Melt Question From A New Member

[okshooter]

Background info: Using a Lee bottom pour pot, Lee molds, scrap lead. In 2008 I melted down all the wheel weights on hand, cast some 150 gr. SWC and had no apparent problems other than "beginners luck" getting bullets to come out looking ok. Lee mold messed up, they discontinued it and I took a hiatus.
A couple of days back I melted down scrap conisting of some very dirty wheel weights, battery terminals, solder wire, sprue bits and a couple of the wheel weight ingots.
This melt resulted in the gold/blue colors mentioned in posts I have read on this forum. It also made the pot very dirty so I decided to empty it into the ingot mold so it could be cleaned. The ingots turned out frosty and almost a white color. I believe, from studying posts on this forum, I had the temperature too high and/or have a zinc problem.

Can these ingots be salvaged by using sulphur or adding some plumber's lead and remelting? There are four ingots so conisdering all the good material I still have, not a big loss.

Thanks for any help. I am enjoying reading and learning from this forum.

[clodhopper]

It was probably just a little to hot. Remelt the ingots and cast bullets. The frosty white ingots do not need any special care, and many here say bullets shoot better when cast hot and have that frosty white apperance.

[docone31]

Jeepers, just add some pure lead to the ingots and cast away! All that is, is the alloy in the wheel weights frosting up. Zinc contamination, as I cast with zinc looks like a black spot when water quenched. Sometimes, when I change alloy, my castings look like Dalmations when water dropped.
They fire very well.
Don't be afraid of a little zinc. If the nozzle gets stopped up, turn up the heat, and clean it. Then add pure lead.
You will know it when there is a lot of zinc.

[bumpo628]

Jeepers, just add some pure lead to the ingots and cast away! All that is, is the alloy in the wheel weights frosting up. Zinc contamination, as I cast with zinc looks like a black spot when water quenched. Sometimes, when I change alloy, my castings look like Dalmations when water dropped.
They fire very well.
Don't be afraid of a little zinc. If the nozzle gets stopped up, turn up the heat, and clean it. Then add pure lead.
You will know it when there is a lot of zinc.

Good tips, thanks.

[okshooter]

Thanks for the replies. I will add some lead, experiment more with lower temperatures and get cranking!
Forgot to add in the initial post: Bullets will be used for plinking/double action practice with .38 Special and .357 Magum loads under 1,000fps and at 3, 5, and 7 yards so no rocket science needed.

[lwknight]

Frosty is normal for anything that is not all pure lead.

[onondaga]

Try the #7 heat setting on the pot for melting. All the way is way too hot and will do just what you noticed. The full heat setting will get over 800 F and there is just no practical need for that in this hobby.

Gary

[okshooter]

Thanks Gary. I had been using around 8-8.5 and got some wrinkles. I have now learned those were caused by getting lubricant in the bullet cavities (too much is not a good thing). So, learing from experience and trying to soak up all this good info.