Casting Materials Question

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Zenon

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Hi All,

Am new to this area and reloading too.

Just starting my education on the subject and things that I may have ignored in the past now reside in the front of my consciousness - things such as...

Is scrap sheet lead (like an old shower pan) any good as a component for bullet casting? It's pretty soft, so I figure additonal material is necessary. I want to give it to one of my buddies to use in casting, but only if it's any good to use.
 
Zenon,
Rather than start a lengthy dissertation on the alloying of lead for purposes of making bullets, I would like to recommend the "Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook". It will probably answer most of your questions and you will have it for a reference. The Cast Bullet ???'n is another fine place to learn about casting bullets and they even have a web page which I believe you can join. Good Luck!! Quantrill
 
Couldn't find the forum, but since lead, I believe is hazardous to dispose of, I thought I could give it to one of my buds, but I want to make sure it's good to use.
 
As long as the lead is not contaminated, it can be used for some kind of bullet. Usually pure soft lead (like I think you are talking about) can be used as is for black powder muzzle loader shooters. Or it can be alloyed with other things such as tin and antimony to make it harder that can be used for smokeless powder loads. Quantrill
 
"Dead soft" lead is OK for some casting purposes, but I'd use Quantrill's advise & get the Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook fer grins - & pass it on .....

Below 750 fps (or so), dead soft alloys will work OK enough. Much past that & you may start to run into some leading problems.

For every 9 lbs (or so), it's a good enough idea to throw in a pound of 50/50 bar solder to spike the alloy a bit with some "extras." Adds some hardness, etc.

The Book 'plains better than I can right now.
 
If we knew what he wanted to shoot it in, we could recommend what to alloy it with for best or cheapest results.
If you post this on the Cast Bullet group, this is the first question we would ask you. - Lew
 
i think i've melted about anything made of lead you can imagine....including the pans you mention....i got a bunch of them from an old guy who was going to sell them for scrap....he got tired of them laying around so he gave them to me....i melted them down in a big pot i have and as best i can tell they were pure lead....i use the ingots i made when ever i need pure lead....if i were to make bullets from them i'd definitely alloy with linotype or tireweights.....then only concern i had while melting them was the adhesive that was on the back of them...as old as it was i figured it may have had asbestos or something in it so i did it outside and wore a mask (i think).....D I C K
 
Ditto PDShooters use of WWs as a casting medium. I have never found the need to add anything to them to cast bullets hard enough for general range use. I consistantly load 357s to 1100 fps with minimal leading.

The biggest plus to using WWs is the low cost. While usually free if you ask nicely, the most I have ever paid for them is 8 cents a pound ( dirt cheap)
I try and keep around a thusand pounds of ingots cast in case the GUVMINT ever decided to ban it. ( anything Is Possible today)
 
I use dead soft lead from old plumbing pipes I tear out. Works just fine if you harden it up with bar solder, or 1 pound rolls of 50/50 solder at 1/10, sometimes a few WW's thrown in for good measure.
 
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