Lead ball casting

[45man]

Just for your information. Lead from old car batteries is alloyed with Arsenic and other poisonous items to improve it's use as a battery. I recommend that you not go that route. There are large companies that refine battery lead. They heat the lead to a gaseous state and then run it through a column still. They separate the lead from all the additives. There is no way for the hobbyist to purify lead. People that work in those factories wear air supplied full coverage suits and still have to have monthly blood checks.

Good information, stay far away from battery lead. I don't know where lead comes from now since our lead mine shut down. It is why it costs more now. Imported now.
Watch the stick on WW's too, I sorted them out since everyone says they are pure but almost all were zinc.
You can remove almost all zinc if you keep lead at 600° only, do not flux and skim the zinc off the surface. It looks like oatmeal. You might remove some tin with it if you have a mix. When I do a batch of WW's I keep the temp at 600° also and any weight that will not melt gets removed.

 

[Eutycus]

I am kind of surprised. Until I read this thread I would have guessed that the use of wheel weights was not a real common thing. I sort of thought it may a rarity that wasnt too well used. But it does seem that a few of us do use WWs. But I would bet it will become a whole lot less common in the future as Wheel Weights are becomming " differant" from the ones we collected years ago.

 

[Penny B]

I stopped shooting my black powder firearms, except for limited hunting, over twenty years ago so I am off the curve. When I used to compete and cast all the round balls we were then told to never uses wheel weights as they were too hard. That only pure lead was acceptable. Have things changed?

 

[Griz44Mag]

Wheel weights are too hard for a rifle, although sometimes they will sort of work with undersized balls and very thick patches. They may work well in a smoothbore with a good wad or patch.

I am hoping that will work out, I am going to cast a batch of .735 for the Brown Bess tonight and see how they fly this weekend.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I stopped shooting my black powder firearms, except for limited hunting, over twenty years ago so I am off the curve. When I used to compete and cast all the round balls we were then told to never uses wheel weights as they were too hard. That only pure lead was acceptable. Have things changed?

Things really haven't changed other than pure lead is getting hard to find. In cases where no pure lead can be located locally, there can be no choice other than to use wheel weights or other marginally acceptable lead sources. Even under the best of conditions with hard lead, accuracy will suffer. Wheel weights kind of, sort of, work in a smooth bore because there is no rifling for the ball to engage. Wheel weights are not acceptable for a minie ball since the skirts can't properly engage the rifling.

So, use pure lead and make every effort to find pure lead.

 

[Coot]

Soft lead is required for the skirts of minie balls to properly expand into the rifling. It is also needed to load C&B revolvers without damage to the gun. Smooth bores will cheerfully shoot hard lead balls. Soft lead can always be bought from suppliers such as Rotometals. (Or do as I do & become the hazmat waste disposal guy for the local stained glass shop.)

 

[bang]

W

I stopped shooting my black powder firearms, except for limited hunting, over twenty years ago so I am off the curve. When I used to compete and cast all the round balls we were then told to never uses wheel weights as they were too hard. That only pure lead was acceptable. Have things changed?

WWs won't be an issue for patched round but I think there is some negligible density loss. Would never even consider it for revolver. I have had a few people in my early years tell me that they did ruin a barrel making unpatched rounds. It wore the riflings to useless real quick. Not sure how they would affect more modern metals. Do know harder leads are used depending on velocity. Chromemoly or good stainless probably handle it way better.

 

[Eutycus]

The damage to C+B revolvers comes using too much pressure on the loading rammer when hard lead bullets are being loaded. A bent frame could be the result of this "gorilla" pressure. Other than actual frame damage would hard lead hurt the rifling in the bore?

 

[Eutycus]

I forgot to mention in my last post that a loading press is being used when seating lead balls in the cylinder of my revolver (brass frame) I suppose the loading leaver/ rammer should be used because Hornady pure lead balls are in use at the present. I do plan on melting my own projectiles in the future though.

 

[Barkiller]

Wheel weights are a little hard for the slow velocity of a muzzleloader. I have used them for years for modern bullet casting. Pure lead is soft enough to flatten when shot out of a muzzleloader with it's slow velocity.

 

[Eutycus]

Aren't there times you'd want a harder bullet? Like on a "armor plated " hog.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Aren't there times you'd want a harder bullet? Like on a "armor plated " hog.

Shot placement on a hog is everything. Shoot the neck in front of the armor, a 22lr will drop one there.
If you doing eradication then behind the armor will get them a 100 yard run, out of sight where the yotes and buzzards will do the rest of the cleanup.

 

[Barkiller]

Aren't there times you'd want a harder bullet? Like on a "armor plated " hog.

You can use wheel weights for round balls you just won't get the expansion of pure lead.

 

[Griz44Mag]

To the OP -
There is a vendor on Fleabay that sells 5# ingots, pure virgin.
If you buy more that 15#, shipping is free.
I wanted to stock up on pure, so I just ordered (2) 65# boxes.
ROTO does have pure lead, but if you buy their "pellets" it's close to 10 bucks a pound.

 

[MaterielGeneral]

To the OP -
There is a vendor on Fleabay that sells 5# ingots, pure virgin.
If you buy more that 15#, shipping is free.
I wanted to stock up on pure, so I just ordered (2) 65# boxes.
ROTO does have pure lead, but if you buy their "pellets" it's close to 10 bucks a pound.

Link or sellers username? Thanks

 

[Eutycus]

A couple a dozen or so posts back a gentleman (Griz44, I think) mentioned that plumbers lead could be obtained from Lowes. I'll do some "Window Shopping" later this week as I have Drs. Appointment in the big city. Hey the village I live doesn't even have a gas station. As much as I've enjoyed the lead-melting part of this hobby I may have to give it up or at least slow way down. Let's face it melting lead is not the healthiest hobby around! But I do want several ingots of lead on hand just because.

 

[FishDFly]

Aren't there times you'd want a harder bullet? Like on a "armor plated " hog.

Actually and factually the only hogs with the thick plate behind the shoulder are boar hogs, there is no armor plate. Female hogs do not have this physical trait. If you castrate a boar hog, the shield will disappear from a boar hog after time.

The gristle can be penetrated with a ball or bullet, hogs do not have the traits of Cape Buffalo from Africa as some imagine.

 

[Eutycus]

I didnt mean to imply that hogs were as tough as cape buffalos or rhinos but they can be "stout" little animals though. Ask a body shop after one runs into your car.

 

[nhmoose]

There is a web forum that cannot be linked to by the rules of this forum. It has Boolits in the name spelled that way. all you could find out about casting.

 

[WRustyLane]

There is a web forum that cannot be linked to by the rules of this forum. It has Boolits in the name spelled that way. all you could find out about casting.

Yeah, that's the truth. I am a member there also. Everything you want to know about casting lead and then some.