Buying scrap lead question ...

[LongWalker]

Back in the day it was lead water pipes but that isn't a thing anymore , at least around here ....perhaps car batteries ? but I've never stripped a battery for its lead plates before , and it sounds like a nasty if not dangerous job .....

There isn't actually a lot of lead in modern batteries (compared to older batteries), but that isn't the problem. Aside from having to deal with the disposal of sulphuric acid and contaminants, melting down battery plates from modern batteries results in the release of arsine and stibine gas. Both are highly toxic, and fatalities have occurred when folks try to melt down the batteries to salvage the lead. Better way to deal with batteries is usually to shop around and find out who is paying the most for dead batteries, sell them, and use the money to buy lead.

 

[stikshooter]

Yeah , I used to collect wheel weights when I shot a LOT of .38 special ... I doubt I'll take them up on the wheel weights ....just want pure lead for the .62 round ball ....thx

Get the W/W as folks will trade with pure , W/W are gettin scarce TOO!

 

[Eutycus]

My neighbor was about to throw away an old dry rotted casting net. I asked about the lead weights on the bottom of that throw net. I'm assuming they're real lead though wheel weight lead would work great as fishing weights.

 

[stikshooter]

My neighbor was about to throw away an old dry rotted casting net. I asked about the lead weights on the bottom of that throw net. I'm assuming they're real lead though wheel weight lead would work great as fishing weights.

Do not assume ,most likely wrong most of mine varied immensely pure to hard and in between . Test and verify 1st with a hardness tester cheap/expensive doesn't matter but gives you a benchmark on hardness/Ed

 

[oldwood]

Roofers occasionally remove sheet lead from old roofs. That lead is very soft , and desirable. Old plumbing lead is great , too.

 

[TDM]

For me personally, I prefer to order the 1 lbs ingots from RotoMetals. Easy to handle and drop in the pot.

 

[Robertakamagoo]

They got rid of a EB welder at work scored 100 pounds of sheet lead got it for free.

 

[earlwb]

I used to go around to the various street intersections and pickup many pounds of wheel weights. The things would fall off the wheels quite easily. They gravitate to the debris trash portions of the street that the cars don’t drive in. But since they went to lead free wheel weights that had become a dead end.

But you had to watch out for wheel weights as some had zinc in them. The zinc poisons the lead so that it won’t melt right as you can’t get the temperature high enough with a bullet casting electric pot. Thus you can’t pour it into a bullet mold. You wind up with a pot of unuseable material.

I used to go to the various junk yards and buy some of their buckets of wheel weights and scrap lead too. Some plumbers sold me their lead that they salvaged from old buildings too. Good stuff from the plumbers.

But heck I shot wheel weight bullets for years out of muzzle loaders. Technically for round balls the patch tends to fill in the rifling grooves not the ball itself. Thus the ball may not even touch the rifling. Of course for smoothbores what lead you shoot doesn’t matter much if any.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

Roofers can be your best friend......

 

[buckleymarka56]

I usually go to the store scrap yard and get the lead roof vents off commercial buildings..cut them up with tin snips.

 

[VA Hawken]

Never had any luck trying to find scrap lead anywhere. I've been buying from a number of sources, mostly PB Castco. Home | pbcastco Lots of folks also use rotometals.

Also watch Midway and Brownells for sales with no shipping charges.

 

[BillyC]

I scour scrap yards, craigslist, and talk to roofers. It helps that my father in law owns a roofing company! Sheet lead and vents from roofs are the best, but lead pipes if you do find some are great too. Those types of lead usually have some tin solder on some of it so cut that off and save for harder alloys if you want it to be really soft. I have several sources and once they get to know you and what you're looking for they generally will start putting stuff to the side for you. This is what I did today, 193 lbs!View attachment 209583View attachment 209584

Any tricks to make getting the ingots out easier?

 

[Kansas Jake]

I make my ingots in an old muffin pan. When cool they fall right out.

 

[nit wit]

Just curious .... I've hoarded quite a bit of lead but wouldnt mind having more . I asked the local junk yards about lead and they were more than willing to sell me it cheap but its 5 gallon buckets full of wheel weights ....and for the life of me I just could not get them to understand I want pure lead ....so , my question ...where do folks find lead these days ? What do I ask for other than lead ? Back in the day it was lead water pipes but that isn't a thing anymore , at least around here ....perhaps car batteries ? but I've never stripped a battery for its lead plates before , and it sounds like a nasty if not dangerous job .....Are there any other things that I am missing that would have enough lead it in them to make them worth obtaining for making round ball ? Thanks .....

I was stationed on a lighthouse in Maine in the early 70's. I stripped a few batteries that had no acid left. The lead was soft and worked well.
Nit Wit

 

[earlwb]

Never had any luck trying to find scrap lead anywhere. I've been buying from a number of sources, mostly PB Castco. Home | pbcastco Lots of folks also use rotometals.

Also watch Midway and Brownells for sales with no shipping charges.

Yes, nowadays lead is being regulated to death. Plus they are banning lead from more and more hunting areas too. We might have to resort to other things like copper, resin or sintered materials and use sabots with the rifled barrels.

I bought a batch of lead from a plumber on eBay several years ago and I haven’t used much of it yet. Not sure if they still sell it or not there.

 

[Eutycus]

There are times you may actually want the "hardness" of wheel weight lead, they do penetrate.

 

[BillyC]

I make my ingots in an old muffin pan. When cool they fall right out.

That’s what I use. Maybe I need to wait until they are totally cooled off, I’m usually in a hurry. LOL

 

[Ohio Rusty]

I have a couple of Lee ingot moulds that I pour my melted lead into. The ingots are a nice size to easily fit in my Lee melting pot. Most of my soft lead comes from pure lead pipes I get from plumbers.
Ohio Rusty ><>

 

[Eutycus]

I agree the muffin pan ingots are attractive conveniently sized and all but they don't fit too well in the Lee melting pot.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I have a Lyman pot so it isn’t a problem. Also muffin tins come in different sizes from those for giant muffins to the mini muffins.

I smelt both soft lead and public range scrap. I use metal stamps to mark the soft stuff from the harder range mix. Neither is super hard.