trying to find pur lead

[d.thomson]

hey can anyone help me find pure lead to cast round ball. I have called metal supply companies scrap yards and unless Im willing to by 40000lbs the cant help me . I can get lots of ww but they are to hard from what Ihave read here on the forum. If I cant find pure lead than I was thinking mabey I could use ww and try to separate the tin and atimy from the lead. Can anyone give me the directions on how to separate the aloys. any help would be apreciated, thanks in advance Dave T.

[mooman76]

I've used WW before and they will work. If you want to seperate the tin from lead just heat up your pot as hot as you can get it and keep fluxing, stirring and skimming the top to remove the tin. You can get most of it that way. If you can find a shop that does the stained glas windows the lead used is near pure and ebay has pure lead sometimes!

[mag_01]

Lumber yards have chimney flashing which is soft lead---Hospitals ---dentist

[John Boy]

Dave, go to a local plumbing supply house and ask them for a strip of pig lead. It's 5# ingots in a 25# strip.

Pig lead is 98% or better and works just fine for your RB's

[piwo]

Go to your dentist and ask if the hygienist will save the lead for you. My wife is a hygienist and has gotten me many, many lbs of lead this way. The plumbing supply is a good idea, as is just a plumber. My cousin is married to a plumber, and he sells it to supply houses for 10c lb... Make him a better offer and it’s liable to be yours. Plumbers come across LOTS of lead.........

[Howdy Doody]

I separate the stick on wheel weights from the regular clip type and then cast balls and they are plenty soft enough to ram an oversized ball.

The tape smokes pretty good when making ingots though........ but then again, I love smoke and flames anyways.

[eka]

Talk to roofers. They come across lead sheeting from older structures quiet often. It's usually pure soft lead.

I really don't see why you'd have a hard time convincing your wife you need to buy the 40,000 lbs. from the scrap yard .

Keith

[NVcurmudgeon]

I separate the stick on wheel weights from the regular clip type and then cast balls and they are plenty soft enough to ram an oversized ball.

The tape smokes pretty good when making ingots though........ but then again, I love smoke and flames anyways.

Howdy, Howdy. (Sorry, just couldn't resist.) I smelt the stick on weights separately because they are pure lead, or close enough. they make great bore measuring slugs or can be traded to muzzle loaders. To avoid the smoke, soak the tape ons in gasoline or kerosene. the tape peels right off.

[yam476]

d.thomson you should check with ANeat in Swappin & Sellin

[dakotashooter2]

Another source is lead pipe. Find out who the contractor is that does water sercice line replacements in your area. Many communities still have lead water pipes in the ground. Our local guy usually does 1/2 dozen of these a year and it usually yeilds at leas 30 feet of lead pipe.

[d.thomson]

Thanks for all the replies , I have checked the plumming supply places and they say they dont carry it because no one uses it any more I will check with my dentest to see if I could get some there, and my local craft shop for stained glass supplies. I have never seen the stick on ww but I will try at my local tire shop. Thanks again for all the help. Dave T.

[No_1]

I suggest going to any of the local hospitals / clinics that chemo treat people. The products they use arrive on site in little lead containers some as small as shot glasses with little lead lids. Sometimes the good folks at those establishments will GIVE you the old containers if you take the time to ask politely.

my .02 worth,

Robert

[John Boy]

I have never seen the stick on ww but I will try at my local tire shop.

Dave. here's what the stick on's look like. They are 98% PB ...

[454PB]

I once tried the old "cook off the tin and antimony" test. I left my Lee pot full of wheelweight alloy turned on for several days, fluxing and cleaning off the dross twice a day. I then cast some .44 boolits from what was left. I did not have a hardness tester at the time, but the fingernail test and weighing revealed no significant change in the alloy.

I think your efforts would be better directed towards finding a pure lead supply as previously suggested.

[Leftoverdj]

You've been hitting the wrong scrap yards. Find the little bitty rundown junkyard. Any kind of sheet lead or lead pipe is likely to be pure enough for your purposes. Ask around for retired plumblers, too. Modern plumbers may not be using lead, but the old guys likely have half a barrel in the shed out back.

If all else fails, buy a bag of the cheapest chilled birdshot you can find in the largest shot size you can find. It'll have a bit of antimony in it, but still be soft enough for your purposes. The premium shot, especially in the smaller sizes, will be too hard.

[montana_charlie]

I once tried the old "cook off the tin and antimony" test. I left my Lee pot full of wheelweight alloy turned on for several days, fluxing and cleaning off the dross twice a day.

If this was ever going to work, I think you would have to cut out the fluxing.
Fluxing changes the oxidized tin (that scum on top) back into tin so that it recombines with the melt. (At least, that is the way I have come to understand the process.)

If you let the tin oxidize, and keep skimming it off, that might (eventually) make a change in the alloy that you could detect. I don't know if it would have any effect on the antimony, though...
CM

[ANeat]

Dave I have plenty of pure lead. I dont know what the shipping would be to Canada though?? That may make it a little to much trouble.

Adam

[Red River Rick]

Dave:

PM me with your mailing address, I'm sure I could spare some pure lead, I have lots of sheet lead.

RRRick

[leftiye]

Hard roundballs with patches do work, maybe better than soft ones. At least mine did (hit a ground squirrel or two out at 80 yards).