Veteran Casters, take a look at my lead....

[Alan in Vermont]

I'm not going to do it over to get a video I was adding tin that had been melted by water drop method to form pellets that would be easy to weigh on a loading scale. This happened 6 months or a year after the tin had been melted. There had to have been a drop of water encapsulated in one of the pellets. I had the tin in the palm of my gloved hand. As I opened it over the pot, I instantly had 10 to 15# of lead on it with a few splatters getting past. I suspect the water expanded as the tin pellet melted when it struck the surface. That is the only explanation I have ever come up with for what happened.

And THAT is a whole world different than an errant drop ON TOP of the melt.

[SchuetzenMiester]

I stand corrected and am happy the risks are lower than I have thought.

[338RemUltraMag]

Once that single drop gets UNDER the surface it expands 3,000x and that can help empty a pot! Most of the time the water is trapped in or on a piece of lead tin or flux.

[canyon-ghost]

The errant drop on top of the melt is no lightweight either. I've had it pop hard enough to put lead in my hair and on my glasses. I was water-dropping bullets and had a drop of water on the bottom of the mold that went straight for the molten lead. It won't empty the pot but, the explosion to steam can put enough lead in the air that you won't want to be standing over it.

Peeling lead dots off your face will teach you to run the mold bottom across a towel every time.

[BubbaJon]

I washed a bucket of ww lead Friday, laid it out to dry all day Saturday in the sun. Put it back in dry bucket Sunday, started smelting Monday night. After 2 or 3 rounds into the pot I hear a ZAP! ZAZZLE! POP! and some splatters go flying. NEVER assume the weights are dry is my new motto. BTW - my solution was to put the next round in a pan to sit on top while melting the current batch. Helped to hold in the heat, preheat the next weights and DRY them.

[SchuetzenMiester]

Since tin melts at 450 F, I don't know how it could carry the water under the surface, but if that is how it works, it must have. Nearly all the lead came out of my pot and ended up on my gloved hand. It is easy to get rid of a 10 to 15 pound glove Just swing it down. I couldn't get rid of it fast enough! Glad I had the glove on. Might have lost the use of my hand ;-( There were a few little splatters on me and my glasses, but no severe injury. I always preheat hot enough to dry most of my lead before I add it even if it has been indoors for years