Lead phone line

[Ktm450xcw]

So I'm new to the site, and new to casting. What got my fire lit to start casting was aquireing roughly a half ton of relatively pure lead (99.9% +/-). I think. It's old telephone line, I'm sure someone here has used it and knows more about than I do. I'm casting for 45 LC, 44 mag, and 41 mag as of now. In the mags I am shooting for 1200-1400 fps, what do I need to add to my lead to handle higher velocities?

[badbob454]

if this is soft lead i would add coww ( clip on wheel weights ) to it 50/50 or for the magnums 25 %soft lead /75 %coww i think it is shielding lead , and it is soft ... right ? , if you have swiping solder in bars it is a hi source of tin ..60tin/40 lead
good score

[imashooter2]

3:1 lead to linotype would be good as well. My Father was a Bell Lineman in the 50's and 60's and we shot literally tons of cable sheath. I still have a couple hundred pounds of it sown the basement. The stuff Bell was using then was arsenical lead.

[Ktm450xcw]

It is soft lead. And COWW has something to do with wheel weights? What about mixing with a tin/antimony mix, like I said, I'm new. So please bare with me.

[tomme boy]

Yep has arsenic in it. The joints have a bunch of solder so it may have the tin you need if you have the joints.

[Ktm450xcw]

I'd say only have about 50-75 lbs of joints in the 1000 lbs of lead...

[MattOrgan]

COWW= clip on wheel weight. These are becoming hard to come by because many states are outlawing them. I rendered about 400 pounds of cable sheathing this year (with soldered joints) the resulting allow was relatively soft, but I've been using at velocities up to 1200 FPS in my 41 and 44 magnums (plain based bullets) with good results ie no leading and good accuracy. In standards like .38 Special and 45 Colt and ACP it works great. I've been using it with .30 caliber gas checked bullets at 1600 fps with excellent results too.

Dont get too wrapped up with alloys, there seemed to be enough tin in the joints to cast easily with my batch. Part of the joy of casting bullets has always been the cheap or free factor for me. If you have a mold and a heat source try casting some. If you get good fill out the alloy may work for the velocities you speak of with any decent lube. I spent the first 20 years casting anything that acted like lead and things worked out ok.

[Ktm450xcw]

Ive casted a few of all three, I'm hoping next weekend to load some up put them on paper, I'm just not sure how hot to go. The lee sizers, are they any good? I'd like to try to gas check some of 255 Keith's, and it's my understanding that you have to gas check with a boolit sizer?

[leadman]

Most folks cast and load boolits (cast bullets) not to see how hot you can go but to save money and wear and tear on the guns and their body. Just starting out I recommend you buy a copy of a Lyman Cast Bullet Manual and read the stickys at the top of the various sections to learn about alloys, gas checks, etc.
Loading cast is different than loading jacketed bullets due to the fact if something is not right you can end up with a very leaded bore and inaccurate loads. This is very discouraging so do some reading and ask questions. Post pictures of you boolits so we can evaluate your boolits and make suggestions if needed.
Go slow and enjoy the craft of casting.

[RogerDat]

One of the good things casting provides is the ability to cast and size bullets that specifically fit and work well in your firearm. As well as adjust powder type and load to get best accuracy with the least amount of abuse on you and the firearm.

In order to gain that goodness of casting and reloading you have to do some learning and investigation. This site is very good but sitting down and reading a manual such as the Lyman one suggested provides an overview that makes the site information more useful.

Lead too soft, or too small of a bullet diameter, or too much velocity can cause lead to scrape into your barrel rifling, effectively making your gun a smooth bore musket with poor accuracy after a few shots. So you melt down lead COWW's (Clip On Wheel Weights) which are a harder lead and mix with some plain lead to make a harder bullet. Or purchase alloys to mix with your plain lead.

How "hard" the lead needs to be is influenced by a lot of factors so with the right powder, bullet fit and lube one might use a softer lead alloy successfully, with a harder lead alloy you get more wiggle room in terms of powder and fit before leading takes place. Alloys that go into lead are generally antimony to harden and tin to make it flow better. Commercial cast bullets from a manufacturer tend to be harder so that they will work in the broadest range of applications. E.G commercial .358 bullet might get loaded for anything from .38 snub nose to a .357 rifle. Casters tend to go for what works in their specific use.

These alloys are more expensive than plain lead so caster have used COWW's as a cheap scrap lead with antimony and a small amount of tin for years to make bullets from. As the lead WW's have been phased out being replaced by steel and zinc WW's the availability of lead WW's is shrinking, and in the states that don't allow tire stores to use lead ones the supply has all but dried up. That and many chain tire stores won't sell the lead scrap to the public.

Some folks are into having a very precise lead alloy to achieve a specific hardness, others are more casual about the alloy having found a size bullet, lube, and powder that works for them over a range of lead hardness without lead fouling the barrel or being inaccurate.

You are essentially starting on a grand quest to figure out and cast the ideal bullet and load for your own firearm used the way you use it. E.G. My 357 mag target plinking loads may be nothing like the loads you want for your 357 mag hunting or high accuracy distance shooting.

The sticky threads of this forum are a great place to start reading to prepare for the quest.

[WRideout]

Ive casted a few of all three, I'm hoping next weekend to load some up put them on paper, I'm just not sure how hot to go. The lee sizers, are they any good? I'd like to try to gas check some of 255 Keith's, and it's my understanding that you have to gas check with a boolit sizer?

Lee sizers are a good value, and work well for their intended purpose, which is to size bullets to known dimensions. I use them all the time to size and gas check my rifle boolits. If you don't know the chamber dimensions on your pistols, you probably want to be careful about sizing them too small, in the beginning. As a general rule, I start out with all my boolits at as-cast dimensions, then shoot them to see how they do. If you really want to GC your boolits, you could look up the posts on this forum related to seating them without a sizer. In straight-wall cases where you don't run the risk that they will fall off inside the case, you could probably seat checks by just rapping them against the bench top, by hand.

[tomme boy]

What I would do is one of two things. One is to go buy some magnum shot in #8 size. That will give you some antimony to sweeten the pot. Or go to Rotometals and get some Linotype to sweeten the pot.

[MattOrgan]

As with anything you are new at, start slow. Hopefully you have a good loading guide for cast. The Lyman Cast bullet manual is probably best. Use the starting loads for bullet weights you have. It is safest, cost the least in powder, don't require the use of exspensive gas checks ,and will give you the longest case life and least firearm wear.

Lee bullet sizing dies are excellent. They allow you to seat gas checks and the tumble lube that comes with the die kit is good stuff for loads up to about 1,000 fps. Some report good results at even higher velocities. As someone suggested above you can frequently shoot your bullets as cast ( un-sized) lube them with tumble lube and you are ready to load and shoot. I shoot thousands of .38 Special, 9 mm, 45 Auto, .30/30, and 30/06 rounds every year with unsized bullets with a modified tumble lube. They are accurate, fun to shoot and cheap.

[Ktm450xcw]

I really appreciate everyone's input here. I know casting has been around for a while (little bit of an understatement) and I have a lot to learn. So far this has been the most informative forum I have ever joined, kudos to all of you and I'm sure I will be flooding this site with lots of newbie questions. Thanks for everything

[Mike W1]

I spliced telephone cable so I have quite a bit of lead from it. Usually kept the sheath lead and the sleeve lead separately and some tests on it back in 1997 over a years times brought these averages.

Freshly Cast Sleeve 6.4 Sheath 8.6
Aged 1 month " 8.5 " 10.5
Aged 1 year " 10.5 " 11.3

From what I've read they usually used an antimony/lead mixture in telephone cable lead. Various mixes and have never read anything that was definitive on the mixes. I used to cut out the soldered joints and they were also kept separate as somewhere I'd read those joints would not cast well. Later I decided that was BS as I never had trouble with them. Live and learn I guess.

Now all I have to do is figure out what's going on in the little thread I started!

[KYCaster]

Take a look here...........

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...t-of-curiosity

Your lead is most likely NOT 99.9% pure Pb.

Look at Mike W1's post. That's pretty much the same results I've found.

Jerry

[Lloyd Smale]

the lead I got from the phone company years ago was pure with 2 percent antimony and a trace of arsenic and the joints were soldered with 5050 lead/tin. If yours is the same just melt it all together and try water dropping your bullets. theres enough arsenic in it that it might be hard enough water dropped as is.