How do you cast your scrap lead into ingots

[Bigslug]

You may find this helpful: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ed+range+scrap

[imashooter2]

Several buckets go into a wheel barrow. The wheelbarrow loads an 8 quart Dutch oven with a garden shovel. The pot is emptied into Lyman molds. The ingots are stacked until the session is finished. Then they are jumbled into the same buckets the raw ore came from and placed into storage. One ingot might be slightly harder or softer than the next. I don’t check because it doesn’t matter.

[GregLaROCHE]

I use a Dutch oven to melt and a soup ladle the pour into angle iron molds. The ladle happens to be the exact to fill for each ingot. Ingots are around one kilo. The triangular shape is efficient when putting them on end in my Lee 20 lb pot. Also my molds are made of very thin angle iron. I think it helps them cool faster.

[BJung]

[QUOTE]Hardness itself has nothing to do with accuracy. What hardness does have to do with is leading of the barrels. And THOSE two things have everything to do with accuracy. With a soft bullet and high pressure you are going to squeeze that bullet so tight in the barrel the powder coat will burn right off and become part of the problem followed a few inches down the barrel by the sloughed off lead.

And so, a harder bullet is better for say PC 9mm, 357mag, and 40cal, yes

[BJung]

Thanks

[Rickf1985]

Harder within reason, 12-14bhn for those listed. JMHO

[OS OK]

I use a Dutch oven to melt and a soup ladle the pour into angle iron molds. The ladle happens to be the exact to fill for each ingot. Ingots are around one kilo. The triangular shape is efficient when putting them on end in my Lee 20 lb pot. Also my molds are made of very thin angle iron. I think it helps them cool faster.

Same here!

There is no better ingot shape for loading a 'full-load' (aprox. 16 pounds) into a Lee pot.



There is no better ingot shape for stacking and storing and identifying the lead.
If you make your ingot mold the right length, they stack beautifully in a USPS shipping box should you be selling lead.







This is about 325 pounds, it'll move fairly easily with a small dolly.



When my 'odd shaped' ingots are gone, there will not be any more of them created.

[kbstenberg]

OS OK A question please. As well as color coating the ends of the ingots. Do you also mark the hardness on the ingots side?
As a side note. I am not a metal worker but I am a woodworker. So I made ingot molds like the one you showed but with wooden endcaps. I used 2 pieces of all thread through both endcaps with nuts and washers to hold everything tight. Its not as easy to dump as yours, but that is to my skill level. Kevin

[BJung]

I love that coffee can on top of your hotplate

[OS OK]

OS OK A question please. As well as color coating the ends of the ingots. Do you also mark the hardness on the ingots side?
As a side note. I am not a metal worker but I am a woodworker. So I made ingot molds like the one you showed but with wooden endcaps. I used 2 pieces of all thread through both endcaps with nuts and washers to hold everything tight. Its not as easy to dump as yours, but that is to my skill level. Kevin

I was stamping these ingots on the end as to the 'source' of the lead & then after that, I had an idea to color code them and leave that information marked on the sides of a single ingot from that batch...keep them in the top of the basket so I could choose ingots by color code.





I realize that BHN will change over time so if it is that critical (as if I am making up a batch of HP Pb) I will re-BHN-test the ingot before selecting it for a mix.

However I still use the 1/4" steel stamps for marking the weight in pounds & ounces of ingots I make of 60-40 solder and pure tin.



If your inclined to be a bit 'OCD' like me...it's very easy to make a lot of extra (non-essential) work for yourself...I'm trying to be better about that!

[OS OK]

I love that coffee can on top of your hotplate

Thanks...I think it helps to keep the heat all around the mould...sorta like a mould oven.

[kevin c]

Here’s a way of casting with a consistent alloy composition when you can only do small batches that vary in content:

Make several batches, each of the same total weight, producing small ingots all from the same mold and the same weight (perhaps one ladleful each as suggested above). Mark each batch of ingots with a distinct mark or number.

When casting, start the pot with ingots from each batch, in a ratio (one each is easiest) that you will continue to use each time you recharge the pot. That way you’ll be adding the same mix you started with, and can maintain that mix until you run out of ingots, which will happen after you run the pot through the total weight of all the batches.

That’s the upside. The downside is on-the-fly adjustments to the alloy are harder to keep consistent with subsequent refills, and that you need to empty the pot enough each time to allow recharging with a lot of ingots at once if you are using several batches (tends to freeze the pot).

[gwpercle]

You waste too much time with small pots .
Get a Turkey frying burner and stand and as big a melting pot as you can beg, borrow or steal . I put everything scrap in there , all range scrap , 22 's cast boolits , stick on wheel weights , roof flashing , lead wall sheathing and plumbers lead ...melt it all !
Load up all you scrap and melt ... fluxing good about three times ...cast into ingots .
The larger the batch the less vary between ingots ... I consider it all soft (maybe not pure ) lead and mix with COWW or Tin for casting centerfire handgun / rifle boolits .
Gary

[Net]

I was stamping these ingots on the end as to the 'source' of the lead & then after that, I had an idea to color code them and leave that information marked on the sides of a single ingot from that batch...keep them in the top of the basket so I could choose ingots by color code.





I realize that BHN will change over time so if it is that critical (as if I am making up a batch of HP Pb) I will re-BHN-test the ingot before selecting it for a mix.

However I still use the 1/4" steel stamps for marking the weight in pounds & ounces of ingots I make of 60-40 solder and pure tin.



If your inclined to be a bit 'OCD' like me...it's very easy to make a lot of extra (non-essential) work for yourself...I'm trying to be better about that!

Hats off Sir. Very nice system.

[samari46]

Have the Lee ingot molds. Fire up the turkey fryer (from wal mart) load it up and flux well then pour into ingot molds. Pretty sure my dutch oven holds 8 quarts. Used to mine the pistol berms and would separate all the hard cast 45 bullets and melt them down separately. Then store those ingots away from the rest. Frank

[technojock]

Those home made angle iron molds make me wish I was a better at welding...

Tony

[Whiterabbit]

You don’t have to be good. Thats the beauty of angle ingot molds. Just weld up the outside and the inside just works. Have the angles cut to the same length and its a slam dunk. Have at least 3+ because they get hot and you have to wait too long before dumping ingots.

[kevin c]

I’m coming to believe that the most important thing with any mold, especially a long, skinny one, is to pour on a perfectly level surface.

I like my ingots purty…

[Sasquatch-1]

Those home made angle iron molds make me wish I was a better at welding...

Tony

If you decide to make these, do not cut them off at a 90-degree angle. You will need a slight angle on the end so your ingot will release.

For those that are new (and I don't think anyone has mentioned this) don't use the aluminum pots that normally come with a turkey or fish frier.

[technojock]

I wonder if I could make them out of aluminum angle and use that low temp aluminum brazing rod to put them together? That way I'd have the advantage of the ingots not sticking to the mold. Also I could use a miter box to cut the aluminum angle since it will cut with a wood saw.

Tony