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Thread: The Definitive Answer page for Lead and Alloys!

  1. #1
    Cast Boolits Founder/B.O.B.

    45nut's Avatar
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    The Definitive Answer page for Lead and Alloys!

    Boolits= as God laid it into the soil,,grand old Galena,the Silver Stream graciously hand poured into molds for our consumption.

    Bullets= Machine made utilizing Full Length Gas Checks as to provide projectiles for the masses.

    http://www.cafepress.com/castboolits

    castboolits@gmail.com

  2. #2
    Boolit Bub
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    great site!!!! thanks for the link.

  3. #3
    Boolit Mold slvrwraith's Avatar
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    LOL...

    Thanks for the link, I found that site before i found this forum. Great data!
    "The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to Congress a power to disarm the people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretense by a state legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both." [William Rawle, A View of the Constitution 125-6 (2nd ed. 1829)

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master
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    http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

    Stumbled onto this site a few years ago.

    There is so much information there that it is almost intimidating. I go there frequently and often find new info in areas that have been already been visited.

    Shiloh
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  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master



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    I just stumbled across this sticky . . . Thanks Ken and the rest of you, words like that make a lot of time and work well worth while.

    Rick
    "The people never give up their freedom . . . Except under some delusion." Edmund Burke

    "Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack on our liberty, we encourage it." Samuel Adams

    NRA Benefactor Life Member
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  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    plumbers lead

    What is "plumbers lead" how can it be identified? I have 200# offered to me for free. can I add it to wheel weights?

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    webb site

    thank's 45nut i was just looking for info for mixing when i came across your post! this is the holy grail of info. thank's again.

    skimmerhead
    Cheap things are not good and Good Thing's Are Not Cheap

    the worst part of getting old; is remembering when you were young



  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy m.chalmers's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mac1911 View Post
    What is "plumbers lead" how can it be identified? I have 200# offered to me for free. can I add it to wheel weights?
    It's damn near pure. It will be a lead pipe filled with **** (****) or the soft lead pans used for shower stalls in days of old. Also used to seal cast pipes.

    If free go get it! If you don't like it, trade it for WW or $$$$

  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy
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    Free is a DARN GOOD PRICE!!

    Plumber's lead is what we used to seal BELL & SPIGOT cast iron pipe. Fit it, cut it, stick it togther...fit an asbestos rope around the bell, melt the lead..pour it in...seals up reall nice and even allow for a bit of pipeline movement. Used the cast pipe for old sewer lines and old fire water lines. When it breaks,, now adays, we use RUBBER gaskets and press them together...so good if you are there when the line breaks and you get the old lead....sooo now..

    What happens when we SMELT this water and poop laden stuff...SAFETY FIRST....

    put the old stuff in a COLD POT ..fill her up cold..add your flux...I use pine saw dust from the table saw...the GO SLOW...ramp up the burner slow and let the water slowly cook off...three or for ramp ups to melt temperture...then carefully mix...long stir laddler...glasses...sleeves...stay back cause if there is water in the POT...KA BLEWY!! you get a bomg and the lead pot blows our all over the place, the dog and YOU!! And DON" ADD COLD LEAD to a hot melt...No. DON"T DO IT... put the smelt, (minus dross) in your ingots and go again from the start. Go slow...flux...and don't add cold stuff to hot stuff...safety gear..you should be fine... FREEE IS GOOD....

    Nose Dive

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
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    Oh,,,it is good to MIX...mix with wheel weights..whatever...as long as you do it when ALL THE SMELT MATERIAL is COLD in a COLD POT...don't put the plumbers stuff in hot wheel weights..or vise versa... FREE IS GOOD.

  11. #11
    Boolit Mold
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    why can't i add cold to hot???been doing so,not knowing it was wrong.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master at Heavens Range Bob Krack's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by freighthauler View Post
    why can't i add cold to hot???been doing so,not knowing it was wrong.
    'Cause it might (hahaha almost always does) contain traces of water inviting the explosive results of steam under molten lead - better known as the "TINSEL FAIRY"

    Bob
    I was always taught to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder to find any!

    Μολὼν λαβέ; approximate Classical Greek pronunciation [molɔ̀ːn labé], Modern Greek [moˈlon laˈve]), meaning "Come and take them" is a classical expression of defiance reportedly by King Leonidas in response to the Persian army's demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons at the Battle of Thermopylae.

  13. #13
    Boolit Mold
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    thanks bob.thought maybe it was that fairy,but didn't know if maybe it wern't something else!while casting,i add as i go,when the melt gets down about half,i'll add sprue-cut or bad cast bullets or an ingot, so,everything should be pre-heated before it goe's in??? i usually just drop in the small stuff, and gently add the bigger stuff. rich.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master


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    freight, we're talking about the original smelting operation. If you are throwing in bad boolits, sprues, or other processed lead, you should be OK. When smelting down unknown scrap, pipe, roof flashing, dive weights, etc., then start from a COLD pot EACH AND EVERY TIME!! Do NOT add unknown lead to a pot of molten lead. Hope this clears it up, take care.
    Lead Forever!


    The 2nd amendment was never intended to allow private citizens to 'keep and bear arms.' If it had, there would have been wording such as 'the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. -Ken Konecki, July 27, 1992

    John Galt was here.

    "Politics is the art of postponing an answer until it is no longer relevant". (From the movie 'Red Tails')

  15. #15
    Boolit Master markinalpine's Avatar
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    Lightbulb Hardening Lead Alloy

    Copied this from the ROTOMETALS e-mail newsletter I just received

    Talk Back
    Lead Hardening
    Recently I was asked the brinell hardness of pure lead and wheel weights. We did some research and found that the BHN of pure lead is approximately 5. The BHN for wheel weights was a little more difficult to find as wheel weights differ in their chemical composition. That said, many people use a range of 8-9; we list 8.6 as the baseline BHN for wheel weights. This got us thinking, why do we receive so many calls about hardening lead? This has to be the number one question we are asked by bullet casters. So we thought, let's try to answer this question without adding to the confusion of lead hardening.

    There are two metals that can harden lead successfully, tin and antimony. For every 1% of tin added to your lead you will increase the brinell hardness by .3 and for every 1% antimony you add, you will increase the brinell hardness by .92. Using this simple equation Brinell = X + (0.3 * Tin) + (0.92 * Antimony) for "X" enter 5 for pure lead or 8.6 for wheel weights. Now you can figure out exactly how much antimony and/or tin you need to add to achieve a certain BHN.

    Example: 14.7 = 8.6 + (0.3 * 5) + (0.92 * 5)

    Here, we added 5% tin and 5% antimony to our wheel weights and achieved a 14.7 BHN.

    For more information and to look up these products, visit us online at www.Rotometals.com.

    An unasked question is an unanswered question. Send us your questions today. You never know, your question may be featured in a future newsletter.


    Mark
    Any way you sell it,
    No matter how you spell it,
    When you start to smell it,
    BO Stinks!

  16. #16
    Boolit Mold
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    I am completely new to casting and my first question is this..What is copperised lead ? an is it suitable for casting ? I have a heap of it I pulled off my roof and it was used for flashing.

  17. #17
    Boolit Mold
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    hi spek, my first visit back for a while, see nobody has answered,so i'll try! don't know copperized, but most flashing's were(in times long past) copper,but the flashing boots,or collars (around soilstacks) were indeed lead,pert-neer pure! have quite a bit of it myself,along with cable sheath,old waterline collars, and wheel weight/range lead ingots, am here trying to learn myself. as i'm gonna mix it all, and hope it's good! this site is no-doubt your answer,hope that helps a little,good luck bud!

  18. #18
    Boolit Bub
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    I've recently acquired about a hundred pounds of scrap roofing lead and cable sheathing lead. I've read that this may be pretty soft or nearly pure lead or perhaps 3% antimonial lead. I'm getting ready to smelt it, clean it up, and cast it into ingots; keeping it separated, of course. Using my Lee hardness tester, can I test the ingots, or do I need to cast it into bullets 1st, to determine the BHN of the alloy? Or, does it make any difference? I've looked for an answer to this on several sites, but no luck, so far.

  19. #19
    Boolit Bub
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    Disregard the above. Found my answer at "http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=108711," courtesy of KYCASTER.

  20. #20
    Boolit Bub
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    I've had pipe-solder lead RUIN a big pot of otherwise great alloy, got both frosting and wrinkling on the same bullet!

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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