Running Out of Alloy

[ColColt]

I'm getting low in wheel weights-down to about 20 pounds or so. Unfortunately, Kathie is out of commission with physical infirmities, which was my source. They are very scarce around here and if and when you find them you have to dig through all the iron and other junk and I'm not into that but prefer buying them in ingots as she supplied. Any suggestions as to where I could find them? I don't much trust ebay as I've been burned there a time or two.

I have enough lead to mix with Linotype for an alloy but I'm not sure how to use the lead to emulate ww's. Maybe 8 lbs of lead to 2 pounds of LT?

[462]

I've not had the need to us them, but Rotometals is a forum sponsor, and their link is at the top of each page.

[Jailer]

There are plenty in the for sale section with ingots for sale.

You could always jump on Blammers leftovers from the group buy as well. Not as cheap as wheel weights but a decent price for a known alloy.

Blammers 96-2-2 alloy (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=121695)

[williamwaco]

Any suggestions as to where I could find them? I don't much trust ebay as I've been burned there a time or two.

I have enough lead to mix with Linotype for an alloy but I'm not sure how to use the lead to emulate ww's. Maybe 8 lbs of lead to 2 pounds of LT?


Source:

I can recommend without reservation that you send a private message to our member odinohi. I have bought lead from him on four separate occasions. You will get EXACTLY what he promises.

He acquires lead from various sources from total scrap to wheel weights to completely pure. He will tellyou the source and he will tell you how hard it is.

I have bought wheel weights from him twice and pure soft lead twice. The pure soft lead is the softest I have ever seen. It is what you need to mix with your Linotype. He doesn't always have the pure but If you ask him, he will save it up for you and let you know when he has enough to ship.

I think 8 / 2 would make an excellent bullet alloy. If I were mixing for myself, I would mix a half a pot and cast about 100 bullets. If you don't like them then add a little Linotype to make them harder or a little lead to make them softer. Record the weights you add. When you get it like you want it, you will be able to duplicate it next time.

[crabo]

Even though I have a lot of WW ingots, I have more pure lead. I have started reworking my loads with 50/50 WWs and lead. I think for most of my purposes, air cooled and water dropped 50/50 will cover my needs.

I should have enough to last the rest of my life, but I will buy more if a good deal comes up.

[Tatume]

There's always lots of WW metal for sale on this forum.

[geargnasher]

You could get some pure lead or a couple of varieties of sorted range scrap from DukeInMaine, he has two listings in Swappin'/Sellin' right now, he's short on funds and offering some very good deals, especially on the un-smelted stuff.

You could sell the copper jackets from the indoor range scrap he has, take the money and buy some Rotometals Superhard ingots to alloy it up to your specs. Randyrat and others are selling 63/37 solder and you could get a couple of pounds of that to balance the antimony some.

If I were in your shoes that's what I'd do.

Gear

[ColColt]

Gear-He's all out of his ingots but maybe next week when he gets more I'll check on the pure lead he's going to smelt.

odinohi was recommended and I've gotten in touch with him on what he has.

[dnotarianni]

Check with Dukeinmaine. He is selling lead in all kinds of alloys from pure to lino and has some great prices to move it. Think he had some problems and needs $$$

Dave

[frankenfab]

I think 8 / 2 would make an excellent bullet alloy.



10-4, I was going to say 4:1 Pb/Lino. Maybe even 5:1., depending on how hard your Lino is.

[prs]

http://leadandbrass.com/zencart2/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65&zenid=c8d997a1d3c15fe50a193e369f7d32d3 has provided good soft alloy for me a couple of times and RotoMetals has also provided some very useful alloy metlals.

prs

[azrednek]

I don't much trust ebay as I've been burned there a time or two.

Got burned myself on Ebay buying so-called cleaned, fluxed and a phrase something like all the hard work has been done. It was a seller here in Phoenix less than a mile from my home. I avoided the shipping and got apx 45 lbs of clip-ons cast into ingots. Can't remember the price but it was to good to pass on or at least I thought so at the time. Think I paid him 20 cash. What I got was 45 lbs of mush. My guess is the seller, a tire shop employee likely melted zinc into the mix although in his description he claimed all the zinc weights were removed.

The seller would not respond to email via Ebay's message system. When I showed up at his apartment the coward let a girl about 10 answer the door. Said he wasn't there and had no idea when he'd be home. I could see and smell cigarette smoke when she opened the door so I assume there was an adult there.

Lesson learned, if you're going to buy from Ebay keep it in their system. I would have gladly paid a few more bucks just to write a scathing feedback and possibly I could have had PayPal reverse the charge.

[UtopiaTexasG19]

Knowing that I will enjoy the casting/shooting hobby until someone closes the lid on my casket some day I finally got tired of buying a few pounds of lead here and a few pounds there especially getting in multiple bhn's that I did not know until I tested the stuff myself. I finally started calling the scrap metal places in my area and found one where the owner said he had a few odd sized "bars" of lead and offered that I could test them on site before I bought. I eventually went to the place and lo and behold there were a stack of hand poured ingots weighing 5 pounds each and they tested out to a bhn of 11 so I bought all 700 pounds on the spot. I figure if I don't use them in the next 30 years or so lead will only increase in price like everything else and I can sell any left to younger enthusiasts. At first I was in a quandry as to how I was going to cut the bars up into smaller pieces to melt into ingots and found that a acetylene torch cuts the bars like butter and my tractor mounted log splitter slices them quite easily into bite sized chunks without any heat or fumes! :) When my wife saw the stack of lead in the barn and raised an eyebrow I told her some of the guys on the forum have a lot more collected and that this was part of my "retirement" plan in that I will eventually save money from the purchase. At least that's what she now believes!

[ColColt]

I eventually went to the place and lo and behold there were a stack of hand poured ingots weighing 5 pounds each and they tested out to a bhn of 11 so I bought all 700 pounds on the spot.

Sounds like you found a bonanza. I think 700 pounds of lead would do me awhile. I'd be grinning like a mule eating briars.

prs-Thanks for that link to lead and brass. I'll keep that one noted.

[UtopiaTexasG19]

If you live in an area with any scrap metal dealers it might be worth a phone call.