Got some lead...now what!

[Lonely Raven]

Long story short, I've been reloading for about 10 years now, and I happened to stumble into a video on casting inexpensive birdshot shells into slugs for like $40 in tools. Which then had me thinking about casting for pistol calibers and asking around for lead...and I lucked into about 200lbs of mixed wheel weights (seems to have a lot of Zinc), and tonight I picked up 108lbs of "pure" lead that's been sitting in a farmers barn for 50 years.

I've picked up a turkey fryer for cheap, and I have a cast iron dutch oven. I just put in an order for a lead casting thermometer and a Lee Forge (I had some credit at Midway, so that worked out). And I've got safety equipment, plus my reloading equipment I already own.

So, from what I've read, I can cast bullets directly from the alloy that wheel weights are made from. But what do I do with the big sheets of pure lead I got from this farmer?

I'm going to start casting some buckshot since that seems easy enough. But my fiance is asking me to cast for her Kimber .45 and we both have several 9mm pistols. So I'm looking for some reading materials (preferably free/online) to see where I go next.

Thanks in advance!

[cbrick]

Welcome to Castboolits Lonely Raven,

Here's the book . . .

From Ingot To Target (http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf)

The 45 is a great place to start, the 9mm is a much more difficult cartridge to make cast work. It does work and work very well but it does seem to take a lot more work & experience.

Use your new thermometer when melting your WW and keep the temp at or under 700 degrees. Zinc melts at 764 and you want NO zinc in your alloy.

Use plain old saw dust to flux your melt, it will both reduce (return to the melt) the tin and remove other imputities such as aluminum etc. Yes that is in WW.

Read the book, in fact, down load it and print it out. You can have it bound at Kinko's for about $8.00. After you've read it two or three times get the Lyman Cast Bullet Book.

Rick

[Lonely Raven]

Thanks for a great response, Rick!

Does the reading materials you suggested have some guidance on what to do with pure lead? I assume I need an alloy to cast it for .45?

[imashooter2]

You smelt the WW being careful not to melt any of the zinc weights and ingot that up. Then you roll the sheets and cut them with a hatchet into pot size chunks, smelt that and ingot it up.

Then with the clean alloys, you mix 2:1 WW to sheet in your Lee electric pot and cast whatever handgun boolits you care to.

There are a whole lot of posts here to describe sorting and smelting and ensuring you don't melt zinc weights. It isn't a hard thing to do, but a little caution is called for. The sheet is simple and there are no worries with contamination there.

Welcome to the addiction!

[alfloyd]

You can mix the wheel weight and the soft lead sheets to get a mix that will work in the 45 ACP.

About 1 part lead to 2 parts wheel weights will work ok.

That makes your wheel weights last longer.

Lafaun

[alfloyd]

imashooter2 types faster than me:)

Lafaun

[cbrick]

I use clip on WW air cooled for my 45, about 11-12 BHN. I also use a softer alloy of magnum shot for HP's in the 45, I add a little tin to both for castability. The 45 is a very casting friendly cartridge, fairly low pressure and velocity. The pure lead is valuable but if you go with straight WW for the guns you mentioned the pure can easily be traded for WW, see the swapin section on this forum.

There will be tons of questions come up, don't be afraid to ask. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask. Everyone here was new at this at one time.

Rick

[cbrick]

Does the reading materials you suggested have some guidance on what to do with pure lead?

Yes, it does. Here's some more reading for you, a great author. [smilie=1:

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletAlloy.htm

Rick

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Hi and welcome to the forum. The sheets of whatever size have to be cut which is easy to do especially if they are thin. Saws, shears or chisels....whatever works. Some folks would recommend a torch, but on sheets that's a bit of overkill. They then can be rolled into short "jelly rolls", or just kept as strips that can be fed into a melting pot. Or cut again into squares that can be folded. If you intend to cast with pure lead then you can do it directly out of whatever pot you are melting in. If you need the bullets to be harder you can add wheelweights and 2% tin. 45's and 9mm's usually need something a little harder to handle the feeding when the slide drives the bullet up the ramp. If you are using a cast iron dutch oven try not to tap/strike it when it is hot; cast iron has had a bad rep in some reported cases of cracking/shattering and you don't need or want that. On the subject of reading up on what you want/need to go any further with casting and loading, I would recommend that you start with the wealth of information that is available right here on this forum; cast pics and cast bullet notes and articles by forum members as well as stickies in the various departments. Many members will also advise you as to what texts/handbooks are considered to be good if you wish to buy any. Lastly, wheelweights make good bullets as is; the hardness factor (BHN) is around 9-12. Tin can be added to harden them up or you can get into quenching the casts in cold water. You can read up on all that. In the meantime, good luck. LLS

[Lonely Raven]

Great info again, thanks! I'm reading through the Ingots to Target now and understanding the alloys much better now.

What's a good source for pure tin and/or Antimony? I see I can get Antimony on eBay, but damn it's expensive!

I'll start out with the wheel weights first and deal with the pure lead sheets later. I figure once my thermometer shows up, I'll start out with just cleaning up the WW and making some muffin ingots, while I read up on casting and figuring out what molds I want.

[imashooter2]

Antimony is usually added via an already alloyed antimony rich donor... linotype, monotype or Rotometals "Superhard" are good sources. The lino or monotype will also have tin in them.

Stand alone tin typically comes from scrap solder or yard sale pewter.

[Echo]

And tin is available as Lead-Free solder, that is about 95% Sn. The usual recommendation is 2%, so for 10 lbs (160 oz) of lead/WW alloy, you would add 3.2oz Sn. I have bought Sn on eBay - the seller usually gives a analytical report on the percent of Sn in the alloy, like 73% Sn, 27% Pb. I will pay $10/lb of Sn, delivered.

If you run onto some linotype, mix it 50/50 w/WW or pure Pb and have outstanding alloy.

Other type metals (monotype, stereotype, foundry type) are like lino on steroids. Use accordingly.

And then you must lube the boolits. For the .45, I suggest the Lee TL system. You don't have to use TL design boolits with the system - regular lube-grooved boolits will work admirably with the TL system.

And welcome to the forum. Best on the Web.

[Lonely Raven]

Thanks for the welcome, and the further information. Looks like a good start for me.

[Pigslayer]

I'm going to try to attach a lead alloy calculator for you. Here goes. Hope it works for you. It's in Excel. I use it a lot.

[Lonely Raven]

I just used that Alloy calculator to figure out what I could mix with what I have now, and how to mix up using the solder bars that are for sale here in the trade section. Great document! Thanks!