Battery Lead

[Uncle Chan]

All,

I've about 500lbs of battery lead already formed into ingots by my father-in-law. He wants to give them to me for casting.

I've heard lot's of "bad" stuff about battery lead, so I've mixed feelings on it.

These were formed a couple decades ago.

Should I snag or pass?

Uncle Chan

 

[ilbob]

As I understand it the problem is that maintenance free batteries are lead alloyed with stuff that is pretty nasty and on top of that does not cast well.

 

[cdrt]

You might check and see if your local scrap yard would take it off your hands. You could use the $ to buy a better quality of lead.

 

[TexasSkyhawk]

Agree with my fellow Texan.

Have heard nothing good from smelting/casting battery lead. But have heard some godawful frightening stories from being around the toxic fumes.

I'd definitely take it to a scrap yard and trade it for WW.

Jeff

 

[nambu1]

A friend has a scrap yard and he gets most of his lead from batteries. The only problem I had with battery lead was melting it for the first time. The acid made it splash and pop.

 

[rbernie]

I am no expert. But given the age of the ingots and the fact that they've already been smelted once, I would expect that the lead at this point is relatively free of most nastiness.

 

[BAT1]

Would it make corrosive ammo?

 

[Kosh75287]

I wouldn't think that there'd be enough acid left in the lead to have much corrosive effect on your barrels. I don't know how easily done this would be, but you might try introducing minute amounts of baking soda to the molten lead, perhaps when fluxing?

 

[zxcvbob]

If you're worried about acidity, use borax to flux it. (be warned that melted borax is *very* messy)

If it was already in ingots, I'd sure give it a try.

 

[Walkalong]

Generally it is considered a bad idea to use battery lead, but someone did the nasty part for you. It may be OK. I do not know.

Try some. The impurities may well have been removed when smelted.

 

[Uncle Chan]

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

The lead was smelted down 20 years ago. It is in ingots taking up space. I just can't see not using them.

I'll give it some more thought.

 

[redneck2]

You might want to go to some of the bullet casting sites. They talk about the dangers of battery lead. Among other things, battery lead can give off extremely deadly gases when melted, and the alloys may not be suitable for shooting. After reading the write up, there's no way I'd use it.

 

[Seafarer12]

Personally I would sell them for scrap. I wouldnt mess with them. Just let the scrap yard assume it was pure lead and give you pure lead price. Then go get some wheel weights.

 

[zxcvbob]

Most of the risk is when you smelt it. And remember this is from batteries 20+ years ago, before they got so exotic with the alloys.

Melt one of the ingots in a well-ventilated place and see if the lead is thick and clumpy, or nice and fluid. I'll bet it's great for either making lead shot or bullets (but probably not both.)

Just be careful with the slag, especially if there's a lot of it (don't let the slag get wet.)

 

[evan price]

Most of the damage comes from getting the lead oxides out of the lead in the initial melt. The paste on the plates is bad news. If what you have is actual lead ingots then the hard nasty work is done already, what you have is probably just lead, but the alloy will have a lot of calcium and arsenic in it. Use caution when melting, more than normal.

 

[GlowinPontiac]

I have used battery plates dug up out of the ground to cast fishing sinkers. the initial melt is nasty with tons of slag to skim off the top but after that was removed it poured just like any other lead.

i would imagine that tolerances are more specific for bullets than they are for sinkers tho..... if you can sell it and buy some non battery lead then do so.

or cast a few bullets from it and shoot them. that way you will know for sure if the lead is ok or not.

 

[dmftoy1]

Snag it . . .sell it for scrap and use the $ to buy some wheel weights from the local tire stores . . . .even if you overpay it didn't cost you anything.

As paranoid as people are about the least bit of zinc in their ingots there's no way I'd be messing with battery lead (and it's possibility of residual nasty stuff) . ..but that's just me.

 

[TooTech]

I believe that most of the problem with the lead from newer batteries is the DROSS produced by smelting combines with moisture in the air to produce a HIGHLY toxic gas. Toxic as in one whiff and you're dead.

 

[Jim Watson]

I agree that having been melted and cast into ingots, most of the mass nastiness like sulfuric acid, lead sulfate, and lead oxide have been cleaned up. Antimony and even arsenic are fine in bullets.

I don't know the effect of the calcium used to reduce gassing in "maintenance free" batteries. Apparently it is what reacts with antimony if dross is wetted to release toxic stibnine gas.

I would treat it like wheelweights; remelt the ingots outside with plenty of flux and cast into new ingots. Put the dross in a closed container to keep dry. Cast some bullets early in the process to see if the rest of the lot is worth fooling with.