50 lb pure lead

[alabubba]

I have an opportunity to get 50lb of pure lead. I cast for .38 spec and .45ACP and usually cast straight WW lead and am happy with it.
My Question is what will I need to do to the 50lb to make it into decent castable boolits? Is it worth it or should I find someone that is looking for pure and just stick to WW's?

[connecticut-yankee]

If it's free - grab it!!!!!!!!!

[bowfin]

First off, grab it, as connecticut-yankee suggested.

Now, welcome to the forum!

For .38 special and .45 ACP, it wouldn't take much doctoring at all. Solder, pewter, some linotype or chilled shot would work.

Find what you can of the above, or about the same amount of wheelweights, and then someone here can give you some specifics.

[Stick_man]

First off, welcome to the forum. There is tons of great information here and lots of people just waiting to help. You have definitely come to the right place.

Mix it with the clip-on WWs. For .38s and .45s, you could go with 2:1 Pure to COWW and do very well. Maybe add a touch of tin for castability.

Anything up to about a $1 per pound is pretty reasonable around here. Sometimes, people will pay a little more, but usually you can pick it up for $1/lb shipped in ingot form.

What form is it in? As CY said, if it's free, grab it all and don't forget to say Thank you.

Happy casting.

[alabubba]

Its not free, 30 dollars. I am just not sure its worth it by the time I add tin/antimony to make a shootable alloy or if I would be better off just buying wheel weights.
How much of what do I need to add to the 50lbs of lead to make a decent alloy. Whats the best way to go. Solder, Pewter, commercial alloys? Looking for input and opinions.

[Beagler]

30 bucks for 50 pounds GRAB IT!
Its reg. over a dollar a pound

[John in WI]

alabubba,
I make "split tip" boolits for my .38 out of dead soft pure lead and they work great. Excellent expansion at low velocities. (if you want some instructions on making split tips, pm me!)

Also, it seems that the HP's used in the famous "FBI Load" are about dead soft.

The will lead a little bit, but from the boolits I recovered, it looks like at 800FPS or under the rifling isn't "stripping out".

For my split tips, I'm actually thinking of adding just a touch of tin to toughen it a bit without seriously hardening it. A little bit of tin solder or pewter would be great!

Anyway, having pure, dead soft lead around is always a good thing. If for nothing else, it's good for trade and for tweaking alloys to make them softer if needed.

[Stick_man]

If you do a search on alloy calculators here on the CastBoolits forum, there is quite a bit of discussion about mixing different alloys. Bumpo has a great one that makes it pretty easy to determine exactly what you need for your desired alloy.

[alabubba]

It is cleaned plumbers lead from cast iron pipe. I appreciate the input and I will go ahead and get it.

[Loony44]

Welcome to the forum!
If it were me, $30 bucks for 50 lbs of pure lead is not that bad of price these days. You can mix 50lbs of WW and enough tin for good fill of you mold and you will have a good alloy for your needs. I shoot 50/50 alloy out of my 44mag with no problem. You can also buy the pure lead and trade to someone here for wheel weights. Just my 2 cents.
Good luck and happy casting.

[calaloo]

I will trade wheel weight muffin ingots pound for pound for your soft lead. PM if interested.

[bslim]

I use 50/50 in my 38's with good results and no problems.