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Thread: Lead Weights from powerlines

  1. #1
    Boolit Mold
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    Lead Weights from powerlines

    I just came across an offer to buy around 300 lbs of lead sourced from powerlines. Does anyone know what it is alloyed with. A search of the internet didnt bring up much data. End use will be plinking rounds mostly for .308 and 45 raptor and will be powdered coated.

    Im just checking if the lead will be hard enough without having to add anything else to it.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master Oklahoma Rebel's Avatar
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    hmm, I'm interested to hear this one too, never heard of such a thing! unless you mean underground line sheathing, in which case it is pure.. but you said lead weights, did you see what they looked like?
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  3. #3
    Boolit Mold
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    Actually it is lead sheathing. The person who is selling said lead weights at first then after some questions he said it was sheathing. Thank you!!!

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    Glad to hear that , a wile back my brother salvaged me a load of (what he thought was lead ) it turned out to be zink in large 60 lb blocks .

  5. #5
    Boolit Master D Crockett's Avatar
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    I had a guy that brought me a 5 gal bucket of lead sheathing some where in the 100 to 150 pound range going to make a lot of 223 cores with it D Crockett

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master

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    If its cable sheathing its soft lead, probably in the 98.5% pure range. I've seen weights or dampeners on transmission structures but all that I actually handled were zinc. It was a shame too, as each dampener had 2 weights each about the size of a large potato. They bolt on the conductor on each side of the structure to dampen the vibrations caused by the wind.
    Last edited by lightman; 03-30-2018 at 12:54 AM.

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    "They" are going to replace the natural gas lines in my area. I told the guy if he digs up any lead lust bring it over and throw it across the fence.....I doubt I'll see any, but it didn't hurt to ask...
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  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    Digs up any lead lust? All of us have some of THAT, but I'd hate to have to be buried so they could dig the lust up! :P (Yeppers, you typoed!)

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr_Sheesh View Post
    Digs up any lead lust? All of us have some of THAT, but I'd hate to have to be buried so they could dig the lust up! :P (Yeppers, you typoed!)
    That is more of a Freudian slip than a typo...
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pbjunkie View Post
    Actually it is lead sheathing. The person who is selling said lead weights at first then after some questions he said it was sheathing. Thank you!!!
    I'm pretty sure that's soft lead.
    If it's already in ingot form, do a drop test.
    drop a ingot on concrete, if the sound it makes is a thud, it's soft lead.
    If there is any 'ring' to the sound, it's NOT soft lead.
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  11. #11
    Boolit Master bosterr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom W. View Post
    "They" are going to replace the natural gas lines in my area. I told the guy if he digs up any lead lust bring it over and throw it across the fence.....I doubt I'll see any, but it didn't hurt to ask...
    I retired from the gas company with 19 years as an equipment operator. I never encountered lead of any kind. If you're thinking of sacrificial anodes you may have seen attached to steel lines, they're mostly magnesium.
    Last edited by bosterr; 04-04-2018 at 07:53 AM.

  12. #12
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    Old water mains are made of soft lead but I have never seen lead gas lines, however, while digging, they may come across lead water mains.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    If it is lead sheathed cable, consider it pure lead, for all practical purposes. I have been given piles of it from the local power company and it is as soft and pliable as any roofing lead or sheet lead. So much so, that one can take a two of the three wires inside, tie them around a tree or clothesline pole, and then grab the third one and pull all three free, leaving the lead looking like a shed snake skin. One might have to rotate the "pull wire" around every 3-4 feet to keep it on top and to from fighting the other two wires while pulling, since they are twisted together in a spiral.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    Most of the lead sheathed power lines were those put underground or pulled through conduit. Back in the day, lead sheathing was used because it was weather proof and mostly corrosion proof. The various weatherproof plastics had not made their appearance yet. Very old gas pumps usually had the lead sheathed cable running electricity to them.

  15. #15
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    I worked for the phone company and all the lead covered cable we used had pure lead sheathing. I didn't know the power company used lead covered overhead cable but as I said I worked for the phone company.
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  16. #16
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    if its sheathing then its phone line stuff not power lines. Only possible source of lead from power lines are very old transmition lines used lead balls as vibration dampners in windy areas. Either way just about all of it ive used has been very close to pure.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    QUOTE: "if its sheathing then its phone line stuff not power lines."

    QUOTE: "I didn't know the power company used lead covered overhead cable."

    Actually, it wouldn't be OVERHEAD power lines. The weight would have been far too great for transmission poles and towers to bear. Our power generating plant had miles of lead sheathed power cable in conduits and underground, where moisture and corrosion would be a problem. I have also found a length of it running from the gas pumps of an old gas station abandoned in the 1940s. I will post a picture of some of it soon, I hope.
    Last edited by bowfin; 04-17-2018 at 09:58 AM. Reason: spelling

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    Underground copper wire was sheahedsin lead.Around 2005 a com,pany came in and pulled all this wire and sold it to China. They replaced the copper with fiber optic Ibelieve. Lead sheathing went with the copper to china.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    Paper and lead cable. High voltage cable w a pure lead sheath. All over Maryland

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    I worked at a facility in south Arkansas that produced large wire cable for mines and ships, they used molten lead pure to cure the poly insulation over this cable. They would pump this around to the coating machine like water, until something broke then what a mess. Walked out back and 200# ingots stacked like cord wood. They had a cutting machine that cut the sheathing off the cable and remelt. Very interesting operation. It was all pure lead with no additives and it didn’t leave the plant that way, just for curing the compound.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check