Thinking of making my own lead

[Shilohdreamer]

Hello again folks. I am thinking of melting my own lead. I have looked over past posts and it appears the Lee ones are not good. It looks awful expensive. I have an antique flask that I think I could possibly trade toward one of those contraptions if you think someone is interested in getting rid of one or does somebody recommend an affordable for a newbie? Thanks Terry in Jackson, TN

PS Merry Christmas to everyone on here and Happy Hannukah to all my Jewish friends too.

 

[robhof]

I've got a Lee pot that I got used on EBay over 10 yrs ago and it's still cooking fine. Mine's a bottom pour and I like it because you don't have to constantly skim to pour with a ladle, just lift the handle til it fills the mold.

 

[72coupe]

Shiloh I have used a Lee lead pot and Lee moulds for the last 40 years and never had a problem with them that following the instructions wouldn't fix.

 

[MCgunner]

Shiloh I have used a Lee lead pot and Lee moulds for the last 40 years and never had a problem with them that following the instructions wouldn't fix.

Me, too. My oldest lee mold is about 40 years and I still use it, conical .454". My Lee electric pot is about 30 years old. I started out with a Lee pot for the stove.

 

[Busyhands94]

I use a Lyman Big Dipper, it heats up real quickly and is a good lead melting pot.

 

[Hoof Hearted]

I have three LEE pots..............use them all the time. They are about 20 yrs old!

 

[bangaway]

Lee bottom pour pot for 35 years. Molds work well and everything is cheaper than other companies. Lee makes 6 cavity molds too. Casting can be fun and cheap to shoot. Have fun and bangaway.

 

[huntsman247]

Yes, I too, use the bottom pour Lee; works great!

 

[1911 guy]

Personally, I have yet to have a problem with any of the LEE products. Are they always the best? No. Are they in ay way deficient? Again, no.

I have an old LEE pot that's probably fifteen or twenty years old, got it from my uncle who upgraded to one of the bottom pour pots.

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hello,

I have my grandfather's old Lee pot. I do not know where or when he got it. I remember it coming around here when I was a teenager and rustling it up again when I was maybe 32. I am 34 now.

In casting thousands of lead balls for muzzleloading and bullets for centerfire, it's not failed at all.

Josh

 

[FreddyKruger]

and here i am using a gas burner and a cast iron pot...

I will invest in a bottom pour, but i dont have any benches outside where i can safely set it up.

 

[Beauhooligan]

I have a Lee and a Lyman bottom pour pots and prefer the Lyman; it gets hot faster, and holds over 20 pounds of lead. The Lee is over 25 years old, and is now my spare pot; it still works splendidly. I came across the Lyman at a yard sale. The woman there said it had belonged to her Uncle, and had no idea what it was. I plugged it in to see if it still got hot, offered her $20, and chuckled all the way home.

Edit: Always perform lead casting in a well ventilated area. Wear safety glasses with side shields, heavy leather gloves, work boots and if possible a leather apron, as molten lead will do very nasty things to your body. Also, do not have any liquid or ice near the led pot when hot. My wife walked by my bench one evening while I was casting and was drinking a glass of Dr. Pepper with ice. She tipped the glass slightly and a small piece of ice flipped out and went into the molten lead. This caused a steam explosion that spattered me all over, and blew lead up and onto the ceiling. I recommend the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook for not just loads, but for full descriptions of the process required to produce good balls and how to be safe when doing so. If you think about losing an eye to spattered lead, the cost of that book is trivial in comparison to the pain, and what your life will be like with only one eye. You are the supervisor of a process that can be very dangerous. If you go wrong, guess who has to live with the consequences. Have fun, but be safe at all times.

 

[Jaymo]

I've had a Lee Pro 4 pot for about 8 years and I like it, except for the fact that it drips out the pour spout constantly.
Has done this ever since the warranty ran out.
I've tried rotating the spout against it's seat, as per the manual. No improvement.
I may have to clean it up and use a drill on low speed with some valve lapping compound and try to lap them together.
I also have the Lyman casting kit and I like the melter that came with it, except that bottom pour would be more convenient.

 

[junkman_01]

I WISH I could do what the Topic says. Then I wouldn't have to buy any!

 

[72coupe]

Junkman what are you going to do turn Gold into lead?

Jaymo you most likely have some gunk in the valve. Heat the thing up until it begins to drip. Then take a bent paper clip and carefully stick it into the bottom of the spout. Wiggle it around a little them lift the handle so hot lead will flush the spout.

 

[Jaymo]

junkman, if you move to the right areas of Missouri and Illinois you can mine your own lead ore.

I've tried the paperclip trick to no effect. I guess I need to empty it out and see what's going on.
Other than that, I like it a lot.
Hot lead spattering in between pours is rather disconcerting.

 

[Hoof Hearted]

jaymo

Junk happens!
Lee seems to have more issues than others and I think the weight on the handle needs to be heavier. But just drain it into a couple ingot moulds and clean it up.

 

[Curator]

Yup, the Lee bottom pour pot drips. Carefully cleaning it out once and a while helps keep this from happening. I have lapped my Lee pot plug and seat a couple of times. I keep a small cast iron fry pan under the spout to catch drips and add them to the melt. For the price, you can't beat the Lee. I have both a 1960s Lyman and RCBS melter and they both drip too. Deal with it! You can also plug them permanently and use a ladle. Either way it saves a bunch of money and you get quality bullets!

 

[VA27]

Another vote for Lee. I've only had mine 10 or 15 years, but it's still going strong. For the price, a little dripping is easy to put up with. I may lap it the next time it's empty...or not.

 

[Busyhands94]

I WISH I could do what the Topic says. Then I wouldn't have to buy any!

Me too, I think I'll ask the fellows at the gun club if I could pick their berm in the off hours. I'm already a member and they like me there, so it'll be practically free. I won't have to buy any and the cores of bullets are usually soft lead. I'll even get free scrap copper to trade at my local salvage yard for more lead.

 

[gilgsn]

The Lee bottom pour works great. Always keep a small empty metal coffee can nearby in case of a run...

 

[72coupe]

Busyhands I went to the local range and scooped up a bunch of dirt and bullets from the back stop on the pistol range. My guess is about 400 pounds of dirt and stuff.

I threw it into the melting pot dirt and all. Scooped off the dirt and bullet jackets after it melted. It made about 250 pounds of lead.

 

[MrWesson]

Not sure if its okay to mention it but castboolits.com is great for casters.

You can go to tire shops and beg for it but be prepared to pay for it.

I personally would buy lead ingots from the classified section of castboolits(usually ~$1 per lb shipped) to get started before you smelt your own(smelting lead = making ingots casting = making bullets).

 

[Jaymo]

I got a vinyl coated soft lead boat anchor at a scrapyard a few years ago for very little money. Don't own a boat. Didn't yet own a ML at the time. Just wanted it for alloying with Lino and casting boolits.
I think I'll keep it pure and cast ML balls and boolits instead.
Also have an ingot of plumbers lead, about 10 pounds, somewhere. Then, there's the lead sheeting and downspout I got at the scrapyard. THEN, there's all the wheelweights I have in 5 gallon buckets.
I made a slip-on weight for my Lee lead pot handle from 1/2" pipe poured mostly full of lead. Works pretty well. Still need to lap it.
The handle weight definitely should have been heavier from the factory, since steel floats in lead.
Would have been nice if the stem had been made of tungsten or tungsten steel.
But that would have drastically increased the price.
I may make a bracket to allow me to spring load the handle down, to help hold the stem against the seat.

I wasn't trying to talk anyone out of the Lee. In fact, I want to get the Pro 4 20. Ten pounds of lead goes fast when you're on a roll. 20 pounds would give me twice the casting time between refilling/melting.
I've read/heard that some bullet designs work better with bottom pour, and some work better with ladle pour.
As far as dealing with it, I've been doing so for close to ten years. The drip is annoying, but not annoying enough to keep me from using it.
HOWEVER, for what bottom pour pots cost, even the Lee, they shouldn't drip.
But, I digress. I'll drain/clean/lap it. Thought about coating the inside of the pot and the stem/seat with spray graphite mold release. At least my lead won't stick to the stem/seat/pot.
If I get a "round tuit".
My problem is that I enjoy casting so much, that I refill the pot as soon as it gets low.
Because of that, I don't get around to lapping it. Once you start, you can't stop.
Next thing you know, you'll be casting ML and cartridge boolits, buckshot, fishing weights/jigs, and even birdshot.
Yep, thinking about making my own birdshot caster. Looked at some older home birdshot casters and realized how simple the design is.
An angled square pot welded up from angle iron and sheet steel, with calibrated orifices. The pot sits on top of a heat source, and has a shelf after the orifices and the lead drips off the orifices into a bucket of water. IIRC, only about a foot of drop is required.
The orifices can be made fro brass rod, drilled through, and threaded on one end (think, carburetor jet). That way, you can make several different orifice sizes for casting different sizes of birdshot.
Maybe even make them from aluminum rod to make them nonstick.

Anyhoo, casting metal is fun.

 

[Beauhooligan]

I probably don't need to mention this, but when working with lead that comes from strange places, one can be exposed to a variety of toxic materials. Lead is commonly known in science as the "whore of metals" as it will combine with almost all the metals on the periodic table, notably the toxic metals. One of the most common is arsenic, another toxic metal that is found in lead alloy is mercury, others include zinc and uranium. Lead is a poison that can cause damage to the nervous system and the brain; it is a neurotoxin that collects in soft tissue and bones. If lead is heated until it burns, the gas is very toxic, so using an oxyacetylene torch to get it to melt faster is risky. The human body has no natural ability to remove lead contamination, so all exposure to lead is cumulative. The warnings about assuring proper ventilation are sincere, as are the warnings about consumption. After handling lead it is wise to wash your hands afterwards. I shudder when I think about how, in the early '80s, one of my friends would toss a dozen or so round balls into his mouth, so he could spit them out quickly for team shoots. He was fast at stake cuts, but was ingesting the lead oxide off the surface of the projectiles. He ended up with a Parkinson's like condition that ruined the last 10 years of his life. When I melt down any rough lead alloys from scrap, I do it outdoors over a Coleman stove, as I don't want the contaminants in any part of my house or garage. Consequently, I buy most of my round balls and bullets. I can't afford to shoot as much these days, but that is preferable to spending my last years trembling or rigid, with cognitive problems, leading to dementia. I only cast bullets that I cannot find for sale or want to use a specific alloy. I also have my MD test for toxic metals when he does my blood work for my annual physical exam. I don't wait until signs of neurological toxicity appear, as by the time symptoms become gross, there is little chance of reversal. I don't want to be intentionally gloomy about this, but the danger is real. Have fun folks, but I think it pays to be safe instead of sorry.