pure lead/soft lead source?

[b52fizzle]

Where's the best place to recover/recycle/find pure lead/soft lead? Are their many sources without the need to buy it?

[Superfly]

the magic ?

[a.squibload]

Study hard, a good alchemist can turn gold into lead.

Wait, uh...:veryconfu

[supe47]

I've had luck scoring lead shielding from remodeled x-ray room walls and door frames. It is considered "toxic waste" and I take it off their hands so that they don't have to pay for disposal. Over 500 lbs, in the last year and is about as pure as you can get. Check with demolition companies or companies that install commercial doors. The last frame I scored 160 lbs. pure. Have any hospitals or clinics being built in your area? Find the drywall contractor and see if you can strike a deal. Works for me.

[DukeInFlorida]

Roof flashing (rolls) is just about pure lead. So, any roofer or stone mason who does chimneys could also help.

[WRideout]

I scored about twenty pounds for free from the roofer who shingled my house. You can also try plumbers, if you live in a town that is old enough to have lead drain pipes in the older buildings.

Wayne

[DukeInFlorida]

Or, even old factories who had their large wiring covered in lead shielding for additional protection. That's also pure lead. Telephone cable metallic coverings were also pure lead.

[Lizard333]

Ask your dentist. Every time you get an X-ray, there is a small sheet of lead on the insert that goes in your mouth. I get mine every six months. Only a few pounds, but it adds up.

[sparky45]

I get mine from old Lead Water Pipes that the City is replacing. You might try asking the City Water Dept.

[DukeInFlorida]

JUst don't let onto the city workers that it has any value....

[Utah Shooter]

I've had luck scoring lead shielding from remodeled x-ray room walls and door frames. It is considered "toxic waste" and I take it off their hands so that they don't have to pay for disposal. Over 500 lbs, in the last year and is about as pure as you can get. Check with demolition companies or companies that install commercial doors. The last frame I scored 160 lbs. pure. Have any hospitals or clinics being built in your area? Find the drywall contractor and see if you can strike a deal. Works for me.

I work for a company that makes x-ray products. When they get done cutting the sheets for doors and such they store it out back. Just got about 200 lbs. Hope I can get more in the next little bit.

[b52fizzle]

This is whats recommended for swaging, correct?

[runfiverun]

for the most part.
depending on what you want the bullet to do.
for target shooting a harder core will work fine.
for prairie dogs and such a soft core and annealing will work best,i have even been changing my hollow points to flat points for better expansion.

and for bigger game a two part core will be worked up.
with an additional annealing on the front half of the jaxket,to bond the nose,and to melt the two cores together.

[GRUMPA]

Well I'm going to add to this from my perspective, and there's more here that know alot more than I do. Pure lead is rather soft and is desirable to be used as cores for swagging. Pure lead will have a hardness of around 5BHN and will at the right speeds want to expand on impact.

At somewhat slower speeds, like 850fps for the 45acp at around 230gr for the projectile would be about desirable.

I have on order some range lead that I plan on doing some expansion testing with when I get the time to do it, and that stuff is supposed to have a BHN of around 11. One of these days I'll get around to ordering one of BT's 44mag die sets because I can get those to really go fast (for me) and that's where the fun really begins.

I tried using just straight wheel weight lead as a core with not much luck with expansion. It pretty much acted like a FMJ that looked like a hollow point.

For dead soft lead use, it's gentle on the machinery that your using for swagging, you can use some of the harder stuff but remember it's harder on the hollow point punches and the equipment. I don't know about the rest of you guys but when the swagging bug bites me it hits me hard and I rarely do less than 1k at a time.

[fredj338]

Pure lead or near pure lead is getting tougher to scrounge every year. Stickon ww are almost pure lead, dentist foils are great, but many dentists have gone to digital. Stain glass shops or classes use came that is nearly pure lead, maybe a splash of tin, but I doubt it. Lead iso containers are about the same. Fortuntaely, it doesn't take much pure lead to make cores for swaging smaller rifle bullets. You can also use range scrap, most is softer than 10BHN, or mix it 50/50 w/ pure lead to exstend your pure lead, about 8BHN.

[Jailer]

Jacketed bullets recovered from range scrap are near pure. Of course the manufacturers won't ever tell us the composition but based on melting point and weight jacketed bullets cores are near pure lead.

I don't have a hardness tester but I do have some of my range scrap cast up that could be tested by someone that has one.

[Wayne Smith]

Talk to your plumbers. Old showers have a lead pan under them and I have had the opportunity to melt two of them.

[Miata Mike]

Picked up what seems to be about 10 pounds of x-ray foil from my dentist. Went digital so this will be all I get of this.

[Miata Mike]

Picked up what seems to be about 10 pounds of x-ray foil from my dentist. Went digital so this will be all I get of this.

Turned out to be 20#. Seems harder than I expected too... [smilie=w:

[Casper29]

Tire shops still use almost pure lead stick on wheel weights, not the ones with the clips on them, every time I get a 5 gallon bucket of ww I end up with about a 1/3 stick on wheights.

HAPPY HUNTING.
Jerry

[Ole]

22LR bullets are dang close to pure lead.

I have also bought roof flashing in the past and it's very soft.