Grandson Stocking Car Batteries For Casting Muzzleloader Bullets

[WILCO]

I think this kid has been doing You Tube videos > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhZTlqqeBi0

Fake video.............

[DonMountain]

After unexpectedly being away from home for the weekend (my wife took me on a ride on Route 66 for my 66th birthday), we came home and discovered the grandchild had broken open two of those old car batteries and put the plates in a plastic bin filled with water and apparently baking soda from the evidence.

[triggerhappy243]

what hospital is he in?

[OS OK]

Fake video.............

Oh yeah...where did you get that info?

[Finster101]

All safety precautions aside, it's your house your rules. If he can't abide by them then perhaps it's time for a dorm room.

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Recently watched a video on a guy breaking down a car battery to get lead. Didn't seem too dangerous (not looking for an argument), but... I would never do it after watching the video. It looked like WAY too much work for the small amount of lead he got out of it. I'd have to be pretty desperate to mess with that!

[triggerhappy243]

look at it this way. batteries yield 3-4 pounds of lead. you can sell a whole battery in most parts of the u.s. for 10 bucks. Take that $10, and buy lead from your local scrap metals yard and walk out with 10 maybe 15 pounds of lead. WIN-WIN.......................

[lightman]

Thats a Cool Birthday gift! Happy 66th Birthday!

[JimB..]

After unexpectedly being away from home for the weekend (my wife took me on a ride on Route 66 for my 66th birthday), we came home and discovered the grandchild had broken open two of those old car batteries and put the plates in a plastic bin filled with water and apparently baking soda from the evidence.

Interesting? Had you told him not to do so? Have you explained that the batteries are worth more than the value of their lead?

[Wayne Smith]

I saw a sign on the Batteries Plus Store that was offering to buy old car batteries for $7 each, I have gotten as high as $13 each at the scrap yard in the past. I find it odd that The core charge was $22 at Advance Auto Parts but that is beside the point. I would certainly sell every battery I could scrounge rather than mess with dismantling them for the lead. I guess that is the consensus here isn't it?

It has been the consensus ever since they came out with sealed batteries. Those are the ones with contaminated lead plates.

[john.k]

If the EPA find out whats going on,penalties may well exceed the value of your house and land.Bear in mind that if he blabs to his college buddies about what he s doing,one of them can drop a dime on you for a reward of half the penalty.

[DonMountain]

If the EPA find out whats going on,penalties may well exceed the value of your house and land.Bear in mind that if he blabs to his college buddies about what he s doing,one of them can drop a dime on you for a reward of half the penalty.

I can't imagine a battery being so toxic that the EPA would be any bit concerned about two batteries being stripped out and their contents being dumped on the ground. In my younger years when I was a rural firefighter with the local fire department we flushed down many cars with front end collisions where the batteries were crushed. All of the batteries are placed in a location that makes them very vulnerable to being crushed. So, this argument just doesn't hold any water. What I was more concerned about would be the possible toxic fumes getting his grandmother or I when he tries molding lead projectiles out of the plates in our basement when we come back from taking care of my wife's ailing aunt for a few days.

[DonMountain]

Thats a Cool Birthday gift! Happy 66th Birthday!

Well thank you lightman. I enjoyed the surprise weekend trip, but often thought how many new reloading dies or bullet molds I could have bought with that money. But I guess I already have enough of that kind of stuff?

[Walter Laich]

often thought how many new reloading dies or bullet molds I could have bought with that money. But I guess I already have enough of that kind of stuff?

fake info . . . you never can have enough of that kind of stuff

[RogerDat]

fake info . . . you never can have enough of that kind of stuff

Well if your bomb/tornado shelter consists of heavy plywood set on top of your stacks of molds and dies in boxes you might be getting pretty close to enough. Unless you decide to add a mother-in-law bomb & tornado shelter out in the garden shed, no not the casting shed, the metal one with the tarp roof, yeah that one. Might need some more "building materials" to build that second shelter. I'm sure dear wife will be most supportive of the purchases too, since they are for dear mother.

[Grmps]

Some Battery places will pay over $10 for some batteries.
Sell them and buy clean alloy

[alamogunr]

He ain't listening!

[DonMountain]

He ain't listening!

I am, but he ain't. We have already suggested all of this stuff to him. Even emailed him some videos. But he sees free batteries laying around his parents house and it means free lead to him. I found out why today that he needs all of this free lead. He got a box in the mail today from Budsgunshop with a new 1851 Navy Revolver in it. But no round ball molds that I could see.

[NWPilgrim]

Why is this an issue? It is your home, why is he leaving stuff there and taking apart batteries at your home and not his parents or his own? Tell him he has 24 hrs to dispose of the batteries off your property or you will have them recycled yourself. Otherwise you are giving implicit permission for him to behave however he wants.

[bumpo628]

I think I figured out the problem: he must see the batteries as his only available source of lead.

Most scrap yards do not sell lead to the public (at least here in CA - maybe they do in MO).
So, selling the batteries means losing a source.

The simple solution is to show him how to buy lead on this forum.