Scrap Lead?

[jtk5768]

Would like to start casting bullets. Any input on where to find scrap lead to do this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[OldmanFCSA]

Wheel weight, plumbers lead, and certified refined lead.
DO NOT use lead from acid batteries.

Bring what you can find to my place. I will demonstrate the proper techniques required to safely and properly cast quality projectiles.

What do I get out of this - NOTHING, other than gaining new friendships.

But you will learn a new capability with the lowest learning curve timeline to produce quality bullets.

I will need for all who have borrowed molds from me to return before I can teach again.

Any who have stopped casting and still have equipment, I would gladly receive it for future GIFTS to others currently interested in the process - a Pay-It-Forward process I have done with single-stage presses when available. Again, I make no profit, usually I lose money due to repair costs before an item can be gifted or loaned.

[Scratch]

Stop at every tire place you drive by. Most will tell you it's hazardous waste, but some will gladly give up their old shell weights.

[SIGP240]

I bought a 600 # sailboat keel for bullet alloy. It worked out well and was very easy to melt into 1# ingots. Look for them on craigslist. Many times you can get shot from ballasts too.

[20mm]

Wheel weight, plumbers lead, and certified refined lead.
DO NOT use lead from acid batteries.

Why not? It's a complete pain, but doable.

[engnerdan]

Wheel weight, plumbers lead, and certified refined lead.
DO NOT use lead from acid batteries.

Why not? It's a complete pain, but doable.

Besides the environmental problems of opening and disposing of the battery remains. I believe the lead used in batteries is a very low alloy, meaning it is close to pure and very soft.

[SIGP240]

Lead-acid batteries are laboriously recycled. Yes, there are some caveats. The ingots I get ring when struck, pure lead does not ring when struck. There is an amount of other metals in the alloy. Melting point of lead and the boiling point of sulphuric acid are close. Fumes are of concern, use alkalis to neutralize acidic residues. The residual acid may ruin your equipment and anything it comes in contact with (anything aluminum in your garage) Dessicate the treated scrap and use eye protection and the normal safety procedures like you would when melting silver, tin, gold, etc. Ventilate the work area when processing due to arsenic fumes that liberate from the melting of lead/calcium low maintenance batteries!

[Rip Van Winkle]

Stop at every tire place you drive by. Most will tell you it's hazardous waste, but some will gladly give up their old shell weights.

The scrapers have been scarfing up old wheelweights for some time now, they are actually worth something.

[SIGP240]

Casting metal needs to be of only certain metals. Stick on wheel weights can be of zinc. Caution on wheel weights: take a known quality of lead and casting thermometer in a furnace at M.P. for Pb. Then if the unknown wheel weights float, they are zinc . You do not Want to contaminate casting metal with zinc. This applies specifically to stick on type WWs. You also can easily find bar solder at garage sales and flea markets. If you do, you can alloy up a really hard bullet with some research. Also many pewter items can be scrapped and added to your melt, but you need to know which pewter mixture you are dealing with.

[Deputyhiro]

I was cleaning the garage the other day. I have about 30lbs of lead ingots / old cast bullets that I would part with. Also a lee lead pot, if interested. All lead was from wheel weights. I have some 50cal muzzleloader molds somewhere too...

[jtk5768]

PM me or email me at john_kurkoski@yahoo.com let me know what ya want for the lead and the pot

[Greg]

I've got a friend in Tulsa that's building a 74 ft boat and he's collected about 22,000 lbs of lead from wheel weights and cast it into ingots. It's all stacked in his back yard until he finishes the keels.

He paid the tire shops a bit more than the scrappers and then bribed the mechanics with candy bars based on how much lead was in the buckets, his take doubled because, before the mechanics had a stake in it, half of the weights went into the trash instead of the recycle buckets. He's known to most of the shops as the "Candy Man".

[jtk5768]

Also interested in borrowing or buying some slug molds for shotgun, I already have Lee 1oz slug. Let me know!!

Thanks,
John

[JTapper]

Lead-acid batteries are laboriously recycled. Yes, there are some caveats. The ingots I get ring when struck, pure lead does not ring when struck. There is an amount of other metals in the alloy. Melting point of lead and the boiling point of sulphuric acid are close. Fumes are of concern, use alkalis to neutralize acidic residues. The residual acid may ruin your equipment and anything it comes in contact with (anything aluminum in your garage) Dessicate the treated scrap and use eye protection and the normal safety procedures like you would when melting silver, tin, gold, etc. Ventilate the work area when processing due to arsenic fumes that liberate from the melting of lead/calcium low maintenance batteries!

You're right in a way. It's not worth disassembling a battery for the grid metal. It's Pb-Ca alloy, sometimes Pb-Sn-Ca , super soft, with NO Antimony. There is NO arsenic in the plates, but there is usually arsenic in the posts. Posts will be made of typically a 3% antimony alloy, with some copper and sulfur to help grain refinement.

Watch out for Bismuth in wheel weights too. Getting your hands on keels and shot will usually yield harder alloys. Most places that produce lead for keels just pour them straight from unrefined metal from their furnaces, so they're anywhere from 2.5-4.5% Antimony.