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Thread: Stash smelted

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub snipecg21's Avatar
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    Cool Stash smelted

    I've been sitting on 2 buckets of wheel weights plus some other odds and ends that I've been sitting on for probably 8-9 years. Gotten from an old neighbor. Finally got a chance to smelt them down. Don't know where the neighbor got them but not a single zinc or steel weight at all. I ended up with 147 bars from my lyman mold and 5-6 pounds left in the pot. Now to figure out the bhn so I can alloy with pure for my purpose.

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master

    imashooter2's Avatar
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    I always got a lot of satisfaction from turning scrap into ingots. Congratulations.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    Well done!

    I, too, like looking at a pile of fresh cast anything, thinking, “I did that”.

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Pictures! We like pictures! This from the guy that has trouble posting pictures!

    Really, good job! Like the others have said, its very satisfying to turn scrap into a more useful form. It almost makes your back hurt less!

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
    jdgabbard's Avatar
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    I did the same this past summer. I had a bucket and a half of clip ons, and a half buck of stick ons. I'd had them since some time around 2009-2010. I managed to get all of the clip on weights smelted down into ingots, and I am planning on doing the stick ons once the weather gets a little nicer. Then I'll alloy them up as a 50/50+2%, had to buy some pewter a week or two back to get enough to do these. All together I ended up with about 150lbs in COWW, and I'm guessing about 60ish lbs of SOWW. I've got about another 100lbs of range scrap which is pretty close in hardness I think. So it ought to work out to around 300lbs of 50/50, and I'll toss in about 6-7lbs of the pewter to get me up to where I want to be. The only catch is I'll have to do it in somewhat smaller batches, as I don't have anything to get a melt that big. The most I can do is probably 50lbs at a time.
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  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    I did mine last winter, 12 buckets of clip-ons, all lead and no zinc or steel. Looked fantastic all finished, 1500 lbs. of Redneck Gold ingots on the floor of the garage. THEN I realized I had to move all that lead two buildings over. THAT was not so fantastic!!

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy Gobeyond's Avatar
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    I don’t have so much to smelt. It will be my first time making ingots. Figured it would be easier to smelt them first and get started faster. Nothing like clean alloy. Plus I get the fun of planning and making ahead of time. Now I can do whatever I want in this regard. Hey I got some chonies doing this where I’m at!

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master


    GregLaROCHE's Avatar
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    I use mainly range scrap myself, but I have to agree that it feels good turning scrap into ingots.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master
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    snipecg21, what kind of bullets are you planning to cast and for what purpose? I’ve found that for most handgun bullets fired at reasonable velocities, straight wheel weights with just a smidge of tin added give me good results. Of course for muzzle loaders or Schuetzen I avoid wheel weights completely since they are way too hard for the former and I avoid antimony in the latter.
    Froggie
    "It aint easy being green!"

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy Gobeyond's Avatar
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    It’s a great first time ingot making 10# at a time. I made hard ball, range scrap ingots and a couple others suitable for rifle or pistol. Is range scrap good for BP? Soon 16:1 and 94-3-3. Didn’t get hunry or sore today. Had a primer go off in my pot, bounced off my glasses. No lead splashed. Ingots move along a lot faster……….

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check