Newbie, super excited to start this venture!

[makeurownfun]

I am new to casting. So why not join? I went to a local scrap yard and picked up 1000lbs of dirty wheel weights for $154 (0.15 per pound). Figured that was a good deal. So far through sorting it there is a good bit more than half lead in these buckets. These wheel weights have been there for years and the lady just wanted them gone. So I just knew I had to have it ALL

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[Conditor22]

makeurownfun welcome to the addiction looks like you have a great start.
Read the stickies at the beginning of the forum and the beginning of each topic for a wealth of information.
The search bar at the top right of the forum gives you access to all the information ever posted on this forum.

[s mac]

Quite a commitment there. Now make some nice clean ingots.

[daloper]

Welcome to the addiction. And another one falls down the deep rabbit hole. Make sure to post in your profile where you are from. You may find someone close to help answer questions.

[BNE]

Welcome to the addiction.

Like said above. Read, read, read. Actually, you don’t have to read that much at first, but it will save you a LOT of frustration.

Have fun.

BNE.

[RU shooter]

There ya go 1000 lb of WW right from the start ! That should keep you busy smelting and casting for a while good score and welcome to our addiction support group. There's cookies and coffee after every meeting ! Lol
What do you shoot and planning on casting for ?

[koehn,jim]

Welcome to the sport.

[MrWolf]

Might get some local help if you narrow down your location some.

[reddog81]

Good grief those have got to be some heavy buckets! Congrats on the lead score.

[trapper9260]

If they are as old as you stated there should be more lead then other alloy, welcome to the fun. When smelt have the heat that just the lead alloy will melt that way if you miss some zinc it will float with the rest of the junk. after skim off the junk put in ingots ,then start over that way you got control of the alloy. and the zinc.

[Smoke4320]

Way to start .. Get all you can as its getting less and less available to us

[OS OK]

You are getting started on the right foot...congrats.

Along with the suggested reading above, I would ask you to think about a couple of other aspects too...
1 . . . What size and shape of ingot will you make this lead into? It will make a big difference when it comes to stacking, and handling...
https://i.imgur.com/IX8dorH.jpg

2 . . . It makes a difference as to how you are going to load your casting pot...you can load the pot once and have a minimum of wait time as you get ready to cast, or you can feed the pot with small ingots or muffins because they will not all fit into the pot at the same time. That means longer waiting time to cast...
https://i.imgur.com/EN6Vx3y.jpg?1

As you collect your stash, you will most likely end up with all blends of lead, this type of ingot is easy to identify with colored ends.
https://i.imgur.com/5dYyNox.jpg

[Walks]

That's a good way to keep track of different alloys. As long as you keep a big master explaining your method.

[OS OK]

That's a good way to keep track of different alloys. As long as you keep a big master explaining your method.

This last big batch of chilled shot required the colored ends, the master list just stays stacked on top of the stacks of ingots...
https://i.imgur.com/xhrFIui.jpg

Other triangular ingots are the same without ends marked, they are just 'bhn' tested and stamped with a metal stamp kit and that tested ingot remains on top of that stack of lead until the entire pile is used up with the tested ingot going into the last batch casted into boolits.

I used to stamp individual muffin ingots like this 'RS' range scrap because these stacks tend to get knocked over easy and if they are not marked somehow you get all mixed up...that's a potential problem if you have lots of different blends of lead you have collected and stacked over the years. These muffin ingots are 'out' now as far as using them to stock quantities of lead...the triangular bar is 'in' for good.
https://i.imgur.com/5cpn86N.jpg

Other stock, such as lead/tin solder gets stamped with the ingot's weight for quick picking to blend into an ingot pot that needs some tin.
https://i.imgur.com/ffkEM4H.jpg

For sweetening a casting pot just a little I have the lead/tin solder cast into large caliber cast boolits and have figured the tin content by weight...that Sn weight is printed on the container label...the large 405 grain casts are .47 ounce of Sn.
https://i.imgur.com/Y2YMkN1.jpg

But...I didn't want to confuse the 'Newbie Caster' with all this information, I mainly just wanted to steer him away from 'gimmick' moulds like this soft lead I bought some time ago...It has to stay in a box, it will not stack efficiently and stay put.
https://i.imgur.com/DrsNayD.jpg

[dimaprok]

You are getting started on the right foot...congrats.

Along with the suggested reading above, I would ask you to think about a couple of other aspects too...
1 . . . What size and shape of ingot will you make this lead into? It will make a big difference when it comes to stacking, and handling...
https://i.imgur.com/IX8dorH.jpg


I've been wanting to make these triangle molds for long time and always chuck it up to that I have plenty of muffin type ones but you pointed out something important about how it takes longer to melt full pot. I need to make some already.

What are your dimensions of the mold?

[makeurownfun]

Holy smokes!!! Thank you guys!

Oh yes, I am way way way WAY down this rabbit hole! But I love shooting and reloading, so this just made sense, to me at least haha.

I plan on casting for 300BLK subsonic, 458SOCOM subsonic and not. Maybe some other calibers eventually. I am really looking forward to buying way too many NOE molds in group buys or possibly even some used ones.

I am going to the scrap yard that I bought all of this from to buy the rest, because these buckets are FULL of lead. Not much zinc or steel honestly. Still have 2.5 buckets to sort and then I get to start melting it all! I know I don’t need to sort it, just keep the temperature low, but I worry about ruining it by melting zinc. But as I do this more, I’ll get the hang of it
So far I have a box full of stick on weights that weighs 70lbs and 3 buckets at 120lb each! I am looking to get all I can very soon so I don’t have to worry too much about it in a few years

I took a page out of Elvis Ammo on YouTube for my molds. His seemed to stack well. So I ordered 2 of the Wilton Mini Loaf pans off of amazon. I think they’re roughly 3lb ingots and rectangle.

[bmortell]

your extremely lucky at .15$ lb, the only time I could get any shops to sell to me was 1$ lb and they were hesitant and never sold again

[Three44s]

Welcome to “Boolits”!

$.15 is one heck of a price for WW’s that are almost all lead.

Hope your endeavor yields great benefit!

Three44s

[OS OK]

I've been wanting to make these triangle molds for long time and always chuck it up to that I have plenty of muffin type ones but you pointed out something important about how it takes longer to melt full pot. I need to make some already.

What are your dimensions of the mold?

https://i.imgur.com/wGgSPld.jpg

We have a local member that makes & sells them...
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?51508-joe-leadslinger ... joe leadslinger
joerash1954(at)gmail(dot)com

[Knightflyer]

Welcome aboard. If I bought all that, I'd need to write my Obit next, 'cause my wife would Kill me. :D

[Walks]

OS OK,

I have a "list" of Alloy ingots inside of every Reloading Manual I have. And a good half dozen Laminated copies in Various places with my Casting gear and molds.

OHAUS - Linotype
LYMAN - #2
SAECO - 20/1
RCBS - COWW
LEE 1lb - Pure LEAD
LEE 1/2lb - Monotype or Tin. Mono is painted Red.
Blank(RCBS) - Unknown / Testing Alloys
Lodge Scones - Range Scrap

I also have a few dozen square ingots that measure 2"x2"x1" of COWW's that I bought from a Fantastic Guy here on CAST Boolits.

I just weigh them like my own various ingots and write the weight on each one so I can Blend each alloy perfectly.

[samari46]

Only have one piece of advice. Don't get discouraged. Some days everything works great and not so good on others. I've been casting for years and like the above I know I'm doing it as I always have but the results are not what I've become used to. And don't forget wheel weights to your list of alloys. Frank

[makeurownfun]

Well today I decided to try and melt some and see what happens.
The first few I poured had some dimples in the bottom, I know people say that’s probably from the lead burning off the nonstick coating or whatever off the first time or two. Well I now know I don’t need to sort anything before hand. I caught a Zinc weight that I missed before. But this way does seem a little quicker (after it’s sorted) so I don’t have to fish out all of the steel and zinc or especially the plastic ones while their in the pot.
Saturday morning I also drove back up to the same scrap yard and bought what they had left. She said I was just in time because Friday someone dropped off 134lbs of wheel weights (I assume from a local tire shop). So not thinking much about it I bought the rest of the OLD weights, around 300lbs, then the newer 134lbs. When I got home I sorted through the newer stuff and yeah there isn’t many lead weights in the newer weights at all! So I guess I got this old stuff just in time

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[john.k]

When you melt outdoors ,rig up some sort of a windbreak,an old oildrum cut open is good,the melt will go twice as quick.Even on a calm day,youll be losing heat to the slightest breeze.

[makeurownfun]

When you melt outdoors ,rig up some sort of a windbreak,an old oildrum cut open is good,the melt will go twice as quick.Even on a calm day,youll be losing heat to the slightest breeze.

This old skillet/pot has a lid. I kept it on until it was time to scrape and flux. Only took 10 minutes or so to get it melted down

Oh nvm, I see what you’re saying. Awesome idea. I’ll rig up something when I start to melt a bunch in the next week or so!

[lightman]

Welcome to the "addiction"! It looks like you are off to a good start. That was a good score on the wheel weight purchase.

Everyone has pretty much covered things with advice but I'll add a few things.

1. Read the stickies about sorting weights, smelting set ups, fluxing, ect. They will help a lot.
2. Try to think about where you want to be, casting wise, down the road and plan ahead. Yeah, I know, not easy to do.
3. Buy a set of cheap steel stamps and mark your ingots before you get so many that you can't catch up. Ask me how I know!
4. You got a nice stock of lead pretty quickly but don't stop looking for bargains. It will only get harder to find in the future.

Your set up looks good. I would suggest looking for a larger smelting pot. A cut off propane tank is a favorite. If you like those loaf pans I would suggest buying a few more. Your ingots will stack and store better if they are all the same size and shape and a few more will save you time waiting on them to cool off. A few years ago I bought a nice Rowell Ladle and skimmer. I had been using large kitchen spoons and they really speeded up my operation. I wish I had bought them years ago!

Nice pictures by the way.

[Three44s]

Lead wheel weights are going to get ever more scarce over time. Have you thought about powder coating? It may seem like an odd question relative to WW’s getting harder to find but I believe switching to powder coating allows a caster to run boolits with more soft lead mixed with WW’s thus stretching your supply. In as much as soft lead is perhaps easier to source (plumbers, roofers and phone company field men, boat keel weights, as well as radiology room renovations) you can shoot much longer before running out of metal to cast.

In looking at your pictures it jogged my memory on my big smelt of several years ago along with lightman’s above post where he suggests stamping your ingots.

I am also a believer in stamping as well. Also along with stamping I like to re-smelt my ingots a couple more runs to get them more clean. I stamp an identifier as to how many times I have run them. I also like to shuffle my batch of bars so the alloy gets rather blended instead of in sequence compared to the previous smelt run.

To that end as someone else suggested, I like to use a larger lead pot which saves time and also enhances blending.

Three44s

[Cast_outlaw]

This info could be useful to you
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[makeurownfun]

So I’ve made roughly 90lbs of ingots so far. Sorted out the rest of the weights and I have 4 buckets at 120lbs, 1 bucket at 50lbs now, and 1 bucket at 133lb of stick on weights.

These mini loaf pans were brand new when I got them, so I assume the dimples and stuff are just from the oils and what not burning off of the new pans? I know ingots don’t really matter, other than them being clean!!!!!

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[Winger Ed.]

Down there, its so humid, those bubbles might just be moisture in the air going to steam and getting trapped.

But you're rocking along real well.

[makeurownfun]

Down there, its so humid, those bubbles might just be moisture in the air going to steam and getting trapped.

But you're rocking along real well.

Awesome. Thank you
Yes very humid and it’s starting Fall and going to be raining a lot more. So I need to hurry up and get it all into ingots so I can start trying out powdercoating now

Also, how can I add my Air Force member logo under my name?

[Winger Ed.]

It's hot & humid here, but the company I worked for started in New Orleans.
After that big hurricane I went down there for a couple weeks to help with the clean up.

That place takes hot & humid to a whole new level.
I called it 'Weather you can wear'.

Where ya are, and since there is no residue on the bubbles, humidity getting trapped on the mold and in the air under the pour,
then jumping to steam, and the lead hardens with the bubble in/on it is my guess for what's causing that.

[flyingmonkey35]

One of us

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[samari46]

Where are you located in Louisiana??. I'm in New Iberia. Frank

[makeurownfun]

Sadly I am from the Monroe area. But I want to move around Lafayette eventually. Basically south of i10 anywhere (in Louisiana)

[Sig556r]

welcome fellow cast-a-holic

[makeurownfun]

Doubled my stash today
Almost got a full bucket melted down

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