Pipe Cleaning

[Ratdog68]

'Dem are some nice lookin' ingots you got cooked up thar. Ain't it strange to see bits and bobbles of steel floating in the molten lead ?

 

[Wolfebyte]

aye..

'tis amazing how steel "floats" on lead..


I was confused though, some of the weights evidently were NOT lead.. they didn't melt.. I scooped them out when I realized they were not going to melt at the average melting point. I have no idea what their composition is/was..

 

[Ratdog68]

Or? M'be they're a lead alloy with a higher melting point than what you were cookin' at ?

 

[TomADC]

Maybe some of the weights were kirksite? Looks like lead but has a higher melting temp if I remember right.

 

[Acorn Mush]

Wolfebyte, why are you mixing wheelweight metal in with your softer lead? For ease of loading and better accuracy, soft lead is superior to hard in a muzzleloader.

Just curious.

 

[wittzo]

I found a bunch of iron (marked Fe) and Zinc (marked Zn?) in a batch of ribbon and clip-on weights I got last year. Next time, I'll pull them out of the bucket with pliers, if they get bitten by the pliers, they're lead, so I don't have to sit down and read them.

From what I read, the clip on weights are about 95% lead, so they're good for modern bullets. The ribbon weights are only 98% lead, they're "okay" for balls for revolvers. If you're shooting at paper, a smoothbore won't care, so I cast the clip-on's into balls for my smoothbore and the softer ribbon weights for my revolver.

 

[Wolfebyte]

Wolfebyte, why are you mixing wheelweight metal in with your softer lead? For ease of loading and better accuracy, soft lead is superior to hard in a muzzleloader.

Just curious.

there was a mixture of parts that I had..

Lead pipe
Wheel Weights (clip on)
Wheel Weights (ribbon)
Old Cast swagged round balls and mini's that didn't pass quality check before..
boxes of old beeman .22 lead pellets


neighbor estimated that my batch is about 95 - 97% using a hardness tester..


I just melted what he gave me.. I've got them out of the buckets and into ingots now.. When I get a ladle or pouring cup, I'll remelt them and probably add some of the pure roofing lead sheets that I have.

 

[Acorn Mush]

When I get a ladle or pouring cup, I'll remelt them and probably add some of the pure roofing lead sheets that I have.

That's a good idea. The softer you can make the lead, the better.

May I offer an observation? Some wheelweights are made of zinc, which melts at about 787 degrees F and can ruin a batch of lead. Somewhere I think I read that the stick-on weights are most likely zinc. Hope you didn't have any in your mix.

 

[Wolfebyte]

Acorn, I don't believe so..

I kept my heat pretty level on the stove around 650 by the electronic thermometer that I used to use on the kiln., if the weight didn't start melting within 15 seconds of hitting the molton lead, I pulled it out..