Best flux for pure lead?

[Moonpie]

What flux do you folks recommend for pure lead?
A bud gave me a bunch of soft lead but it has a lot of salt in it(lead came from an old drawbridge counterweight on the coast)
I've skimmed it several times and fluxed with sawdust but I'm still getting horrible bullets.

[bangerjim]

If you are casting with just that pure lead......no wonder you are having HORRIBLE boolits!!!!

Read up on alloys (lots of inof on here and LASC.us for the kind of boolits/shooting you are doing. Pure lead is normally ONLY used for black powder

You need to add Sn for fill out and Sb for hardness.

Check the S&S sections for people on here selling them.

Pine sawdust is the best for most melting. 3X is normal for clean lead. Use some candle wax the last time with the sawdust to clean it up.

banger-j

[Moonpie]

I forgot to say these bullets are for a breech loading percussion Sharps. They need to be soft lead.

[khmer6]

Check your mold temp? I'm using a bottom pour lee with soft roofing lead. First run on the 50 Cal Lee REAL was very disappointing. Let everything cool off and checked and cleaned the mold again. Next run first drop was near perfect and only got better from there. There was a lot of crud that floated to the top. I just skimmed it off. Could be from the pot itself as I had to empty it of my other alloy or the rust since water found its way into the bucket of lead

[500MAG]

What do you mean by horrible bullets? Is there visible stuff in the lead or is there a fill issue?

[GabbyM]

Since it's lead from a counter weight. Good chance you have some zinc in there. Copper sulfate can be used to replace zinc with copper. zinc will come off as dross. If zinc is indeed your issue. Here is a thread discussing the process.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?175796-Add-copper-to-your-alloy-for-tougher-CBs

[pworley1]

Of all the things I have tried, saw dust seems to work best.

[Moonpie]

There's several issues happening I think.

1.) Molten metal casts into the mold okay. Mold is hot and smoking. Bullets looks great on one side but other side has wrinkles, dents, and what looks like sand.
The rings are filling nice and sharp ON ONE SIDE.
The mold is a Pedersoli factory mold of the original "ringtail-Christmas tree" Sharps 525gr bullet.
2. Have fluxed four times with sawdust, twice with paraffin wax and skimmed. I'm still getting the wrinkles and sand like substance in the cast bullet.
3. I emptied the melter(Lee 20lb'er) and cleaned the walls of the pot thoroughly. Still getting the sand like substance.
I gave up and casted about fifty bullets just to get the new gun up and running.
Those big ol boolits are tough to get right.

[Rebel Dave]

What temp is your pot at,??. I cast a lot of pure lead for minnies, and unless I have my temp up too 800-850*, I do not get good Minnie buliets. It is worse with aluminum molds. I use a ladle, and not the bottom pour. Check your pot temp, and if you have not, try a higher temp.

Rebel Dave

[montana_charlie]

Mold is hot and smoking.

Bullets looks great on one side but other side has wrinkles, dents, and what looks like sand.

The rings are filling nice and sharp ON ONE SIDE.
The mold is a Pedersoli factory mold of the original "ringtail-Christmas tree" Sharps 525gr bullet.

Still getting the sand like substance.
How do you get your mould "hot and smoking"? What makes the "smoke"?

Do you leave a large sprue puddle? Is there 'sand' on the bottom of it, or is it shiny?

CM

[Retumbo]

clean----your-----mold-----thoroughly, then do it again

[GabbyM]

clean----your-----mold-----thoroughly, then do it again

Yes, Don't know why it would all be on one side of the mold and not the other. Unless one side was greasy. Tooth brush and a cleaner.

[country gent]

Make sure mould is clean and vent lines are clear of any debrie. Check sprue plates tension also. Now some added questions are you cleaning this lead in the Lee 20 lb pot before casting or have you smelted/rendered it before hand in a bigger pot? A small amount of tin helps with fill out and flow. How is the mould oriented when filling, flat angled one direction or another? Are you pouring straight thru the sprue hole or trying for a "swirl" by pouring on the side of the sprue angle? How is the flow from the lee pot, it takes a pretty good strong stream as the mould needs to be filled before the first starts to cool. On my big Black Powder bullets I ladle cast with an ladle that has the spout opened up to .205 dia. Big soft bullets can take some experimenting to get right. If possible use a turkey frier stand and burner with a steel pot and pre clean the lead seperatly using wood chips sawdust and wax to flux several times stirring and scrapping sides of pot thoughroly. Pour this into ingots to use for casting in the pot later. Smelting in you casting pot as you go contaminates to pot everytime you start out. Document everything you do and try.