Another possible source for lead

dm3280 · Post by **dm3280** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:03 pm

I may be cutting my own throat but I have found another source of lead and I was wondering if anyone has used it. For years I passed by several stainded glass shops and it finally hit me that they would probably have lead scraps. I stopped in a few stores that offered classes and found they were more than happy to give the the scraps. A couple charged me scrap value but it was about 5 cents a pound. Some of the stuff from old windows was a little smoky cleaning up but if done outside it was no problem. After getting a few pounds I tested the hardness and found it to be about 9 BHN.
I cast up several bullets with the lead from stained glass and the same bullet from 1:20 and 1:30 lead I bought from Midway. Now my eyesight and shooting ability has a lot to be desired but I could not find any difference in performance of the bullets.
Anyone else try using this type of lead?

powderburner · Post by **powderburner** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 11:08 am

lead is lead where ever you can get it aand if nothing else you can use it for trigger time

Ram Hammer · Post by **Ram Hammer** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 9:07 pm

Gee... Your post made me go back to my college days. I was poor as a church mouse and didn't have money to buy factory ammo so I started reloading. My cousins have a stain glass window shop and I hit them up for lead scraps. Most of what I cast was for .357 and 44 mag. I added a little antimony I had aquired along the way and they shot great. I still have about 100 pounds of ingots left over. You have already discovered the down side to this practice though. I remember getting an occational piece from on old window with paint and puddy all over it and it smoked and stunk to high heaven! Stick with the new cut offs and you should do fine. I think they used 50/50 solder to make up the window joints. The more solder joints you have in the mix the harder the bullits will be. Good luck!