Possibly dumb question

[Blackhawk45hunter]

Why is it that no one uses old battery lead for casting? I have access to several hundred old car batteries and it seems like a waste to just toss all that lead.

[44Vaquero]

Go to this posting and it explains all the reasons why it's a bad idea!

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=93151

The effort required in reclaiming battery lead is not worth the effort and danger involved.

[Blackhawk45hunter]

Ah ok thanks

[shotman]

sell the batterys and buy or trade for WWs or lead. around here they sell for about $8 ea

[Box13]

Several hundred batteries at 8.00 each...thats somewhere near...1600.00...Id be finding me a new firearm or two and worring about lead later...

[Ajax]

If you would check the classics and stickies page you would have found the answer to your question in length. It is not hard to look them up they are in their own forum here.


Andy

[geargnasher]

sell the batterys and buy or trade for WWs or lead. around here they sell for about $8 ea

+1!

Gear

[Defcon-One]

It's Calcium and, to a lesser degree, Strontium and the fact that we use Antimony to harden our lead that causes the problems!

(Antimony) 2Sb + (Calcium) 3Ca = Sb2Ca3

Which leads to this explaination from the other post:




Sb2Ca3 + 3H2O --> 3CaO + 2SbH3 = Stibine Gas + Human = Death

AS3Ca3 + 3H2O --> 3CaO + 2AsH3 = Arsine Gase + Human = Death

These are heavy gases as compared to air and will sink, therefore children and pets are at an extreme danger when smelting batteries. So when you empty your dross into a container, it will immediately pull H2O out of the atmosphere and create both arsine and stibine gas, if you empty your dross into a wet container or it gets wet, it will release both of these deadly poisons very quickly. Normal WW alloy produces a small amount of these gases by volume, using battery plates exponentially increases the amount of calcium alloy that if mixed with WW alloy (that contains arsenic and antimony) will react and create poison gases that can make you very sick and might kill you or your family. In short, it just ain't worth it! If you decided to dance with the devil and smelt some, the amount of usuable lead you will get would make it counter economic anyway. And when you go to shoot your high calcium bearing alloy, it is very hydroscopic and will rust your bore to boot. Don't do it, don't do it!


One thing I'll add, stibine smells like rotten eggs, anything over 10 PPM (Parts Per million) can do major damage, but you can't smell it until it reaches a concentration of about 100 PPM. By then You, your Dog, your Cat and your Family are all in real trouble or beyond it.

The only good news and the reason that some people get away with smelting battery lead is that not all batteries have these ingredients (there is no way to tell which ones!) and these gases are unstable and don't stick around.

Short Answer: As others here have said, Take the batteries, Sell them, Buy good clean lead of known content or wheel weights with the money!