Is battery lead safe to use?

[Fly-guy]

I bought a 60 pound ingot of lead (?) the other day and I don't know what it's origion is. It seems to be pretty hard and has a dull grey color to it. The salvage yard had about eight or ten of these ingots and I'm sure they all came from the same source.

The ingot is about 3" high, 3" wide, the main body is 16 1/2 long with ears on either end and the total length is 20". It is stamped with "SOHTHPR" or possibly "SOIITHPR".

If it is recycled battery lead, is it safe to use?

[morrisammo]

Unfortunately, I have to say I don’t know,

I have cut up a car battery before to get the lead out, and I’m still alive,
But for the lead I got out of it,, it was not worth the time effort and danger

[docone31]

Once lead is in ingot form, everything is fluxed out of it. Even if it was battery lead, and I doubt it other than terminals, it will be ok now.
In the case of acids in batteries, the acid goes to the top, and converts. It either evaporates, or turns into crud on top.
I would not worry.

[Trey45]

Battery lead that's already in ingot form is safe to use, do not under any circumstances attempt to ingotize battery lead yourself. Melting down battery lead, and I'm not talking about battery posts here, is a dangerous and time consuming procedure that you MUST have the proper safety equipment to do safely.

[okksu]

You should read this: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40769.

[sagacious]

Lead ingots reclaimed by a battery-recycling factory are completely safe to use for casting bullets. Enjoy.

[Fly-guy]

Hey guys, thanks for the response. Let's suppose that this big chunk of lead is re-cycled batteries, is it hard enough to shoot as is or will I need to add some tin to it? I've been using Lymans #2 alloy mix for the pistols and still have a little bit of Linotype that I use for the rifles.

From the responses, it's evident that it is safe (it's still lead though) to use for casting and I was able to find information on radio active lead. The information indicated that radio active lead should be safe after 60 days.

Speaking of Linotype, I shot a hog with my 45-70 and a 450 gr pure Linotype boolet last year. When the ole hog was processed the butcher found the boolit lodged in the spine. He said that the only marks on the boolet were the rifling- that was one hard boolit & one dead hog.


Looks like I need to fire my pot up to see what the boolits look like doesn't it?

[Mal Paso]

The ingot description sounds like Linotype. Scratch your Lymans #2 and your ingot and see which is harder.

[sagacious]

It won't likely be anywhere near as hard as Lyman #2, if that's what you want. You'll probably need to add linotype and Sn if you want an alloy close to Lyman #2 in hardness and composition. Good luck.

[Tom W.]

I've gotten several 60 pound ingots from Sanders Lead, and they were all reclaimed batteries. I added some nickle Babbitt to the mix and never had any troubles.

[evan price]

Surprisingly, modern maintenance-free batteries actually contain a very small amount of actual lead. The lead plates in auto batteries are not even cast plates and grids, they are actually made of .020" sheet lead that is perforated and expanded. The only real "lead" in them are the plate connectors, the terminals, and the grid frames (which as mentioned are not really very much at all). The bulk of the plate material is made of a paste of lead oxides.
In order to reduce a battery to retrieve the lead, you would need to take these lead oxide plates and smelt them to remove the oxides. Maintenance free batteries also use other alloys in the plate composition. When heated to the temps needed to reduce the oxides, you WILL produce toxic vapors, and the residue from smelting iirc is actually collected and refined into fertilizers.

Large machine, forklift, and stationary powerplant batteries have a lot more lead in them because they are designed to be large and have lots of reserve capacity to produce current for long periods at moderate rates... The average vehicle starting battery is engineered to be small and compact and produce current in short bursts but high peak amounts.

[Down South]

I doubt that the lead that you described is battery lead. It may be lino from the description. Someone would have to have salvaged a (BUNCH) of batteries to get that much lead. Either way, if it is in ingot form, it will be fine.

[AF FAL]

Maybe a little off topic, but in the same ballpark I think.

My shooting range uses a water trap in the pistol bays. The amount of lead and copper jackets in that thing is staggering, we clean it out about every 4 months. One of the guys said we are welcome to anythign that comes out of it.

Would the lead be usable for casting bullets? I know the Copper jackets would have to be pulled out, I don't see that as much of a problem once you start heating it up in a pot. Would it be worth the trouble to melt it down to ingots for casters, or even to use to make lead wire for swaging?

[Down South]

Most jacketed bullets are either pure or close to pure lead. The range scrap is well worth salvaging especially if it is that easy to get. Some say the copper is worth a lot at the scrap yard.
You can either mix the range scrap with WW or Lino to get a desired hardness or trade it to black powder shooters.

[AF FAL]

Think I would be able to make enough selling it on the cheap to justify buying a melting pot and ingot cast?

There will be some cast bullets in that mess too, but I would guess 30% or less. So I have no idea how that will affect the lead hardness when all is done.

Is there anything available to somehow "test" to see either how hard the lead is, or what other alloys are in it?

[Down South]

If you have the ability to get that much range scrap and want to test the hardness, then it would probably be worth investing in a lead hardness tester. There are several good ones. The Casting Stuff link at the bottom of this page is for the Cabin Tree tester. Lee makes one but it's sort of hard to use/read. Lyman makes one that is so so and requires you to cast a boolit to use in it. So does Lee I think. There are several testers out there that won't break the bank. Anyway, I like my Cabin Tree, $114 delivered. I can test ingots with it.

[Shiloh]

No It is not safe to use.

If it has been reconstituted and reduced back to metallic, ingot form lead, it is good to go.
As stated. Not worth the effort for the supply an a few battery basis.

SHiloh

[Tom W.]

"I bought a 60 pound ingot of lead (?) the other day and I don't know what it's origion is."


The ingot is safe.

[KYCaster]

Fly Guy, there's no way to tell from the shape or weight of the ingot what the composition is. The shape you describe is not a standard Linotype ingot, but even if it were, that doesn't tell you anything...I have several Linotype molds and can pour anything in them....doesn't have to be Linotype.

A couple of ingots I've found with the dimensions you describe have been Pb + ~3% Sb, but that's no guarantee that yours are the same. Google the name on them and maybe you can find something.


AF FAL....The lead I get from an indoor range is generally pretty close to WW alloy, but usually has some Bismuth and Zinc in it which makes it a little more difficult to use than straight WW.

Unless your range is VERY strict, you'll find a substantial amount of steel shot, steel jackets, steel cores, aluminum jackets and various compositions of brass, copper and gilding metal in the stuff you skim off the lead. If the scrap dealer finds ANY magnetic material in it you'll get "shreaded metal" price for it...$100/TON and falling locally. I have a hard time finding anybody to buy it at any price.

Jerry