Today's best answer is...
87.25% Bismuth, 0.75% Antimony, and 12% Tin
https://www.rotometals.com/lead-free...bismuth-based/
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Today's best answer is...
87.25% Bismuth, 0.75% Antimony, and 12% Tin
https://www.rotometals.com/lead-free...bismuth-based/
New York City still requires lead plumbing in some applications, such as toilet elbows. PVC gives off toxic fumes when burned
There will always be a source for lead...that is not the problem. It will not be at $1/lb.
Even a ban on lead for hunting is not that big a deal for the handful of bullets I need to hunt with. Current costs for .308 lead free bullets is about $1.50 each. I use less than a dozen a year between sighting in and harvesting. So $18 vs the $4 for Sierra GameKings I use. And costs are bound to go down with economies of scale.
The concern for me is if lead were banned for recreational shooting. I have 3500 lbs for that endeavor.
I always thought colored lead was contaminated?????
All the lead I use has only a bright gray color to it.
What little pure lead I have, in a roll, is dull gray.
Is there any lead service lines [water lines] where you live if so maybe a digging contractor or plumbing could give you some. Last week we dug up a 400' lead service line that is a lot of soft lead. Also maybe a plumbing shop would have some from cast sewer line joints .
The colors come from overheating Lead/Lead alloy
In post 7, Sagacious gives a great explanation.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...l=1#post674036
We buy bullets made from copper and devote the massive amounts of time we spent casting doing other gun related stuff.
My eyes cross I start shaking and stammering cant sleep. Im addicted
Like the navies big guns possibly a nylon or Teflon or other ring around a harder material.
I try to save/recover most of the lead I shoot. I used a rubber mulch/sand style bullet trap, and have been contemplating building a larger steel one.
I went about 10 years without casting and when I started up again I discovered I couldn’t just drive to the scrapyard and buy lead like I used to. After exhausting all the possible local sources, having Craigslist WTB ads flagged, and buying a few boxes here I finally just decided to throw money at the problem. Over the course of three years I bought 2000 pounds of alloy from a commercial lead casting supplier.
At the rate I’m using it I’m probably good for 10 years at least.
[QUOTE=oldsalt444;4885107]Since the EPA shut down the last smelting company in the U.S., the major ammo makers are getting their lead from old car batteries. Sounds like a difficult process for the individual caster, though.
https://www.batterysolutions.com/rec...ries-recycled/ Read this .
No offense to anyone but, at my age, I'm not very worried about it. I guess I wasn't too stupid buyin' lead in my 40's and 50's....for 20 cents a lb. and picking up whatever other lead came available. I worked construction for 42 years so plumbing and roofing lead. Knew a few phone splicers so telephone lead as well. Did the electrical maintenance for two tire shops and they were always saving their WW for me....back when they were good. I have enough.
I only have about 1200 lbs of lead, some pure some WWs but I'm 71 and have a shooting range in my yard. I recycle my boolits so I should have a lifetime supply.
No more bullets than I use for hunting, a box or two of no leads should last a lifetime as well. If I had to, I could cast for my 358N with a 280gr mold and zinc. I don't know what the zinc boolit would weigh but it should be enough. Or a 500gr mold with zinc for the 45/70.
Could even use bismuth for hunting as I wouldn't need a lot. It's about $10 per lb which would make 14 boolits at 500grs or 28 250gr for a 338w or 358N. Thats only 36 cents for a 250gr boolit. I could live with that if forced to.
Also, lead is not going to disappear from the earth but with luck maybe the greenies will.
Mass of the bullet also is a reason to use lead. Way things are going, we may need to start casting bullets of zinc. I worked on OTD&E for the GAU-8 cannon used in the A-10 Warthog. Bullets for that were depleted uranium. It's harder and heavier(higher mass) than lead. The bullets for that thing used Teflon drive bands to prevent damaging the barrels. We might have to go to something like that. I can hear the screaming about "armor-piercing" bullets already.
And when that happens ... Hello Jacket BulletsQuote:
The original question addresses the hypothetical what if there is no lead.? The answers should stick to that hypothesis.
If we ever reach that point, my daughters know my lead inventory and the per lb value then will provide them with several year's of college tuition for my grand daughters [smilie=1:
No point in using a sabot steel core design. It would reduce the effective diameter of the projectile. It would also require a shortening of the projectile with more loss of bullet weight. An all zinc design would retain full diameter without the complication and expense of a two part bullet.