What kind of lead do I have...and other noob questions

[carbon_15]

First of all, I'm a rank noobie when it comes to casting. I have read a few articals and spent some time lurking here, And I think I'm ready to make the plunge and start casting.

I was asking around at work today to see if anyone might have some scrap lead and a guy brought me a half full bucket of some sort of screw anchors and a fist sized ingot of what he called plumbing lead. Its about 30 lbs and he wants $20, is that a good deal? Is there an easy way to find out what the alloy is? If its pure lead, do I just melt in 1 lb of tin for ever 20 lbs of lead? Where do you get tin?

I want to start out casting 7.62x39 for my caliber converted 1916 Civil Guard Mauser. What sort of lube (I plan to use the pan lube technique) works for loads in the 1600-2000 fps range? I dont want to make my own lube just yet.

Thanks for bearing with the new guy. Any tips and tricks or equipment suggeswtions you could pass along would be great.

[jdgabbard]

The screw anchors I have no clue about. The ingots of "plumber's lead" is usually referred to 99% pure.

If he is wanting $20 for 30 lbs of lead he is WAY over priced in my opinion. At 40 cents a pound (what I consider max for a reasonable price), the price should be about 12 bucks. If he wants more then that I would send him wayward, unless you just cannot find any other source of lead. It is just way to high a price in my book. 67 cents a pound is outragous.

[imashooter2]

You would be much better off buying known product from our Swappin' and Sellin' section than paying 75 cent a pound for unknown scrap.

[Railbuggy]

Many of those Anchors are ZINK.Check the tire shops.

[JIMinPHX]

Welcome to the board,

Anchors are frequently pure lead & also frequently zinc. Plumbers lead is generally about as pure as you will find. Zinc is to be avoided at all costs. Pure lead will need some antimony & tin added. Tin is easy to find in the form of lead free solder (generally 95% tin). You will also want to add some antimony to the mix, especially for rifle boolits. Antimony is best gotten from antimony rich alloys like linotype (from an old fashioned print shop), bird shot (from your local shotgun reloading supply shop), hammer alloy (from industrial suppliers like McMaster Carr) or the ubiquitously sought after wheel weights.

When all is said & done, you probably want to end up with about 2% tin & somewhere around 4-6% antimony as a starting point.

Lots of people have different ideas about the best lube to use. I suggest Lyman Super Moly lube, even though it is a mess to work with & you cant leave it sitting around out in the open for too many days. It lubes barrels up real well, even at high speeds. Lee Liquid Alox is another option if you want to skip the pan all together.

[shotman]

wellcome I agree with above in the rifle you need a harder boolit Unkowen is not the best way to start casting. I know that many dont like to pay for lead at all . Times are changing fast in that respect. The lead market is going to dry up fast this next year. The ban on WW and the Post office is talking of dropping the flat rate OR banning lead shippments. That will put lead at 2 or3 dollars for people that cant get it. You would be better to get it now and have it.

[missionary5155]

WELCOME Carbon 15.... I would buy some gas and go around to the tire shops.. where do you buy tires ? A box of donuts laid on the counter helps people understand you are friendly.
Lube... At the velocity you are talking most any lube will work. For REAL ease get some Lee Liquid Alox lube, a flat base plastic container with a lid and do the bullet swirl.
Casting and reloading is the reason I can afford to launch projectiles. But more important to me is I am not dependent on a system of supply that can collapse or be "Suspened".
This is a SUPER place to hang out and LEARN !
God Bless you and keep you safe !

[jnovotny]

There is a guy on this site that has some wheel weight lead for sale, at 35 cents a lb, his name is decon stone