Battery Lead

[cruisor]

Hello All,

I've been offered a large amount of battery lead that was melted up many years ago. This old fellow was a metal recycler when most of were very young.

It's basically been laying out behind the shed for over 20 years ago he said.

Is this lead usable for casting bullets? I really don't need this to lie out behind my shed hence my questions.

If it is okay to use what kind of alloy would I expect to see and hardness as well.

Thanks for the help folks, this forum has been such a huge provider of knowledge from real bullet casters.

Regards,

Lee

[slim1836]

Cruisor,
If it were me, I would scrap it, take the money, and buy processed lead or wheel weights.
I would not try melting it as there may be residuals in the lead that may be poisonous to your health.
Do a search on melting batteries and you will see what I'm trying to get across.
Just my 2 cents,

Slim

[Hickory]

Slim 1863's advice is very sound, not worth the health risk.

[cbrick]

Here's a link that will explain it and open your eyes. Where it me I would take it and trade it in or sell it rather than risk my life or even my neighbors lives. Auto wet cells are a no-no.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Are-Dangerous

Rick

[Beagle333]

Scrap it. Range lead is pretty darn reasonable on here.

[bangerjim]

Yes..........get it for scrap.......sell it ( not on here!) for scrap. And buy known lead. There could still be a lot of "stuff" in there that is very dangerous. He did it yearsa go B4 people realized it was dangerous.

But it is up to you!

banger

[williamwaco]

As usual, "It depends".

You said "Offered"?

Is that a gift, or offered to sell it to you?

You said "battery lead"?
Is that battery plates from wet cell batteries or battery terminals and "straps"

If you must pay for it, there is not much you can do with it except cast it. You will be hard pressed to sell it to a scrap dealer for more than you paid.


I personally would not want the battery plates unless you had confidence in his ability to recycle it safely. (You said he was a metals recycler. It can be done if he knows what he is doing and has the right equipment.)

If it is battery terminals and battery straps ( straps that connect the cells together on the outside of the pile ), I have used several hundred pounds of that stuff and it makes very good bullets.

[cruisor]

I'm very sure this was done without knowing the dangers of melting this stuff up.

This lead is free. The gentleman who did this is now in his late nineties and had no idea of the dangers involved. Not sure I want to mess with it now. Think I'll give the local scrapyard a call and see what it's worth. Then take the proceeds and make a purchase from someone here on the site. I really had no idea that this could be that dangerous.

Was stationed in Minot ND a long ago and I can remember a fellow melting whole batteries in a big kettle with a spigot on the bottom to drain the lead. What a mess, billowing clouds of black smoke and debris. This was in a wrecking yard in North Dakota in the eighties.

Thanks for all the thoughts on this. At 67 I'm really trying to get the most out of this body I can!!

Regards,

Lee

[6bg6ga]

I wouldn't touch it.

[slim1836]

I wouldn't touch it.

I'd wear gloves to deliver it to the scrap yard and trade it across for lead wheel weights. Check with the local scrap yard first and see if they will take it.

I use wheel weights in my .45 ACP, .308, and Mosin Nagant. I use pure (or soft) lead in my muzzleloaders.

If it is battery terminals and battery straps as Williamwaco stated, it's ok to use, just stay far away from the internal stuff.

Slim

[bangerjim]

I'm very sure this was done without knowing the dangers of melting this stuff up.

This lead is free. The gentleman who did this is now in his late nineties and had no idea of the dangers involved. Not sure I want to mess with it now. Think I'll give the local scrapyard a call and see what it's worth. Then take the proceeds and make a purchase from someone here on the site. I really had no idea that this could be that dangerous.

Was stationed in Minot ND a long ago and I can remember a fellow melting whole batteries in a big kettle with a spigot on the bottom to drain the lead. What a mess, billowing clouds of black smoke and debris. This was in a wrecking yard in North Dakota in the eighties.

Thanks for all the thoughts on this. At 67 I'm really trying to get the most out of this body I can!!

Regards,

Lee

Yes "we" did very dangerous things back in the dark ages!!!!!!!! I am lucky to have 2 eyes and 10 fingers!

I remember as a kid going to a salvage yard with my dad an uncle to look for old relays, tubes, potentiometers, capacitors and the such (for my growing electronics hobby) and they had a big kettle way out back they cooked batteries in and drained off the lead at the bottom. Lead in those days was probably 5 cents a pound!!!!!! They just cooked them down after draining off the H2SO4 down the city drain!!! Nothing special. "EPA...........we don't need no stinking EPA!"

banger

[country gent]

Wear gloves and leave them at the scrap yard with the lead. I got some battery lead one time but it was safe the guy who gave it to me worked for Varta in the city this was in 20lb ingots before it went to being a actual battery

[Tackleberry41]

Doesnt sound like he is offering plates or batteries, where you would have to go thru the hazards of melting it down. But that has already been melted down into some sort of ingots. Would it be any different than just buying ingots of lead in this form?

And from what I have read there is more than one form of lead in batteries. The standard ones from a car, maintenance free, have additives in the mix that your pretty much wasting your time even melting them down. And of course extremely hazardous to even undertake. Where the big heavy deep cycle type used in solar arrays etc, that you can take the caps off and top em off, can produce useful lead. Not that I have ever been hard up enough to try to melt any down. And tend to have considerable value being turned back in vs the sort of set fee for a car battery. I have 2 big Trojans with my solar array, I got a good chunk of change from my old ones towards new ones from the battery place. And sometimes works out in odd ways, the guy there gave me several big weights used in theater for the curtains or something, that made more than a few bullets.

[Pepe Ray]

It's all about AGE.
If you can have confidence in the old mans word/memory and establish that the batteries were, in fact, manufactured before
maintenance free batteries then the lead has already been safely reclaimed. Otherwise NOPE!!!
Pepe Ray.. BTDT,GTL.

[MaryB]

*beats head on desk* handle it like lead but do not use it to make boolits. Sell it to a scrap yard as reclaimed lead and let them deal with it. If you get it on bare hands just wash off, it is NOT so toxic it is going to kill you via a touch. It is the fumes given off during smelting. I keep a pair of leather gloves just for lead handling just because I prefer to not wash my hands so often and dry out my skin(winter does that bad enough without help).

[deerslayer303]

Are Battery terminals pure lead?

[cruisor]

Thanks for all your thoughts and advice. This lead was melted down about 20 years ago. It's also been sitting out in the weather for at least 10 of those years. My friend says the only reason it's still there is because it weighs so much.

Thanks again,

Lee

[6bg6ga]

I wouldn't touch it.

What I meant was I wouldn't cast it and try to use it. I worry about the fumes and possible ill effects to a barrel if cast and shot.

[GoodOlBoy]

If this stuff was already smelted then sat out behind a shed in open weather for 20 years I don't think the risks to you would be nearly as bad as starting from scrap batteries these days. Myself I would consider using it in a well ventilated area, but I would be very cautious with it. IF it is in it's original form and been setting there for 20 years yeah I would scrap it and move on.

GoodOlBoy

[mold maker]

How much other battery sourced lead have you used without knowing? Lead from batteries smelted over 20 years ago is likely safe.
The warnings about battery lead from today's production is well heeded.