Newbie, super excited to start this venture!

[makeurownfun]

I am new to casting. So why not join? I went to a local scrap yard and picked up 1000lbs of dirty wheel weights for $154 (0.15 per pound). Figured that was a good deal. So far through sorting it there is a good bit more than half lead in these buckets. These wheel weights have been there for years and the lady just wanted them gone. So I just knew I had to have it ALL

[Conditor22]

makeurownfun welcome to the addiction looks like you have a great start.
Read the stickies at the beginning of the forum and the beginning of each topic for a wealth of information.
The search bar at the top right of the forum gives you access to all the information ever posted on this forum.

[s mac]

Quite a commitment there. Now make some nice clean ingots.

[daloper]

Welcome to the addiction. And another one falls down the deep rabbit hole. Make sure to post in your profile where you are from. You may find someone close to help answer questions.

[BNE]

Welcome to the addiction.

Like said above. Read, read, read. Actually, you don’t have to read that much at first, but it will save you a LOT of frustration.

Have fun.

BNE.

[RU shooter]

There ya go 1000 lb of WW right from the start ! That should keep you busy smelting and casting for a while good score and welcome to our addiction support group. There's cookies and coffee after every meeting ! Lol
What do you shoot and planning on casting for ?

[koehn,jim]

Welcome to the sport.

[MrWolf]

Might get some local help if you narrow down your location some.

[reddog81]

Good grief those have got to be some heavy buckets! Congrats on the lead score.

[trapper9260]

If they are as old as you stated there should be more lead then other alloy, welcome to the fun. When smelt have the heat that just the lead alloy will melt that way if you miss some zinc it will float with the rest of the junk. after skim off the junk put in ingots ,then start over that way you got control of the alloy. and the zinc.

[Smoke4320]

Way to start .. Get all you can as its getting less and less available to us

[OS OK]

You are getting started on the right foot...congrats.

Along with the suggested reading above, I would ask you to think about a couple of other aspects too...
1 . . . What size and shape of ingot will you make this lead into? It will make a big difference when it comes to stacking, and handling...


2 . . . It makes a difference as to how you are going to load your casting pot...you can load the pot once and have a minimum of wait time as you get ready to cast, or you can feed the pot with small ingots or muffins because they will not all fit into the pot at the same time. That means longer waiting time to cast...


As you collect your stash, you will most likely end up with all blends of lead, this type of ingot is easy to identify with colored ends.

[Walks]

That's a good way to keep track of different alloys. As long as you keep a big master explaining your method.

[OS OK]

That's a good way to keep track of different alloys. As long as you keep a big master explaining your method.

This last big batch of chilled shot required the colored ends, the master list just stays stacked on top of the stacks of ingots...


Other triangular ingots are the same without ends marked, they are just 'bhn' tested and stamped with a metal stamp kit and that tested ingot remains on top of that stack of lead until the entire pile is used up with the tested ingot going into the last batch casted into boolits.

I used to stamp individual muffin ingots like this 'RS' range scrap because these stacks tend to get knocked over easy and if they are not marked somehow you get all mixed up...that's a potential problem if you have lots of different blends of lead you have collected and stacked over the years. These muffin ingots are 'out' now as far as using them to stock quantities of lead...the triangular bar is 'in' for good.


Other stock, such as lead/tin solder gets stamped with the ingot's weight for quick picking to blend into an ingot pot that needs some tin.


For sweetening a casting pot just a little I have the lead/tin solder cast into large caliber cast boolits and have figured the tin content by weight...that Sn weight is printed on the container label...the large 405 grain casts are .47 ounce of Sn.


But...I didn't want to confuse the 'Newbie Caster' with all this information, I mainly just wanted to steer him away from 'gimmick' moulds like this soft lead I bought some time ago...It has to stay in a box, it will not stack efficiently and stay put.

[dimaprok]

You are getting started on the right foot...congrats.

Along with the suggested reading above, I would ask you to think about a couple of other aspects too...
1 . . . What size and shape of ingot will you make this lead into? It will make a big difference when it comes to stacking, and handling...

I've been wanting to make these triangle molds for long time and always chuck it up to that I have plenty of muffin type ones but you pointed out something important about how it takes longer to melt full pot. I need to make some already.

What are your dimensions of the mold?

[makeurownfun]

Holy smokes!!! Thank you guys!

Oh yes, I am way way way WAY down this rabbit hole! But I love shooting and reloading, so this just made sense, to me at least haha.

I plan on casting for 300BLK subsonic, 458SOCOM subsonic and not. Maybe some other calibers eventually. I am really looking forward to buying way too many NOE molds in group buys or possibly even some used ones.

I am going to the scrap yard that I bought all of this from to buy the rest, because these buckets are FULL of lead. Not much zinc or steel honestly. Still have 2.5 buckets to sort and then I get to start melting it all! I know I don’t need to sort it, just keep the temperature low, but I worry about ruining it by melting zinc. But as I do this more, I’ll get the hang of it
So far I have a box full of stick on weights that weighs 70lbs and 3 buckets at 120lb each! I am looking to get all I can very soon so I don’t have to worry too much about it in a few years

I took a page out of Elvis Ammo on YouTube for my molds. His seemed to stack well. So I ordered 2 of the Wilton Mini Loaf pans off of amazon. I think they’re roughly 3lb ingots and rectangle.

[bmortell]

your extremely lucky at .15$ lb, the only time I could get any shops to sell to me was 1$ lb and they were hesitant and never sold again

[Three44s]

Welcome to “Boolits”!

$.15 is one heck of a price for WW’s that are almost all lead.

Hope your endeavor yields great benefit!

Three44s

[OS OK]

I've been wanting to make these triangle molds for long time and always chuck it up to that I have plenty of muffin type ones but you pointed out something important about how it takes longer to melt full pot. I need to make some already.

What are your dimensions of the mold?

We have a local member that makes & sells them...
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/memb...oe-leadslinger ... joe leadslinger
joerash1954(at)gmail(dot)com

[Knightflyer]

Welcome aboard. If I bought all that, I'd need to write my Obit next, 'cause my wife would Kill me.