Making ingots

[krallstar]

Hi, been making ingots in small batches using indoor range lead. Been collecting for awhile. I was wondering not knowing what kind of lead has been sent down range. I have been smelting small lots like 15lbs at a time. My question is to get a more consistent lot of lead do i need to now use a larger smelting pot so to melt more ingots to get a better alloy. And how big or how much lead do you smelt in 1 pot.

[Dale53]

I use a Bass Pro Turkey/Fish fryer and melt my lead in a Harbor Freight Dutch oven. It holds over 100 lbs (about 120 lbs working capacity).

Dale53

[shadowcaster]

It is not absolutely necessary to blend all of the scrap together. It just makes for a more even lot as a whole. I don't do it because my supply of range scrap slowly trickles in and I would be constantly re-averaging, so to speak, to keep my alloy even.

Do you have a hardness tester? It makes separating the harder ingots from the softer ones easy. My range scrap comes in at 12 to 15 bhn and I find very little difference between the two in how they perform. I just shoot it as is.. No tin added as they were once bullets already, and the fill out is excellent do to existing tin.

If you are going to re-smelt for consistency, I would go no smaller than a pot that would hold 200 pounds molten lead. The one I built is a bottom pour 400 pounder. Or.. you you could do your original smelt in the bigger pot to begin with.

Shad

[jcameron996]

To me it would depend on what you are intending to cast. If you are intending to cast for .45acp or .38 special I would probably not go to the extra work. More time spent smelting is less time spent casting therefor less time spent shooting.

[dbosman]

One way to average things out, if you choose to, is to keep your mark your individual smelting batches. Then when it's time to make boolits, pull individual ingots from several sessions and melt them together. Repeat the pattern and your results will be consistent until you need to start over.

[Vinne]

I agree with shadowcaster...it was bullets at one time so just cast as is. After all, any bad habits in the recovered lead have been cooked away!! hehe