wheel weights / plubmers lead

[jasdebcr]

I am new to this so please excuse my ignorace about making boolits.

I have 100 pounds of wheel weights and 100 pounds of plumbers lead. if i mex the two will i have enough tin to make some good bullets?

[runfiverun]

you might have to run your pot at a higher temp. the amount of arsenic in your ww's may also be high enough to help you here.
but i would bet that you will need to add some tin.
if you have the joints for the pipe it usually has quite a bit of tin iin it.

[dubber123]

What are you shooting them in? I have done 75% WW to 25% pure lead and got nice boolits. Is the "plumbers lead" really solder in bars, or lead pipe? If it is solder, you would likely be wasting ALOT of tin by mixing it 50/50. Are there any numbers stamped on the plumbers lead?

Oh, and welcome aboard!

[runfiverun]

good catch there dubber
i was reading plumbers lead as pure/pipe.
if it is indeed solder of say 60/40 your tin content would be 30% you only need 1%.

[deltaenterprizes]

I have "plumbers lead" in 5 lb ingots that is/was used for joints when using cast iron pipe for waste line in the 70s,it is all PVC now.
%0/50 solder was used with liad pipe to join fittings to the ends and join lengths together,those are "wiped joints". I have about 200 lbs of that.

[Fleataxi]

delta: That's actually plumber's solder. It's like the others said.

It would make a great mixture with pure lead, like between 1/4 and 1/3 plumber's lead solder and 2/3 to 3/4 pure lead.

Fleataxi

[jasdebcr]

it is just lead pipe. real soft. no tin in it. so about 75% wheel wieght and 25% lead pipe???

thanks guys

[dubber123]

it is just lead pipe. real soft. no tin in it. so about 75% wheel wieght and 25% lead pipe???

thanks guys

I did the 75/25 on purpose to get a very soft boolit. Your 50/50 mix I would guess to be about 9 BHN. For many pistol/ revolver loads, this would work fine. Straight WW's run about 13-14 BHN on my tester.

What are you casting, and what is your intended velocity range? If you require a harder boolit, I'm sure someone on here would trade your soft lead for more WW's.

[cohutt]

50/50 quenched works fine for me in pistol rounds, use a softer mix in 45/70

[runfiverun]

if you are running below bout 900 fps your 3/4 -1/4 mix should work nicely.
or even up to the 50/50 mix but i would suspect some tin would help immensely
you didn't say what you intend to use your boolits for.
if it is cowboy/sass they should be fine.
if these are for your p/b 44 magnum mold you might wanna try something a bit different.

[deltaenterprizes]

delta: That's actually plumber's solder. It's like the others said.

It would make a great mixture with pure lead, like between 1/4 and 1/3 plumber's lead solder and 2/3 to 3/4 pure lead.

Fleataxi

I know what I have,I was a commercial caster for 12 years. It is 4 five pound ingots with an oval handle cast together.I remember them from when I was in high school and there was contractors doing an addition the stuff was all over the place. It also says "LEAD'' on it!

[chewie]

is plumblers lead good for balls to cast to use in roa's?:-?

[Hardcast416taylor]

In my "Salad Days" of shooting PPC courses with my S&W 14 in .38 Special. I would cast straight wheel weight metal into 148 gr. wadcutters over 3.3 gr. of HP-38 or 231 powder. It must have been okay since my pistol still drills `em in. I`ve got a few trophies to show I could shoot.:Fire:

[DLCTEX]

Chewie: if it is the lead and not solder then it is right for ROA balls or boolits.

[chewie]

is there a way to test to see if it is lead and not solder without one of those meters? i can not recall what they are called.:-D

[runfiverun]

your thumbnail will definately tell you the diff between pure lead and solder.
especially if it is in bar form. you can also bend it, if it makes a "crinkly" sound it has tin in it.