Telephone Co. lead

[Lead Freak]

This may sound a little rediculous, with today's technology, but do phone companies still wrap connections with sheet lead? A friend, who got me started with reloading in the late 60's, worked for the local phone company and would give me sheets of pure lead to feed my .36 cal Lyman Navy cap & ball.

[mpmarty]

Nope. Lead sheathed cable has mostly been replaced. The purpose of the lead was to protect the paper insulation from bugs eating it and creating short circuits.

[Duckdog]

No. They don't put anything up encased in lead anymore. Sure was some nice stuff! Old underground electric cable was also in lead as well.

[Uncle Grinch]

While it's true that telco companies no longer use lead sheath cable, they are still removing old plant of which quite a bit is old lead sheath cable. The key is to know someone who has access to some of it.

This stuff is real soft and works great for BP or as a base for alloys.

[imashooter2]

My Father was a lineman in the 60s, and we shot literally tons of cable sheath wadcutters. I still have about 600 pounds of it down the basement...

[44man]

Great stuff for muzzle loaders. I was given 200# with the wire in it. Made money on the wire.
Some of the solder joints were tin so I cut those out for alloys.

[Boondocker]

You got to get a friend in the trades at the phone company, as alot of places are doing tear downs and some places are demanding they pull it up out of underground manholes. Our lines used to be pressurized with nitrogen to keep the paper insulation dry as not to cause shorts and groundings. I have enough sheathing to last mine and the sil and grandsons days for smoke pole shooting. As 44 man says the solder joints are good for alloying. I lost my job when they shut down the garage but the lineman and splicers still think of me occasionally.

[Lead Freak]

You got to get a friend in the trades at the phone company, as alot of places are doing tear downs and some places are demanding they pull it up out of underground manholes. Our lines used to be pressurized with nitrogen to keep the paper insulation dry as not to cause shorts and groundings. I have enough sheathing to last mine and the sil and grandsons days for smoke pole shooting. As 44 man says the solder joints are good for alloying. I lost my job when they shut down the garage but the lineman and splicers still think of me occasionally.

I always wondered what those tanks were for, strapped to the phone poles. Seems like there would be a lot of vandalism now if it were still in use.

[Lead Freak]

You got to get a friend in the trades at the phone company, as alot of places are doing tear downs and some places are demanding they pull it up out of underground manholes. Our lines used to be pressurized with nitrogen to keep the paper insulation dry as not to cause shorts and groundings. I have enough sheathing to last mine and the sil and grandsons days for smoke pole shooting. As 44 man says the solder joints are good for alloying. I lost my job when they shut down the garage but the lineman and splicers still think of me occasionally.

I always wondered what those tanks were for, strapped to the phone poles. Seems like there would be a lot of vandalism now if it were still in use.