New guy

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Hi folks, new here, new to casting. Have lurked here a bit, looking around.
Have done some casting before but it's been 10+ years and there wasn't much to it, about 150 .36 caliber balls for a pair of blackpowder pistols, then the pistols and tools made their way into a yard sale for an undisclosed (to me) amount of pocket change [emoji35]
There's gotta be a list of all the reasons a wife becomes an ex-wife, right? That should be on there.

A bit over a year ago I came into possession of a Ruger SBH .44 mag. Decided immediately I'm gonna have to roll my own, and figured I may as well cast my own lead while I'm at it. I'm on a tight budget, but can see light at the end of the tunnel so I decided to go ahead and register here. I can see a lot of questions in the future.

[NyFirefighter357]

Welcome, SteelHorseCowboy, I'm fairly new myself but the people here are very friendly and very willing to help. The wealth of knowledge here is incredible. Take some time to read all the stickys and go through the old posts, use the search to find specific topics like 44mag. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of the Lyman cast bullet handbook the newest edition is 4 but an older one will do. Also get started hoarding lead! Jason

P.S. Come visit the chat room, you'll need to use internet explorer or safari.

[Walter Laich]

your budget may determine this but I've always liked the molds with more cavities. I get 3x the bullets for about the same effort as 2-gang molds.
Lees are good ones to start with. They may need a bit of TLC (or not, my last two were dropping them with only a light tap) but for the price they can't be beat.

Again the Lee pots are a good way to get in without spending a bunch of money. Some will leak a bit but when you consider the price difference between a Lee and RCBS Pro-Melt you can live with a few drips.

The casting book is a great idea; lot of necessary info in there.

lubing is another 'you pay what you get for.' Probably cheapest is pan lubing and a Lee push through sizer that fits on your press.

...and no I don't work for Lee or get kickbacks from them :)

Do a bit of reading and keep posting here when you have questions

Oh, and welcome aboard

[shoot-n-lead]

your budget may determine this but I've always liked the molds with more cavities. I get 3x the bullets for about the same effort as 2-gang molds.
Lees are good ones to start with. They may need a bit of TLC (or not, my last two were dropping them with only a light tap) but for the price they can't be beat.

Again the Lee pots are a good way to get in without spending a bunch of money. Some will leak a bit but when you consider the price difference between a Lee and RCBS Pro-Melt you can live with a few drips.

The casting book is a great idea; lot of necessary info in there.

lubing is another 'you pay what you get for.' Probably cheapest is pan lubing and a Lee push through sizer that fits on your press.

...and no I don't work for Lee or get kickbacks from them :)

Do a bit of reading and keep posting here when you have questions

Oh, and welcome aboard

Spot-on advice...listen to this man.

[mdi]

Bullet casting can be as complex or as simple as you make it. I started with a Coleman stove, a stainless steel pan (2 qt.) a slotted spoon (from Ma's kitchen) a Lee ladle, a Lee mold, and some candles for fluxing. I had access to a bunch of wheel weights so I made use of them. I cast for mu S&W 629 and my Ruger SBH in .44 Magnum for about a year. I found a Lee Lube and Size Kit on ebay (the old style with a 3" shallow pan a, "cookie cutter", a sizing "die" and a punch) and after about 10 months I got my first Lyman "Kieth style" 240 gr. bullet mold. You could start out big $$$, with premium multi cavity molds, high buck bottom pour pots, store bought lubes and a lubrisizer. Depends on you. I have been casting for mebbe 22 years and tumble lube, pan lube and PC, and haven't needed a lubrisizer, I have about 10 Lee push through sizers.

But first I'd suggest Lymans Cast Bullet Handbook, 3rd Edition if you can find one, a 4th will do. Read "From Ingot to Target" by Fryxell and you'll have a good idea how to get started in prolly the most satisfying aspect of home ammo making... http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm

[Mk42gunner]

Welcome aboard.

I understand tight budgets, it just means you take a while longer than you want to get something.

There is nothing really wrong with Lee two cavity molds, especially considering they are under $20 at Midsouth right now. The handles come with them, with the six cavity Lee molds, you have to buy handles separately, but you are still only out about $50 all together.

I would save a bit longer and get the Lee 4-20 pot, you can ladle from it as well as bottom pour; something that is kind of hard to do with their ten pounder.

Robert

[bigolsmokebomb]

Welcome. Im new here myself and have been treated better here than just about any other forum ive been a part of. The people here will bend over backwards to help. I second saving a few extra bucks to get the lee 4-20 pot. Its the one i went with and ive had no trouble more than a few drips from it. Keep at it and have fun

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Welcome!

[runfiverun]

buy the best equipment you can.


and don't listen to me, I do it all wrong.

[stubert]

If your loading for a Ruger, you can seat the bullets out farther to 1.7" Also if you are hunting take a look at the Lee c-430-310. It is a thumper and extremely accurate.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SteelHorseCowboy,
welcome to the forum.
44 is a good one to start with...44 is why I started reloading...and is also 'part' of the reason I started casting. All it takes is buying some store bought projectiles for the Big Bore revolvers and Casting your own is an easy step.

As R5R said, buy the best equipment you can, I know you said you were on a tight budget, but you need to look at this type of equipment as an investment and/or a capital equipment expenditure. Generally, it doesn't lose value, it may lose some if you buy new and sell right away if you decide casting wasn't for you, but you won't lose much. Many times this type of equipment increases in value over time(years) and if you are good at looking for a deal, buying used equipment can be a wise choice.
Good Luck.

[Wayne Smith]

The cheapest way to do it is with a Coleman stove, a 2qt pot from the thrift store, and a place to use them. Get a Lyman or RCBS ladle and put your money into molds initially, it is worth investing in quality there. Lee has it's place and for starting and learning especially. I still use two one cavity Lee molds, a bunch of two cavity Lee's and six six cavity Lee molds, so I'm far from against Lee molds! They still have the best round ball molds, btw.

Being on a budget I understand, that's how I began. I bought a bunch of stuff off eBay before prices got high, too.

[.455 Webley]

Good quality used equipment is what makes this hobby affordable for new guys on tight budgets like you and me. Keep an eye out at local auction companies and estate sales. I have seen lubrisizers with dies and top punches go for less then ten bucks at a local auction house. Try to find some one local who does this kind of thing. Most people are happy to teach someone what they know.

[bullpen7979]

Welcome Steel. Read, read, read. And again, welcome. The collective wisdom here will get you answers to the questions that will inevitably come up.

[CASTER OF LEAD]

Welcome to the madness. As has been said, there is a wealth of knowledge to be had on this site. Glad to have you aboard. Enjoy the journey through your casting/ reloading world, and if ya ask the question someone (usually multitudes) will chime in,or point you in the direction of the answers you seek. Above all else Be Safe and have fun! - CASTER

[RedHawk357Mag]

Welcome to satisfying madness. Make a note of this link. It will help you find information here a little easier. https://cse.google.com/cse/home?cx=001951264366462437169:ggn3vg-bjum

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[TXGunNut]

Welcome, excellent advice above. Read all you can stand, then read some more. Buy the best equipment you can afford and it will be here when we're gone. Don't forget safety equipment: good gloves, eye protection, long sleeve shirts, long pants and leather shoes. Consider a good apron. A trip to the ER is more expensive than PPE and will often greatly postpone your next casting session.

[44man]

I love lee pots and would buy the 20# pot and a Lyman ladle. Lee push through size dies work great and can be lapped in minutes to any size needed.
For hunting the Lee 310 is super, just don't expect to shoot it slow.
Stay in the 240 neighborhood for light loads.
The SBH is a fine gun and you can get minute of thump tack at 50 yards if done right, instead of minute of paper plate.
Good to have you here and everyone will help with questions.
I predict soon you will want a SRH too! :drinks:
Now there are a few thing I don't use from lee, I only use Hornady dies. I have BR collar dies for the .44 and Hornady equals the accuracy. Dies are one place I never go cheap, everything hinges on them.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Y'all are quite the welcoming bunch!
I have a stove in a large well ventilated shop at work and a steady but slow supply of lead, yields about a pound a month pure lead scrap.

As of now I've melted down a collection of 15 pounds into ingots using an aluminum pot, steel soup ladle, and old cornbread stick mold. Couldn't bring myself to use grandma's old corn cob pan, so I found an old rusty one at a yard sale and cleaned it up.

Investment so far, $10 for the ingot mold. The pot and ladle were about to find their way into the trash as they've been replaced with much higher quality cookware.

I plan to get a cast iron pot and actual casting ladle for easier pouring. And a mold to actually cast into. Probably a 2 cavity.

I'll be looking around the forum for info on how to alloy the lead, where to find the materials and what not.

I will be casting for a Ruger Super Blackhawk. Not planning to load anything super hot, I mostly use it on the range but would like to hunt deer with it.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

So purdy. I average about a pound a month, sometimes more, sometimes less, and always have my eyes open for more. My old man has a 5 gallon bucket full to the brim of OLD wheel weights. Gonna talk him out of it next time I'm around Memphis.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161010/23237df97003fdc6a1a13cda542cce17.jpg

[Mk42gunner]

Be on the lookout for a steel or cast iron pot to melt your lead in, instead of the aluminum one. Aluminum gets really soft at the temperatures lead is melted, sometimes the bottom falls out of the pan, not good.

By all means keep the small flow of lead going, but you will find the .44 mag will take a lot more than that.

I started with a Coleman stove and the first pot I used was an aluminum sauce pan, then I read of a few misfortunes with the aluminum pan and went to a cast iron one pint sauce pan with and a small soup ladle. It worked, sort of.

Later I found an RCBS lead dipper, it has a fin on the bottom that makes skimming a clean hole to dip from easier than the round bottom of the Lyman.

Later still I bought a Lee 4-20 and could hardly believe just how much easier it is to cast when you don't have all that heat radiating from the hot container of lead.

Good luck and be careful,

Robert

[FISH4BUGS]

Hi folks, new here, new to casting. Have lurked here a bit, looking around.
Have done some casting before but it's been 10+ years and there wasn't much to it, about 150 .36 caliber balls for a pair of blackpowder pistols, then the pistols and tools made their way into a yard sale for an undisclosed (to me) amount of pocket change [emoji35]
There's gotta be a list of all the reasons a wife becomes an ex-wife, right? That should be on there.
A bit over a year ago I came into possession of a Ruger SBH .44 mag. Decided immediately I'm gonna have to roll my own, and figured I may as well cast my own lead while I'm at it. I'm on a tight budget, but can see light at the end of the tunnel so I decided to go ahead and register here. I can see a lot of questions in the future.

Fortunately my ex-wife neer found about the machine gun collection!
Welcome to casting and reloading your own. I also shoot a 44 mag (1956 S&W 5 screw pre Model 29). The gun was purchased without case and tools, and doesn't even have the original coke-bottle grips. That makes is a SHOOTER.
I have had this gun a long time and have shot many thousands of rounds through it. I have been reloading for 40+ years and casting for probably 30 of those years. I shoot probably 1-200+ cast rounds a week in revolvers. S&W 36 3" square butt, a 4 screw Model 28 and the pre 29. I can shoot them cheaper than a 22 these days. I also cast and load thousands of 9mm, 380 and 45 acp.
I am still learning things on this site and hopefully sharing what seemingly little I know.
I would recommend starting with Lee Equipment. It is inexpensive and actually does work. I have had a Lee 20lb pot for 30 years of casting and it still works fine. RCBS makes great quality 2 cavity moulds.
I personally prefer 4, 6 and 10 cavity moulds because of the production. A Star sizer helps in that department too.
For you going slow is a good thing. Learning to cast and load is something based on experience. Start with lighter loads in your 44 (7 gr ww231 [up to 8 gr] is a pleasant 44 mag load with a 250gr bullet)
Start with light loads with your powders and work up. I personally prefer to keep my powder choices to a minimum. I use 231 for standard and mid-range handgun loads, 296 for the magnum handgun loads, and 748 for the 223 and 308 loads.
Be careful......if you start to shoot a fair amount, you might want to step up to higher output with a progressive press and Lyman or Star sizer. If you DO shoot a lot, production becomes key. It also becomes expensive for equipment. Build your equipment inventory slowly.
Feel free to ask questions here. Pretty much SOMEONE has done almost everything here at one time or another....including blowing up guns, shooting themselves accidentally, etc.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Yes, I'll be starting out slowly and with some primitive tools, not just because I think I need to, but also because I'm not a high volume shooter. I just don't have time to get to the range often, so when I do I make it an all day affair. Three pistols (FNS9, LC9s Pro, SBH), then the rifle side of the range with my AK, then the traps. One or more of the kids are usually with me, so I make time for them too. I'm able to do this every couple of months which gives me time to save up some extra range fodder for the 9's, AK, and 20 gauge, but that .44 is KILLER on the wallet!
Every now and then I'll stop on my lunch break and pop off a mag or two at the steel plates with one of the 9's. Thankfully the range is free for me!
Girlfriend and I are looking for a place where we can shoot from the back porch though. THEN I may be stepping up to higher production!

[44man]

OH MY, Please, Please don't use an aluminum pot. You are seconds from disaster. Best is cast iron with stainless next.
When aluminum lets go there is no indication at all, it just GOES. You can actually melt it to destruction before lead melts.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Don't worry, I've melted down all the lead I've got. I won't be using it again, thanks for the heads up y'all. Next time I'm ready to melt, I'll be sure to have cast iron. I'm thinking of a small butter melting pot that has a pour spout on it.

And to think... I was going to use my old steel pot because it was smaller and had a spout. But it was also nicer and a friend of mine wanted it.

Question though. How is it that an aluminum pot can be destroyed when melting lead, but not when I'm cooking beans, the musical fruit? Something to do with the heat capacity of lead?

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Hahaha...
How many bullets y'all reckon I can get out of this? Maybe 6 or so? Lol, I don't think it's big enough to hold even one of my ingots!
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161011/a6a22e3fdcf90186bd14d3c17cc61e5b.jpg
It's alright though, just one more reason to take it nice and slow. $1 at a yard sale, plus this cool old clock for another $1? Win!http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161011/64806755b0c81a3cc3db72fbfe15ec68.jpg
I'm one of those that can't use battery operated clocks or watches, they go dead. My phone is supposed to get about 12 hours of juice. I average about 3. Even the wind-up clocks and watches run fast around me.

[Scorpion8]

Howdy from South East Alaska.

[Mk42gunner]

I think it would be very hard to get a full dipper out of that pan, even if you were to use a tablespoon.

Since you have a stove to use, I would stop by the local thrift store and buy the cheapest stainless steel sauce pan for around a buck. One or two quarts will be more than enough capacity for casting.

As for why they are safe when cooking beans and not lead, beans cook in water. Beans will not get over 212 degrees Fahrenheit, lead will get to 700+ degrees pretty easily.

Robert

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Ah, that's about what I thought. Like the same reason you can boil water in a paper cup.

I thought the little pot was cute, I'm probably gonna use it for a wax warmer at home, melting some of that scented wax for the smell. I've discovered the little scented blocks just stink like hell once the good smell runs out, so I melt the wax out of the actual candles, pour that into ice cube trays and put them in my wax warmers. But this little lead pot is much more manly looking than the little porcelain doo-dads I've got.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

It's big enough to make about one and a half ingots.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161012/a422731ad7bde4bcf283180c55b39a2c.jpg
It's gonna get replaced by a ladle and something bigger for sure. Just gonna be too much work, adding lead every few pours. And would need welding gloves, makes me feel like it could get sketchy without the dexterity of my regular work gloves.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Do I need to slug my barrel, or are Ruger Super Blackhawks fairly uniform? I'm ordering a mold Friday, likely a Lee two cavity. I'm seeing where .44 mag molds are marked .429-.430. Haven't noticed other sizes, but that's because I decided to quit shopping and ask questions first.

Mine was made in 1980 and is well used.

[Wayne Smith]

It is the slump temp of aluminium, not the melting point. It is when the metal softens enough to slump that the weight of the lead can penetrate it and create a major mess.

[44man]

Do I need to slug my barrel, or are Ruger Super Blackhawks fairly uniform? I'm ordering a mold Friday, likely a Lee two cavity. I'm seeing where .44 mag molds are marked .429-.430. Haven't noticed other sizes, but that's because I decided to quit shopping and ask questions first.

Mine was made in 1980 and is well used.
I would still slug the barrel. Make sure the slug will slide through the throats. Most SBH's are .430" with larger throats so a .431" to .432" boolit works. Yet I still can shoot a .430" as good.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Thanks! Since I discovered the 8 hours of overtime I was shorted a month ago still hasn't been paid to me as of yesterday's paycheck, I'm in no hurry to find a mold now. That's fine, more time for research.

Oldest stepson picked me up a box of .430" XTPs, 240gr yesterday as a gift when he heard about it.

I'm dusting off my résumé this weekend. Have a great job with a great work environment, but I make less than half the national average for my peers and now I'm fighting them for my overtime? Makes me wonder, with all the 90+ hour work weeks I've pulled in the past 4 years, how much free labor I've provided because I was too damn tired to comprehend my paystub.

[44man]

That is entirely too many hours. I also took overtime but only when I felt like it or to pay something, not mandatory. Time and a half first four and double time after. Never got cheated. We were always asked. Never was a needed thing but could rag you out to take all of it. Bad was 100 miles round trip. Some guys never went home to make as much as they could. Bought expensive homes. Many are gone now.
I don't know where you work but if your skills are good, I hope you can do better.

[fast ronnie]

Welcome aboard. Good advice above.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

I'm a water treatment specialist. The overtime isn't mandatory, they just don't pay worth a damn and I have to make ends meet. There are some great fringe benefits though, that's the only reason I've stayed.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Welcome aboard. Good advice above.
Thank ya!

[country gent]

The opnly dumb question is the one you dont ask, So start asking. Knowledge is free here you just need to bring the container. Ask away. Csting isnt as much hard as its just the right things and the right order. Welcomne to the forum and enjoy. Good used equipment is a great savings and Sometimes the only way to fiond what you may really want ( discontinied or rare things) Lee equipment can be very useable also. Another is the custom makers Accurate KAL Old West Noe who will make just what you want. Start posting and get started

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Upgraded to a bigger pot. Found it in my dad's garage, of course I got his permission before throwing it in the trunk with his small bucket of wheel weights. It seems he wasted some lead by giving some to a friend of his to turn into fishing weights.

I've got about 50 pounds of lead now.
Have decided I'm still just going to wait on casting. My buddy and I have worked out an arrangement; I send him lead, and he keeps a share for himself in exchange for turning my share into bullets and sending them back to me. Saves me time and money, provides him with material for a hobby he enjoys. All it requires on my end is some labor. I only melt them into ingots to make packaging easier.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170103/e4b8f7963278648aa67f72c630717860.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170103/66c431c557152f8375d164721574c88a.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170103/418dcabe1ae06b649c64cef8cddf0b52.jpg

I put notches in these to help him identify them as wheel weights rather than the pure lead I usually send him.

[robg]

I'm still using the Lee 10 lb pot my dad bought me for my birthday 15 years ago ,he died 10 years back so I hope it keeps going as I remember him every time I use it.he encouraged my shooting ,shot for his regiment ,then small bore at bisley .wish I still had his shooting jacket with all the patches he had.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

I'm still using the Lee 10 lb pot my dad bought me for my birthday 15 years ago ,he died 10 years back so I hope it keeps going as I remember him every time I use it.he encouraged my shooting ,shot for his regiment ,then small bore at bisley .wish I still had his shooting jacket with all the patches he had.
That jacket would be an amazing keepsake.

[Half Dog]

Well...If you are near the Dallas, TX area, give me a shout. I don't mind sharing.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

I'm in West Monroe LA.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Figured I'd update this as it's been over two years. And suddenly I show up asking questions about polishing silverware...

So, the major life changes:
Got married! May 22, 2018.
I'm a freaking grandpa now!
I quit that crappy paying job producing drinking water. Now I'm the Wastewater District Superintendent for another town, official title if I spelled it correctly. Unofficial title: Head Turd Herder. Shepherd of Sh... you get the idea. I'm currently sitting at a sewer station waiting for some glue to cure on some pipes.
It stinks. But my pay almost doubled and my new office is exactly two miles from the house. And I take my work truck home. And, as disgusting as it is, it's a very satisfying job.
Oh, I left this out: the City of West Monroe continued cheating me on my pay, and I finally had enough of it. I drew a giant set of male genitalia in the yard at my old office with industrial strength weed killer last August (kills EVERYTHING. for MONTHS.), and I walked out. Didn't have another job to go to, I just left. I'd taken up fishing a bit, so that's what I did. I produced my x-rated work of art and went fishing for six months. Of course I was constantly searching for jobs between casts, and landed my new job this past February. And the mayor I report to now knows about the art I left behind. He's also a Marine vet like me, and laughed hysterically when my former supervisor showed him the pics.
Got a new dog. We already had 3. Her name is Annie, and she was born in the recycling warehouse where my wife is the office manager. By the time the workers found her, rats had eaten or killed the rest of the litter except her and one other. They had bite wounds all over. I patched them up and couldn't bear to let either one go, but I couldn't keep both so I had to make a hard choice of which one to give away. I kept the fighter. Her worst scars are around her muzzle, and she bit my hand HARD the first time I tried to feed her when I didn't set the bowl down fast enough.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190724/073b083d49530dcda228750016f40491.jpg

She's about fully grown now, but was only about a month old when we got her.

Not much else has gone on. I've pretty well quit shooting. Money got tight while I wasn't working and now I'm too dog gone busy. Fishing turned into a cheaper hobby, and was easier to do since I'm surrounded by water with all these bayous, lakes and the river.
Also... I don't work overtime! Except about 4-5 hours total every third weekend.

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[DonH]

Hi folks, new here, new to casting. Have lurked here a bit, looking around.
Have done some casting before but it's been 10+ years and there wasn't much to it, about 150 .36 caliber balls for a pair of blackpowder pistols, then the pistols and tools made their way into a yard sale for an undisclosed (to me) amount of pocket change [emoji35]
There's gotta be a list of all the reasons a wife becomes an ex-wife, right? That should be on there.

A bit over a year ago I came into possession of a Ruger SBH .44 mag. Decided immediately I'm gonna have to roll my own, and figured I may as well cast my own lead while I'm at it. I'm on a tight budget, but can see light at the end of the tunnel so I decided to go ahead and register here. I can see a lot of questions in the future.
I am going to recommend starting with a 2 cavity mold and learn to cast decent bullets with it. In my mind that is enough learning curve starting out. When you are comfortable move up to 4 or 6 cavity mold if you want. Or add a a second 2 cavity just like the first.
You can make bullets faster with gang molds but you can make a lot bad bullets fast until you get the hang of things.

[lightman]

Welcome Back! Glad to hear that work has improved for you, along with life in general. Perhaps the casting bug will return in your future. Actively casting or not, you are welcome to hang out here. There are a few places on the site just for conservation. Life, work, hobbies, ect.

Just curious about your 1# per month lead supply. Was it float switch weights? I scored several of those a few years ago. I just tried to not think about where they came from! Mine were not pure, but the hardness was consistent with wheel weights.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Welcome Back! Glad to hear that work has improved for you, along with life in general. Perhaps the casting bug will return in your future. Actively casting or not, you are welcome to hang out here. There are a few places on the site just for conservation. Life, work, hobbies, ect.

Just curious about your 1# per month lead supply. Was it float switch weights? I scored several of those a few years ago. I just tried to not think about where they came from! Mine were not pure, but the hardness was consistent with wheel weights.No, not float switch weights, although I'll be salvaging some of the older lead ones. I've already started moving us toward float switches with a different style of weight. They're more of a steel casing holding some lead shot. Lead ball weights are being phased out because of worries over lead content in the discharge waters. The newer style weights are only marginally more expensive and the switches seem to be of better quality, so it evens out. We're talking about a $5-$15 increase per switch, depending on length of the wires and exact type.

The supply I have access to (my former supervisor is still one of my closest friends), are pure lead washers used as gaskets. I used to work with him in water treatment (drinking water) and the chlorine bottles have to be hooked up with lead gaskets because chlorine combusts with or degrades other materials too much. Those lead washers can only be used once because they get deformed when being clamped into the fittings. They're about as pure as they can get, due to the fact that chlorine interacts with other metals and they have to be soft. I learned the hard way with my new wedding ring that you can't even wear gold jewelry around chlorine gas; it'll eat the metals it's alloyed with.

Here's a pic of a fresh lead gasket. Don't have any deformed used ones at the moment to show you.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190729/41250cfa8ae50080b330414c1de89427.jpg

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[lightman]

Thats a new source that I have not heard about. Some of the float switch weights that I found were not lead. A few were probably zinc and a few others were some kind of plated steel alloy. I don't have that source anymore, and it never was a large quantity, but they were free! I smelt in batches of 350-400# and I just added them to thee next batch of wheel weights.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Thats a new source that I have not heard about. Some of the float switch weights that I found were not lead. A few were probably zinc and a few others were some kind of plated steel alloy. I don't have that source anymore, and it never was a large quantity, but they were free! I smelt in batches of 350-400# and I just added them to thee next batch of wheel weights.If you're smelting that much, you do NOT want to rely on a source like this! Lol!
Although, you may consider looking up chlorine distributers and see what they do with their scrap. At my new job, I only have two chlorination locations. They're small volume and the distributer changes the cylinders. I don't have to touch any of it except to adjust the feed as needed or unclog the injector.
The company is called "Industrial Research". They may work in your area, who knows? I'm not sure how big they are. But I'm sure someone near you is using chlorine. Consider water parks too.


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