Running Ball

[Glenfilthie]

Hey guys - can any of you offer some tips for a newbie on bullet casting?

I have just bought a cheap lee mould, dipper and pot but I am having a helluva time finding pure lead. I know the cartridge guys are casting their bullets from wheel weights...will that work for us muzzle loaders too? I can buy round ball but I want to enjoy other aspects of black powder shooting as well and would love to try casting.

Problem is that finding a source of cheap pure lead around here is problematic. Where are you guys finding your lead?

 

[brubincam]

-----I pick my lead up at the rifle range with a sifter----- :thumbsup:

 

[R.M.]

There's plenty of sources if you know where to look. Old lead pipe, phone cable sheath, roof flashing, stick-on wheel weights are the most common. I was just at a chiropractor the other day, and while taking X-rays, I said"there must be a lot of lead in this room", and he said yes. Well, we got to talking and it seems that he had a good sized roll of sheet lead left over, that he gave me.
Sometimes you just have to bring the subject up, and viola......

 

[RJR]

Depending on where you live, there are a lot of sources for pure lead. I've gotten lead from contracters remodeling old houses, jet engine repair shops at the airport, but most of my lead comes from the hospital. I get the lead vials that the chemo medicine is shipped in, they are pure lead and can not absorb radiation. Talk to someone in the Xray dept, they normally have to pay to have it hauled away. If you're concerned about it being radioactive, have them run over it with a gieger counter, I've never had a blip. I normally get 300+/- lbs. at a time.

Rick

 

[tg]

Whewre are you located? there might be a forum member close by that knows of a source and will share the wealth.

 

[bingo1952]

The wheel weights will work fine for round balls for a rifle or smoothbore but they will come from your mold .001-.003 larger (depending upon caliber) than they would if cast from pure lead. This will require a slight thinner patch for them to have the same loading characteristics as the pure lead balls. If WW is all you have at the moment shoot it. I wouldn't let the alloy type stop me from burning powder. WW for conicals and revolver bullets whether round ball or conicals generally does not work very well.

 

[arquebus]

I've bought most of mine from scrap metal yards. Don't always have it on hand, but it pays to check in every once in a while. Last batch I got was sheet lead from a dismantled X-Ray lab. Just as a tip, if you can scratch the lead with your thumbnail it'll be pretty close to 'pure' lead.

 

[bwhoffman]

I asked my dentist.
walked out with 17 pounds of the purest lead I have seen yet!

 

[rebel727]

Stick on wheel weights are 99.5% pure lead. Plenty soft enough for the fussiest muzzleloader or revolver, even conicals. They don't come out of a mold oversize either. Clip on weights are another matter.

 

[BrownBear]

I get mine from a variety of sources, but it's less of an issue now that I'm "recycling" my own. I recover it all at the range. There are lots of ways to do it, but mine is detailed in this thread. It's "dirt easy" though in fact I use sand in my bullet trap.

 

[Gus]

I get mine from tire shops and roofers mostly. The only range lead I recycle is from the black powder and cowboy range. Be real careful with mixing any lead with copper jacketed stuff. The copper messed up my pot bad, and old copper jacketed bullets have other alloys and small but significant amounts of moisture withheld that can splatter up.

 

[phamil]

I have gotten mine from sifting through the backstop at the range as well as the scrap yard or tire shop connections.

Ask around the coffee shops and feed stores...surely the guys hanging out in those places can put you in the right direction.

 

[Glenfilthie]

Thanks alot fellas. I am scrounging about now. I like the idea of the bullet trap too - do you just tape your target to the side of the pail?

 

[paulvallandigham]

It works much better if you make a frame to hold your target, so vibrations of hitting the bucket don't dislodge the target. Put the frame in front of the bucket, or whatever you use. There are several ways to make this work. Some shooters use a metal wire rectangle, with feet- like those lawn signs used by realtors, and use old fashioned clothes pins to hold the target. Others build a wooden frame, with feet to put the uprights in, with a cardboard backing against which the targets are stapled.

 

[StewartLeach]

Glen:

Check with some old time plumbing shops in your area. They may have lead left over from the days of earlier plumbing technology. I bought 70+ pounds for $20 when a long time plumbing business here decided to shut down and had a garage sale.

White Fox