Casting round balls

[Coot]

Using your % numbers, it would take 10 lb pure lead to get clip on wheelweights down to the antimony level of adhesive wheelweights. If you try the experiment, the results would be interesting but others have reported poor results. If good soft lead is available, I would use it for BP revolver balls and minie balls and use the wheelweights for smoothbore balls or to trade with centerfire reloaders.

 

[Erwan]

Clip on Wheelweights are about:
Lead 95%
Antimony 2.5%
Tin .5%
Arsenic .1%
Trace elements 1.9%
Adhesive wheelweights are about:
Lead 98%
Antimony .25%
Trace elements 1.75%
I will see if a ratio 2lb plumbers to 1lb WW works

You forgot the zinc...

 

[hawkeye2]

Rather than trying to soften the wheel weights sell them to someone who shoots suppository guns. Many like them as is and not diluted to an unknown alloy. You'll spend a lot of time on the weights and never really get what is ideal.

 

[Eddie Southgate]

I shot wheel weight round balls for years but now use only pure lead in all my muzzleloaders . Never had any loading issues but pure does seem to shoot better .

 

[Erwan]

I shot wheel weight round balls for years but now use only pure lead in all my muzzleloaders . Never had any loading issues but pure does seem to shoot better .

It doesn't seems: it's true.

 

[Mark E. Prickett]

Is there an online retailer of pure lead that sells it at a reasonable price? If so post it.

 

[64Springer]

Is there an online retailer of pure lead that sells it at a reasonable price? If so post it.

Try Roto Metals.

 

[Erwan]

Is there an online retailer of pure lead that sells it at a reasonable price? If so post it.

Don't know a plumber or roofer who can provide you with leftovers?
Lead sheeting on a roll is the best pure lead you can get...
Just for example 4 ft. X 10 ft. 2 Lb. Lead Sheet (80 Lb. roll)

 

[Mark E. Prickett]

Don't know a plumber or roofer who can provide you with leftovers?
Lead sheeting on a roll is the best pure lead you can get...
Just for example 4 ft. X 10 ft. 2 Lb. Lead Sheet (80 Lb. roll)

Nobody around here uses lead for roofing. I would just like to purchase some pure lead so I know what I have.

 

[Erwan]

Nobody around here uses lead for roofing. I would just like to purchase some pure lead so I know what I have.

Most of the professional or DIY shops, sell pure lead (99%) in rolled leaves.
When I need lead and I don't have any old tubes from plumbing, I buy it this way...
Have a look at the link I had given to you in the precedent answer to see what I'm talking about...

 

[SwanShot]

Be very careful if you are melting down old lead water pipe.

I was slowly feeding a length into the pot once and there must have been a drop of water in the pipe somewhere. The resultant steam pressure from the drop of water turned that pipe into a molten lead shotgun. Molten lead went flying everywhere. I was very lucky only a few burns on my forearm, though my clothes were covered, as was everything else.

Oh yeah, and wear eye protection. In circumstances similar to the above I had a splat of molten lead right in the center of my glasses.

 

[longcruise]

Oh yeah, and wear eye protection. In circumstances similar to the above I had a splat of molten lead right in the center of my glasses.

Yeah! And, no shorts or sandals!!!

 

[Kansas Jake]

Also don’t wear man made fiber clothing. Cotton or wool is good. You don’t want a sock or shirt melting to your skin.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

I have two 25# chunks of great lead - but finding it impossible to get cut small enough to fit in the pot. Ideas?

 

[Frontier's]

Sawzall

 

[maillemaker]

If you are going to melt down scraps such as pipe, start in an old dutch over or similar, and START COLD. Put the lid on it.

Yup. Always melt down scrap lead from cold. This includes bullets dug out of a backstop. They can deform and trap moisture.

 

[longcruise]

I have two 25# chunks of great lead - but finding it impossible to get cut small enough to fit in the pot. Ideas?

I use a hatchet for that situation.

 

[Bunk]

For revolvers my recommendation is to use soft 100% lead only. Wheel weights are an iffy proposition. Some have zinc in them and will ruin lead for casting.
I suspect wheel weights would work in a P&B gun because the ball does not touch the rifling but in a hand gun loading would be hard to impossible.
I cast for my hand guns and Sharps and Smith carbines. 90+% pure lead from Rotometals. My round ball moulds are mostly from Lee but i use Eras Gone moulds for the Smith and Colt paper cartridge works bullet. The Sharps uses a Moose ring tail bullet.
Since my private range is in my back yard there is a lot of shooting being done here at least two or three days a week so casting is a reasonable and economical thing to do. The Sharps slugs, for example, runs about 14 bullets to the pound.
Cast in a well ventilated place lead is toxic so always clean hands after handling and wear gloves and safety glasses.
750 to 800 degree metal will cause serious damage.
Good luck and stay safe.
Bunk

 

[Sparkytfl]

Try Roto Metals.

Clean. Not as cheap as buying scrap, but cheaper than shooting supply stores. Free shipping over $149. For most of us that's enough for several years, but it takes up little space. I just got my order, and though I knew what was in that small box and how much it would weigh, it still caught me by surprise when I went to pick it up off the floor. Bet the mailman loved that one.

Probably should've started a new thread instead up bumping a three year old one.

 

[nhmoose]

Roto metals you want pure certified. It will cost.