Melting/Molding Lead - Couple of Questions

[Airweight38]

Hi,

Just a couple of quick questions. A little background:

I'm an avid handgun reloader, I've read two reloading books and generally know what I'm doing now with loading jacketed bullets. I just moved into the world of lead bullets and have read most of another book on that and am on the brink of starting to cast.

1) For starters, I have two 6-in diameter bowl-shaped lead balls that I got when cleaning out my dad's old reloading stuff. I thought for starters, I would melt them down and pour ingots in my new Lyman ingot tray, just to try out my new Production Pot and get my lead squared away. But they will not fit into my Lee Production Pot. So my first question is, what do I do? Should I get my camping stove out and just melt the stuff in a pan? Or would it be more practical (and less messy) to try to saw it apart or cold chisel it or something and piece it into the pot? I'm not sure what passes for common sense in this situation.

2) Do I need to put any kind of mold release into my ingot tray when I pour these? I've heard of guys using Pam cooking spray when pouring fishing weights. Is this necessary? I'd really rather not contaminate my lead with anything if I can get away with it. So, do I need to lube? If so, with what?

Thanks,

/Jason

[felix]

Jason, chances are those balls contain 99 percent pure lead, from the likes of telephone, roofing, piping, etc. Being that you are in the KC area there would be plenty of black powder shooters who would love to trade you an equal amount of wheel weights already cleaned and ready to load into your pot. Request a half-pound of tin, or whole-pound of 50-50 solder, as additional renumeration because the WW obtained might not have enough tin to cast perfect boolits. ... felix

[opentop]

Do I need to put any kind of mold release into my ingot tray when I pour these?

Nope, just pour your lead into the ingot molds, they will cool and fall out.

[Airweight38]

One thing that makes me wonder about the pure lead thing...in one of the balls, it looks like it was melted at low temperature, because there are cavities in it and I can see where he melted bullets back into the fold. My hope is that this will be a decent mix, since I don't have any tin yet...

p.s. Thanks, opentop. I was hoping that was the case. The instructions that came with my mold didn't mention lubricating, but I wanted to be sure.

[montana_charlie]

To answer your question...
You can saw the chunks into pot-sized pieces, but not with a hacksaw. You want a coarse tooth, like on a crosscut saw, to minimize clogging.

The cold chisel will work also. I use a splitting wedge and sledge hammer instead of a chisel, but the concept is the same. And, it doesn't produce lead 'sawdust' that is difficult to recover.
CM

[largom]

Chisel works best for me. I use a stone masons chisel, fairly wise and thin, and a LARGE hammer. Work around the edges until you slim it down enough to fit into your pot.
Larry

[GLL]

Grab a junk steel pot, melt them over your camp stove and pour into your ingot moulds. Quick & simple.

Jerry

Nice DEWC avatar ! :) :)

http://www.fototime.com/D37FB78A4F83EF3/standard.jpg

[dale2242]

Jason, If you don`t have an acetylene torch ,find a buddy or shop that does and melt them directly into your pot or ingot mold. . BE CAREFUl Be sure it drips into the pot and not on you. No release is necessary for the ingot mold.---dale

[montana_charlie]

Jason, If you don`t have an acetylene torch ,find a buddy or shop that does and melt them directly into your pot or ingot mold.
And don't worry Too Much about the lead fumes that acetylene will release into the air. It won't kill you immediately...and you may not even breathe in enough to make you sick.

Of course, if you worry about your health, you will never melt lead in a flame that gets hotter than 900 degrees.
CM

[Cloudpeak]

I don't think it was mentioned but I'd buy a steel or cast iron pot to "render" wheel weights, lead, etc. and not use your production pot for this purpose. Use clean ingots in your production pot.

Cloudpeak

[Airweight38]

Is a camp stove hot enough to "render" bulk lead? Like the kind that screw onto quart-sized propane bottles? I already own one of those. :)

Thanks for all the great answers!

[leadman]

Yes, a camp stove is hot enough. A normal single burner will do a 2 quart pan to about half full easily. I use a 2 burner and an old enamel roasting pan that reachesover both burners.
Make sure the surface the stove sits on is resistant to heat. Also some of the older Coleman stoves had pot metal fixtures for the burner controls. Found out the hard way that the stove will get hot enough to melt these!
You will need to flux the molten lead before pouring into the ingot molds. I use a large stinless spoon form the 99cent store to remove wheel-weight clips, etc. and a large gravy type spoon to scoop the lead into the ingot molds.

[Dale53]

You want to be extremely careful when using a Coleman stove to melt lead. The grill is not heavy enough for a heavy pot of lead. It will get nearly red hot (the grill) and can dump the pot of molten lead all over things, including YOU! You needn't ask how I know this.

If you are going to use the Coleman for this purpose, be sure and reinforce the grill.

Better yet, get yourself a nice sturdy turkey fryer and a cast iron dutch over for "smelting".

The advice to not put dirty lead in your casting pot is GOOD advice. Use only clean ingots and you'll have MUCH fewer problems with the spout.

Dale53

[Airweight38]

Well, I bit the bullet today, so to speak, and melted down the two mystery balls of lead. They didn't dent with my fingernail initially, so I assumed there was some alloy to them. Wasn't disappointed. I got a little over 19lbs out of them. Just for excrement and giggles, I poured two wadcutters (my first casts ever!) and the first one came out nice and crisp. Hooray and stuff.

Anyway, I'm encouraged, everything melted down and these appear to be good mixes. I'll melt them down in my production pot next and see how casting goes.

Thanks to all for all the great advice! This couldn't have gone better.


/Jason

p.s., I know I'm completely retarded for having used an upright camping stove. But I never had over 1½ inches of lead in the bottom, for what it's worth. Will try not to make it a regular practice. :)

[nicholst55]

Dude, you're courting disaster using that setup for smelting! I've smelted a bunch on a 2-burner Coleman stove, and I wouldn't consider using that rig! Be CAREFUL! You truly don't want even a small quantity of molten lead getting dumped - especially on you!

[Airweight38]

...I probably would not do that again. If anything, I will upgrade to a 2-burner; something less vertical. Not trying to be a daredevil--I just didn't have any money to burn this weekend on any last-minute expenses and really wanted to get started.

I know, I know... No excuse. I'm still learning.

[Blackhawk Convertable]

You could have set up a camp fire style tripod to keep the pot from going anywhere. That would have been much, much safer all the way around. Turkey fryer with an old cast iron dutch oven is the "bees-knees" when it comes to smelting down large amounts of WW's.