Battery Lead

[340six]

I know some have posted it is bad to melt lead from batterys.
I have a original looking Mopar battery I am going to gut and put a smaller modern batt inside.
Lots of car guys do this.
I will dispose of the lead that comes out proper.
But gets me to ask why no battery lead? gas's when melting it?

[Hickory]

I wouldn't fool with it unless the Indians are attacking :roll:and you are out of boolits and the battery is your only source of lead for making boolits.:Fire:

[Wayne Smith]

I've forgotten what it is in the lead but whatever it is it makes fosgene gas when it is melted. Just a wiff and you are either dead or hospitalized.

Dispose of that stuff to a place that can melt it in a sealed environment and recover the vented chemicals.

[zxcvbob]

There's really not much lead in there. It's a bunch of sulfate and lead dioxide. The lead that is there is contaminated with stuff like calcium. (if you mix it with charcoal and burn the heck out of it, you can reduce the sulfate and dioxide back to lead metal -- but stay upwind of it)

I think "stibine" is the poison gas that can be given off if the dross gets wet.

The top posts are OK for boolit lead, just not the plates.

If someone gives you a bunch of lead ingots that they say were smelted from old car batteries, you might as well take it because they've already done the dangerous part. The lead may or may not be any good for casting.

[fryboy]

there's some truth in the above statements , it is possible and worse it doesnt take too much dross and a lil humidity to do it , myself i dont actually trust the lead after smelted - it may not of all been smelted out , ur quarter ur choice , i note on the scrap lead exchange battery lugs have their own price , battery plates i dont recall seeing listed

[lylejb]

Sticky on this:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40769

Short answer is it can kill you, and there's very little lead there that's in a usable form.

just not worth the risk.

[fatelk]

Where I sometimes shoot on public land someone recently shot an old car battery to pieces. I picked up the posts and threw them in the pot, but I didn't mess with the plates. They are nasty and corroded and I just can't see being able to get any worthwhile amount out of them, even if I wasn't worried about getting poisoned in the process.

It makes me furious, the trash that people dump and shoot up on public land. I'm no radical environmentalist, but I was raised to not litter. I've never even thrown a pop can out the car window, and I can't imagine the mentality of someone who would shoot up an old TV or car battery and just leave it lie for someone else to pick up.:(

[whitetailsniper]

i tried this once,,,,,,,,,ONCE-lol- way to much work for to little return,and i mean little.like the other members are saying,, JUST LET IT GO! there are many reasons to not bother going down this road for lead. not to mention it will eat right through your gloves and mess with your finger tips skin,,not breathing it is another issue,i was smart enough to have old cloaths,,gloves,resperator,and was carefull much as possable to do this... its messy,dangerious,,not worth it,not even a little.

[geargnasher]

Last I checked, the local scrap guy was giving $5 each for old batteries (intact), and I traded eight of them for 70 lbs of roofing lead and a coffee can of battery cable ends. Sell those car batteries and buy some safe lead from either Muddy Creek Sam, The Captain, Leadanbrass.com, or Rotometals.

Gear

[mdi]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40769

[bigjake]

It aint worth messing with the batteries. I smashed open a really old battery that sat outside for years. it didnt have any liquid in it at all. so , outside i tried smelting some of those heavy thin plates, they didnt melt, they just broke up into small peices that looked like dirt or something.

[Suo Gan]

Sb2Ca3 + 3H2O --> 3CaO + 2SbH3 = Stibine Gas + Human = Death

AS3Ca3 + 3H2O --> 3CaO + 2AsH3 =Arsine Gase + Human = Death

These are heavy gases as compared to air and will sink, therefore children and pets are at an extreme danger when smelting batteries. So when you empty your dross into a container, it will immediately pull H2O out of the atmosphere and create both arsine and stibine gas, if you empty your dross into a wet container or it gets wet, it will release both of these deadly poisons very quickly. Normal WW alloy produces a small amount of these gases by volume, using battery plates exponentially increases the amount of calcium alloy that if mixed with WW alloy (that contains arsenic and antimony) will react and create poison gases that can make you very sick and might kill you or your family. In short, it just ain't worth it! If you decided to dance with the devil and smelt some, the amount of usuable lead you will get would make it counter economic anyway. And when you go to shoot your high calcium bearing alloy, it is very hydroscopic and will rust your bore to boot. Don't do it, don't do it!

[10 ga]

Dittos for what geargnasher said! I only get $3 for car batteries but that is 9#scrap lead from the scrapper. No battery would ever yield 9#. Easy math there. 10 ga

[Recluse]

Last I checked, the local scrap guy was giving $5 each for old batteries (intact), and I traded eight of them for 70 lbs of roofing lead and a coffee can of battery cable ends. Sell those car batteries and buy some safe lead from either Muddy Creek Sam, The Captain, Leadanbrass.com, or Rotometals.

Gear

Best advice and answer you'll ever get.

:coffee:

[HardColt]

There's really not much lead in there. It's a bunch of sulfate and lead dioxide. The lead that is there is contaminated with stuff like calcium. (if you mix it with charcoal and burn the heck out of it, you can reduce the sulfate and dioxide back to lead metal -- but stay upwind of it)

I think "stibine" is the poison gas that can be given off if the dross gets wet.

The top posts are OK for boolit lead, just not the plates.

If someone gives you a bunch of lead ingots that they say were smelted from old car batteries, you might as well take it because they've already done the dangerous part. The lead may or may not be any good for casting.

Hi! New to this forum & have been reading a lot of inputs and outputs. As a bullet caster I find this forum with the most knowlegable and informative members.I totally agree with you. The terminal posts are the biggest source of lea. It time consuming and not worth the effort to scavenge the plates.

[-06]

Batteries have been my "back up" lead supply and I probably have 40 of them. I like that idea of selling or swapping for pure lead. Would save a lot of time and yield much more--safely. My bud used to break them down for fishing weights. He would drain the acid, open the cases, get out the plates after deluging with water, drop them into a plastic barrel, cover with water, and toss in baking soda until it quit bubbling-took a couple of days. Then he would fish them out, wash again, and pour. That is a lot of work for not much Pb.
I do not need the batteries as I have an ample store of Pb so the swapping idea is super. Thanks

[grubbylabs]

So I guess you guys are saying don't use a battery right?

[Calamity Jake]

So I guess you guys are saying don't use a battery right?

That's what they said!!!! AND ME TOO!!!!