Dental Xray Lead Pure?

[gooddw]

My sister works in a dental office and told me they are having trouble disposing the lead scrap.
I said, let me have it!! She has a box for me now but I haven;t had a chance to get there yet. Question: Does anyone know if dental xray lead is pure?

 

[MercerLake]

:grin: When they are dealing with x-rays they use the best, generally it is as pure as you'll find anywhere. Cast a ball and weigh it, I'll bet it agrees with the theoretical weight for that size ball. Of course if you don't want it somebody here would take in the mail :rotf: :grin:

 

[MercerLake]

:v In the Members Resource Section Claude has posted a complete chart of the weight for different sizes of lead ball. The shielding lead should be very pure, cast some and weigh them. The weight should be very close to the theoretical weight given in the chart. Hope this helps. :v

 

[No Deer]

I cast some round balls for my .62 trade gun. They are slightly bigger than the ones I cast from lead from the salvage yard. I did not mic them, but they load tighter than the other ones. It is probably a small difference, but it was noticable loading, and I think affected point of impact, I have not bench fired them yet to see for sure. If you use them, bench fire some to verify your point of impact.

 

[BadHeart]

I have used dental lead before, they cast a good ball, but it seams like it takes a lot of the little pieces to make a ball.

 

[nchawkeye]

I have been using those for 20-25 years...My dentist has told me that they are pure lead, don't really know..I do know in my guns, they shoot fine, mushroom fine and kill fine...

 

[Applejack]

Years ago I got a quantity of sheet lead in about 12 inch by 12 inch sheets a quarter inch thick from a scrap dealer that took them out of an old hospital x-ray machine. They cast very uniform .50 cal. RB for my Hawken. I always wondered if they contained any radiation. I also got a quantity of lead pipe which he tore out of buildings he demoloished. I am fixed for lead for a long time. I never thought of the dental lead and intend to ask my dentist next time I visit him (ouch!) if he would save some for me.

 

[2172]

I've used, and have a supply of the xray room lead shielding...for the past year, I've been able to save it, as my dentist is saving all of his little lead shields for me..they cast well..it takes about a handfull to melt down to a useful quantity, but he also packs three or four surgical gloves in the baggy to avoid infection...
Hank

 

[Blizzard of '93]

lead pipe will likely have some tin and antimony in it as it is cast and these metals aid casting. it does cast well, and makes good conicals for pistols makes good balls too just don't quench out of the mold.

 

[Bob Riegl]

:wink: I have dental & X-ray lead scraps that are used to proof X-Ray rooms. These come in 6X16 rolls and these are the scraps after they are fastened to the walls. This stuff is pure---you can also look for 20# bricks that are also used as nuclear shielding that some colleges replace after renewing laboratories. I have a few of those brick also---PITA they have to sawed to fit the melting pots. :thumbsup:

 

[Russianblood]

I took a freezer bag full of those tiny thin dental x-ray sheets and cast some balls from it. They sure are shiny and they did seem a little bit bigger than balls cast in the same mould but from roofing lead when loading them into my rifle. The do measure out the same though. :hmm: I guess I'll have to break out my reloading scale and weigh them.

 

[jbullard1]

I'm glad to see this info as I just melted and cleaned about 30 lbs of x-ray room shielding. Got about 100 more to go

 

[Rebel]

Have you fired any of them after dark to watch them glow? :grin:

 

[rice1817]

Lead used in X ray or Nuclear shielding is perfectly safe provided it has not come in direct contact with the radioactive source. The contamination at that point becomes fixed, and cannot be removed by ordinary methods that you or I would care to use. However, if it was merely used as a shield to permit human activity on the other side of the source, ie, for the x-ray technician, it is perfectly safe. I have about 400 pounds of the stuff that I got on my previous gig at the local Nuke station. They were going from lead bricks to a more portable lead shot shielding contained in blankets. It frisked out "clean" so it was good to go.

 

[gooddw]

I appreciate all the responses to my question. I am at Lake Norman, NC remodeling a kitchen in my condo. As soon as I can get back home I will cast some of this stuff and see how it works. I also have a Ruger 10/22 I have to test. I live in two worlds, blackpowder and rimfire.

 

[fw707]

I scrounged up another 60 pounds or so of the X-ray room lead today and cast 500 .490 balls this evening. It's good stuff! I'd like to have about 500 pounds of it. :thumbsup:

 

[Rebel]

I was just joshin' him. :grin:

 

[Robert Egler]

I have 4 of the 26 pound lead bricks that were used as shielding at a university some years ago. I don't know for sure how pure they are, but if you carefully measure the volume and then calculate the weight that that volume of pure lead should have, it comes out almost exact (within the uncertainties of the measurements). The only problem I ever have is breaking off pieces to melt, since I’m not going to melt a 26 pound brick all at one time! I usually chisel some off.

By the way, my wife, who is a biochemist, has always been concerned about exposure to lead fumes while I cast bullets. Since I do it outside in a wide open area and don’t stand over the pot breathing deeply :grin: , I’ve not been concerned. Anyone have a better feel for what the actual risk is? :hmm: I’m not talking about casting bullets by the hundreds, just maybe 15 or 20 at a time.

 

[fw707]

I'd like to know more about the risk too.
I've cast over 4000 balls in the last couple of months, and thousands more over the years.
I've been casting in my garage with all the doors and windows open and a large fan going, but sometimes I think I'm just stirring the stuff around. :hmm:

 

[paulvallandigham]

The lead used as shield in X-ray labs are safe. You missed taking a basic physics class, aparently, but let me assure you that no " radiation " is transferred to the lead during the process. The lead acts as a shield to protect the sex organs of men and women taking the x-rays day in and day out. Otherwise, sterilization can occur. The amount of X-rays used since the late 1950s, is substantially less than was being used before that time. We did see people getting radiation burns before WWII, because we didn't understand nor have the proper equipment to regulate the amount used. Once transistors were invented, and put into wide use, the amount of energy used in making X-rays was vastly reduced, and they became much safer for both the patients, and the staff. If a patient has to have alot of x-rays taken over a short period of time, medical personnel DO put a lead shield over the lower stomach and crotch of the patient to shield his/her sex organs. That is why X-rays are always reported on your medical chart. Its so the doctors and nursing staff and keep a count on the number of x-rays you have had, and the frequency with which you have had them.