away. Most of mine end up as sinkers. We use big ones here in Rhode Island 5 - 10 ounces. takes a lot of wheel weights. Good luck, Frank Monikowski
I also get my "pure" lead from the junkyard. Lead pipe and roof flashing has always been dead soft for my uses. Most especially the lead pipe. It is generally clean and is plentiful here in the northeast where lots of the older homes get their pipes replaced with copper or plastic. The lead flashing is good too, but sometimes has tar on it and really smokes when I melt it down into ingots.
Although I've used wheel weights, there is no guarantee of the alloy content. I occasionally use them for practice when shooting smokeless. You have to watch out for the ones that are made from zinc. They are the stick on type without clips. If one of them gets into the pot, you're batch will be ruined. The good news is, they can be found for free in many places just to haul them away. Most of mine end up as sinkers. We use big ones here in Rhode Island 5 - 10 ounces. takes a lot of wheel weights. Good luck, Frank Monikowski