[Goat]

I was given about 40 pounds of pure lead and I want to be able to use it in the 32/20 and the 38/55 at about 1400fps. What and how do I go about getting the lead to cast well and hard enough to shoot at this level? I have never cast a bullet in my life but can see a new addiction is in the making...
Goat

 

[janott]

Pure lead is damn hard to come by, I would mix it sparingly and save the rest for later. Fluxing in tin is easy but it needs to be done at the correct temperatures. Tin is expensive as you will find but if you go to scrap yards you will do well. Some tin can be bought and mixed from soldering wire but is expensive. When you get your sourse of tin I would mix in small batches until you get the hang of it.

 

[308/338]

If you do have pure lead it's the best for casting bullets for muzzleloaders. It may be best to sell or trade it for wheel weight lead than go through the expands of buying tin or solder Not cheap. You can try to mix it with wheel weights and you can buy a Lee hardness tester http://leeprecision.com/xcart/Lead-Hardness-Tester/ I have one and find it easy to use. You can go to the local firing range if they have a bullet catcher and see if they have lead to give you it should be good to mix.

TO NY

 

[MacGregor]

Goat, if you'd like, i'll trade you 40 pounds of 14 bhn alloy ingots all cleaned up and ready to go in exchange for your pure lead.

we can ship 'em in a in a flat rate postage box for $8.

 

[Pard]

If you do not have a muzzleloader, it would be better off to trade it away for what you can use.

 

[twodot]

2 pounds of tin, about 50 bucks from Midway (ouch!), will give you a good old timey alloy for these calibers.
Or you could scrounge up some wheel weights. Half of a 5 gallon bucket should do - after you sort out the zinc weights, valve stems & other junk and smelt out the clips you will have about another 40 pounds of alloy to mix with your lead.
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[308/338]

Sorting out the zinc wheel weights is something hard to identify for me. Can someone tell me how to do it.

TO NY

 

[MacGregor]

i melt my lead in a separate cast iron pan, regulated so the lead stays at no more than 700F. zinc wheel weights float at this temperature and are easily scooped out. beware however, zinc melts at 800F or so, so keep your melt at 700F

 

[308/338]

i melt my lead in a separate cast iron pan, regulated so the lead stays at no more than 700F. zinc wheel weights float at this temperature and are easily scooped out. beware however, zinc melts at 800F or so, so keep your melt at 700F

Thanks

 

[imashooter2]

Sorting out the zinc wheel weights is something hard to identify for me. Can someone tell me how to do it.

TO NY

Put your weights in an appropriate pot. Light fire under it. Do NOT walk away and come back in a half an hour. Watch your pot. When most of the weights turn liquid, give the pot a stir and skim off the zinc, steel and clips. Then flux, skim again and pour ingots. Life is too short to be sorting WW.

 

[twodot]

what they said
if you just put all the WW in and walk away zinc ones can get trapped under the good ones and melt before you know it.
keep it under 700, stir & flux.
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