Lead Flashing, now what?

[Whit Spurzon]

Howdy,
I'm a bran' newbie boolit caster.... er, I mean, I will be once I git goin'. Anyway, I have some lead flashing that I believe is pure lead that I want to make boolits outa' and some Lee .452 caliber molds to pour it in.

My goal is to make a good general purpose bullet. What do I need to add to the lead and where do I buy it?

Many thanks in advance!

[wiljen]

either wheel weights (find some at a local tire store. If you get lucky they can be had free, if not up to $20 a 5 gallon bucket is not uncommon.) You can find plenty of information on here about smelting wheel weights and what to cull from the mix. Once you have them smelted, a mix of 50% WW 50% Lead should be a good starting point.

The other possibility is to find a source of tin, I use Dutch boy brand 95/5 solder as it is 95% tin 5% Antimony. Be careful of solders though as some contain things that are counterproductive when casting (Thus the reason I specified the brand).
A mix of one part 95/5 to 20 parts lead should be a good starting point.


Hope that helps ya, and welcome to the fraternity!

Wiljen

[montana_charlie]

I have some lead flashing that I believe is pure lead...

Mine just lays there with no visible change...yours is flashing?

[Ohio Rusty]

Lead roof flashing is the softest lead you can find. I have some hoarded away for muzzleloading boolets. Lead flashing is the best for making soft round ball for cap-n-ball pistols and patched ball rifles. Lead that soft is best saved for muzzleloading uses, and I would try to get my hands on wheel weights or an allow based lead for the bullets you wish to cast.
Ohio Rusty

[pumpguy]

Pure lead, like the other guys have said is not the best material for cast bullets. You can mix it for everyday bullets that are water quenched, mixed with WW and air cooled for hunting bullets or trade it to a ML shooter if you do no shoot ML. Black powder guys seem anxiuos to get pure lead because it is harder to come by than WWs. Or so is my experience......

[357maximum]

A mix of 50% wheelweights, and 50% pure lead, waterdropped from the mould into a 5gal bucket of water..is one of thee best things since sliced bread if you hunt/kill your own meat..

[454PB]

Pure lead mixed 50/50 with linotype makes a great alloy for magnum pistol and rifle boolits. I cast some H&G .311 180 gr. boolits from it a while back, and they tested 19 BHN.

[Whit Spurzon]

Thanks guys. Exactly the info I was hoping to get. May have to trade off some to get some WW or Linotype.

I'm looking forward to shootin' boolits that I made.

[versifier]

Just smelt it into ingots for trading, and use what you need. Pure lead is gold for bp shooters and anyone who is really into blending special alloys. I always keep some to trade with - you never know who's going to walk through the door with something interesting. My brother and other contractor friends bring me lots of flashing and other good finds: I just got done cutting up 500lbs of old lead plumbing which I will smelt as soon as I can find the driveway again. I cut it up with a Sawzall into pieces short enough to fit into the iron pot. My youngest thought it was amusing: "It was Daddy with the lead pipe in the garage!" Seriously though, solder, wheel weights, lino, and some kinds of babbit will all mix well with it into usable alloys.

[Bigjohn]

I've just had 600+ kilograms of Linotype delivered.
I think I am too far away to do a trade with you tho'; pity.

From a former caster/shooter who now is a cast bullet shooter. He has said he has some brownells flux and two LEE pots to get rid of. I've also asked him about his boolit molds.

John.