need lead supplier

[2172]

Hey, y'all...I started casting balls about a year ago with a second hand pot and have used up the 5 lbs that came with it. Tried using a block of what I think was wheel weight lead that came with it too. I cast a few sample balls, and the one I loaded was a bear to drive home...had to use a mallet.
the only source I can find in the magazines is a nice guy in Arizona who says it'll cost me too much, 'cause of shipping..he also wants to sell about 30 lbs at a time. What do you do for a source? Thanks, Hank

 

[tg]

Contact your local roofing contractors, plumbers, dentists, and scrap dealers you may find some bargins on used lead.

 

[RJR]

Also check your local hospital radiology dept., That's where I get my lead, all I want and they even help me load it. They're happy to get rid of it, it costs them to have it hauled away. Usually get a couple hundred pounds at a time. And just so you know, lead doesn't absorb radiation, it sheilds it. Good luck and good shooting.

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by hank:
I cast a few sample balls, and the one I loaded was a bear to drive home...had to use a mallet.The ball should cast the same size, no matter what the density of the metal is...

Lead with tin (wheel weights) will weigh differently than pure lead, but if you cast a .490 round ball with both mixtures, the balls should be .490 in diameter, just weigh different.

Maybe the patch thickness was the reason for the mallet, or powder fowling in the barrel.

I think the size of the cast ball will not change enough (different mixtures have didderent shrink rates once cooled) to cause this kind of problem.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have been right once...

 

[No Powder]

Was real lucky got a lot of lead when a hospital remodeled there x-ray area. All of the walls were lead lined, and when walls were rebuilt the old lead was thrown away and new used in the new walls. Lead now is considered a hazardous product,so it might be harder to get. The only problem with this lead is after all the years of use in the x-ray area the round balls glow at night---------------Attention swamp land for sale

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by No Powder:
The only problem with this lead is after all the years of use in the x-ray area the round balls glow at night---------------Attention swamp land for sale Funny you should bring that up about round balls glowing at night...

Did you know that Lead was Uranium at one time?

Uranium-238 Decay Series is as follows...

Nuclide Half-Life Radiation *

U-238______4.468

 

[2172]

Thanks to all for good suggestions, and a "brush up" on physics. Sometimes, a blind hog finds an acorn. Yesterday, at our monthly shoot, a member showed up with about 100 lbs of lead. His son-in-law installs the lead lining in x-ray rooms. It seems they put up the whole sheet first, and then cut holes for windows, et c. This scrap was the cut out bits. The club auctioned it, and I bought about 40lbs...for $20. I've melted some and find that, while it is a little dirty, it cleans up easily...problem solved. Now, who knows where there is cheap land for sale for a new club range? Just kidding, but that's our next problem...Hank