Melting lead

[Grenadier1758]

As a cast iron junkie

Wonder how many have been eating food out of cast iron, that was used to melt lead.

Heck maybe it wouldn't be harmful, as long as you clean it out well

I would not want to eat out of cooking pot that has been used to melt lead.

 

[mooman76]

I keep my cast iron in the garage so it doesn't get mixed up with the cooking cast iron. I bought an odd cast iron pan that would make ingots of about 1# that were shaped to make rounded ball shaped muffins or something like that. I just bring my self to use it for ingots.

 

[Rifleman1776]

As a cast iron junkie

Wonder how many have been eating food out of cast iron, that was used to melt lead.

Heck maybe it wouldn't be harmful, as long as you clean it out well

Not a good idea. When I get to the point where I know I will no longer be melting lead I'll break up my pots with a sledge hammer and throw in trash.

 

[VADSLRAM]

I too have used a Coleman stove with a large cast iron pot that would hold about 50 pounds of lead. After the pot got heated up, it didn't take long to melt the lead. I have also used one of those propane turkey fryer's with good results. For melting lead to cast balls/bullets I use an electric bottom pour Lyman pot.

I use a turkey fryer too in a thrift store S/S pot, works fine and when I'm done I put the cover on it and let it cool. The cover keeps the saw dust and crap out of it in the garage. I use the turkey fryer so I'm not tempted to bring the melting inside. I lost enough brain cells in my youth, I don't need lead fumes to take the last couple I have

 

[VADSLRAM]

As a cast iron junkie

Wonder how many have been eating food out of cast iron, that was used to melt lead.

Heck maybe it wouldn't be harmful, as long as you clean it out well

If you clean it well and don't stew acidic foods you would never know the difference. Prolly 90% of the homes in the country still have lead soldered copper pipes. The S/S pot I use doesn't get "tinned" so if I ever HAD to use it I could just pour all of the melted lead out and scrub the assorted burnt dross off. But I paid $3 for it so I doubt I'll ever get that hard up for a cooking pot.

 

[BadDaditood]

35 plus years ago I did everything in a Lyman 20 lb electric.
Later I did my smelting on a Coleman stove pouring alloy into muffin tins.
For awhile I used a scary old phone Co beast that sounded like an F16 afterburner.
Now I smelt with a turkey fryer and cast boolits with a new Lyman Mag 25 digital electric with PiD.
It’s really sweet, heats up fast- just pick a temp and it stays there! Which is real handy for tempering springs while casting boolits.

 

[tenngun]

I have one of the little novelty cast iron pots. About pint sized. I melt two or three pounds at a time on an electric hot plate
That’s a goof idea about breaking the pot up when done with it.

 

[Rudy Thompson]

When melting range lead what is the way to separate the pure lead from the additives used to harden it?

 

[bpd303]

As far as I know there is no way to separate the additives with a home setup.

 

[mooman76]

I have been told there is no way to separate at home. You could dilute it but you would need allot of pure lead to do much good. Range lead is generally softer than wheel weights.

 

[bpd303]

I have found out that patched round balls out of range lead shoot just as well as pure lead balls. Not good for revolvers though, a little too hard.

 

[mooman76]

Yes they do but they come out a few thousandths larger. Not always an issue but may have to adjust patch size.

 

[Phfinneuss]

I got some lead from a roofer too! That flashing is soooo easy to work with, as it is in those flat thin sheets.
I have a cast iron ladle that I just put in the fire. works great. Lead melts at a r e a l low temp of , ,? 200F?

 

[toot]

remember to keep any and all H2O, and droplets of sweat away from the pot. wet / damp lead also will make a steam bomb and empty the pot into your face, faster than you can say JACKIE ROBINSON. water & lead do not mix!!

 

[FishDFly]

Not a good idea. When I get to the point where I know I will no longer be melting lead I'll break up my pots with a sledge hammer and throw in trash.

You could give them to an aspiring caster.

 

[mooman76]

I got some lead from a roofer too! That flashing is soooo easy to work with, as it is in those flat thin sheets.
I have a cast iron ladle that I just put in the fire. works great. Lead melts at a r e a l low temp of , ,? 200F?

I don't recall the exact temp but it's something like 700 degrees give or take a little. Also alloyed lead actually melts at a slightly lower temp.

 

[Richard Dittman]

I have a question on cast round balls. Does the size of the knub from the cutoff sprew have any effect on the accuracy

 

[mooman76]

There will be, I m sure a difference of opinion on this. I don't believe it is much and probably not enough for the average shooter to be concerned with. Most people load with the nub or Sprue facing forward to minimize effect. There are differences though. The Lee moulds have no nub left, just a flat spot, others have a nub and some don't have a sprue to cut and you must cut after the fact. Swaged RBs don't have any and some people do things to remove the nub, such as roll around in a tumbler.

 

[oldwood]

Richard....Any standard modern mold such as a Lee , cuts the lead overrun off the ball cleanly enough , they're ready to shoot. Even the Lyman's though not as perfect as Lee , are fine to shoot w/o any special attention. Weigh each ball and group them by wt..That might do you better than fussing w/any other concern....oldwood

 

[Richard Dittman]

OK thanks. I had a 1 cavity .490 round ball mold ( bought used so don’t know the brand) and the cut off seemed to be pretty close to the ball. Then I bought a Lyman 2 cavity mold and it seems like the sprue seems to be a little bigger. But not by much. I have always loaded my gun with the sprue pointed up.