lead pipe?

[deepdarkwaters]

i have so were around 800# of old lead pipe im melting down was useing most of it for bank sinkers but now im back in to casting the mix i was useing was stuff my dad mixed up 30 years ago it was 4.5 ww 4.5 soft lead and 1#flux core soider now some of the lead pipe im melting down when poured out looks like sand and lead mix when poured out cooling off real fast and will brake apart just by droping it dose it have a hight % of tin in it? i know some of my dads old ww would snap and look real grainy

[Tom Herman]

What are you going to use it for? Rifle or handgun?
Lead pipe is GREAT for black powder, and good when alloyed 50/50 with wheel weights.
I add about 2% Tin for good mold fillout. Methinks you're using a bit too much solder, maybe back it off to half that, as Tin is quite expensive.
You need to melt the stuff and get it hot. If you don't do that, and flux, you will have gloppy, nasty ingots and castings.
As lead melts, it goes through an "oatmeal" consistency stage called Solidus. You have to get it hotter than that. Once it returns to a real melt, you can experiment and use your judgement when to pour.
BTW: Welcome! Good to have you here.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[deepdarkwaters]

ty tom i use it for hand guns when i pour bullets i use a lyman electic pot all i been doing was cleaning the trash out of it but im out of the lead my dad made up years ago my ingots cast out good just the leftover in my pour pot was the grainy brittel lead i was talking about poured some 121gr 9mm with it so see how it poured and the bullets came out nice and filled out all the way didnt know if i needed to add tin to make them harder i can barly scratch it with my finger nail

[Box13]

Some searching got me a page that said lead pipe usually had about 6% antimony to make it harder and a little tin for flow.This was a month or two ago when I had some lead pipe.I dont know about yours but it seems to answer your description...Robin

[303Guy]

I have some lead pipe. Reading this thread, I think I shall give it a try!

[Tom Herman]

ty tom i use it for hand guns when i pour bullets i use a lyman electic pot all i been doing was cleaning the trash out of it but im out of the lead my dad made up years ago my ingots cast out good just the leftover in my pour pot was the grainy brittel lead i was talking about poured some 121gr 9mm with it so see how it poured and the bullets came out nice and filled out all the way didnt know if i needed to add tin to make them harder i can barly scratch it with my finger nail

Handguns are what I use the 50/50 plus 2% Tin for... The Tin doesn't harden it much, but sure helps with mold fillout. There is debate as to how much to use, but the general consensus is that more than 2% is a waste. Antimony helps harden. That's why I use the wheel weights, they have that element in them.
The lead pipe I render here seems quite soft.
For 9mm, which is a high pressure round, you may need a harder alloy than say with .45 ACP or .38 SPL.
Good Luck with your project!

-Tom

[targetshootr]

some of the lead pipe im melting down when poured out looks like sand and lead mix when poured out cooling off real fast and will brake apart just by droping it dose it have a hight % of tin in it?

Sounds like maybe they're frosted from the lead being too hot. 700 degrees is all it needs to be.

[303Guy]

Well, I pulled out my piece of lead pipe and melted some into my lead pot which still had a bit of WW in it. The lead pipe seems quite soft but the castings seem OK and the sprew seems as tough as it need to be. So, we'll see how how these bullets perform on the range! (I have some Lino somewhere but cannot find it - must have put some stuff over it!)