Lead water main?

[Xfire68]

I am getting some free lead from a friend that is a plumber. Getting a 100+ Lb section of water main.

My question is this pure lead or is there other metals normally in this type of pipe?

[DLCTEX]

Usually close to pure.

[runfiverun]

if it has a joint in it the joint will have tin solder in it.

[bbs70]

NAH!, I'm not going to say it.
Besides I know you all thought about the same thing.:mrgreen:

[shotman]

it has some antimony to make it a little harder . any under ground is harder near same as WW without arsnic and tin
It most likely has a white dusting or white spots ? that is the antimony

[Xfire68]

Thanks for the info guys.

[Xfire68]

I have cast a number of 1oz 12g slugs using this lead and they have worked fine.

I am looking to start casting 9mm and 10mm. I am about to order the Lee molds and Lee sizer's.

What should I add to the mix to make it harder to shoot in pistols?

The lead I have is soft, 60lbs of it. I can dent it with my fingernail. I don't have a hardness tester.

[knifemaker]

I have been mixing 50/50 soft lead with clip on wheel weights for my pistol reloading. I have taken this mix up to 1350 fps in a 41 mag plain base boolit with no leading. My 45 acp loves it also. If you can not get clip on wheel weights, you can use lino type and mix it one part lino to 2 parts soft lead for about the same hardness as my 50/50 mix. To prevent leading, the most important item in your casting is to size your boolits 1-2 thousand over the groove dia. of your barrel.

[Xfire68]

The Lee bullet sizer's are not adjust able are they? Pardon my lack of knowledge on the subject I am still new to it.

If they are not adjustable as I think they are won't I just be stuck to whatever they spit out?

[Xfire68]

By the way thanks for the info on the mixture.:drinks:

[I'll Make Mine]

The Lee bullet sizer's are not adjust able are they? Pardon my lack of knowledge on the subject I am still new to it.

If they are not adjustable as I think they are won't I just be stuck to whatever they spit out?

The sizer dies are not officially adjustable, but Lee sells the dies separate from the kit in a pretty good range of sizes at small increments (for instance, .355, .356, .357, .358, .359) at pretty good prices. If you need a boolit that's a thousandth or so bigger than the closest smaller Lee, you can lap the die larger with fine sandpaper mounted in a slotted dowel in a drill chuck, or a tiny version of a brake hone. Or you can make a die from 7/8-14 threaded rod (or have one made by a machine shop, though that's likely to cost more than a standard Lee die) -- or even order a custom size from Lee. If making your own, be prepared to start undersize and adjust for the amount of spring back specific to your alloy -- soft lead springs back very little if at all, but harder alloys may spring back as much as .002 above the actual die bore.

[BACKTOSHOOTING]

The sizer dies are not officially adjustable, but Lee sells the dies separate from the kit in a pretty good range of sizes at small increments (for instance, .355, .356, .357, .358, .359) at pretty good prices. If you need a boolit that's a thousandth or so bigger than the closest smaller Lee, you can lap the die larger with fine sandpaper mounted in a slotted dowel in a drill chuck, or a tiny version of a brake hone. Or you can make a die from 7/8-14 threaded rod (or have one made by a machine shop, though that's likely to cost more than a standard Lee die) -- or even order a custom size from Lee. If making your own, be prepared to start undersize and adjust for the amount of spring back specific to your alloy -- soft lead springs back very little if at all, but harder alloys may spring back as much as .002 above the actual die bore.

This is very good to know, Never heard of sping back

[shotman4]

for pistol the lee molds drop close enough. and as for making alloy harder /shoot what you have first. they will do fine . The hard stuff is for the guys that want to shoot a 3000fps out of a 38 spl