I just picked up some lead today. 63 lbs of range lead melted into one big ingot (a small block chevy valve cover) and 2 large blocks that were used as race car weights both 25 lbs each. The race car weights were made from wheel weights but I have no idea if they skimmed off the good stuff or not. I plan to melt them down and put them into smaller ingots (muffin size) for future casting. I am just getting started so I will have a few questions as I proceed. I plan to buy some artists pencils tonight to get a ball park idea of what hardness I am dealing with. I have a pretty good idea it is softer than I want because it scratches very easily with my fingernail.
I want to be able to get my mix as consistent as I can and I know it's not going to be exact especially buying scrap lead. A coworker that cast said to buy scrap pewter and add about 1 lb to 20lbs of lead. Does this sound reasonable? If I had melted down the wheel weights myself and fluxed them I would probably cast them as is for the slow speeds I intend to shoot. The range lead of course I have no idea what it consists of so I am open to suggestions.
I will make my ingot first but I should have a couple of bullet molds in the next 2 weeks or so and I am ready to start casting but I want to get it right. I am going to be coating my bullets with the coating Bayou bullets uses. I ordered it today and it should be here next week. I have everything ready to start coating my bullets. I am going to coat my remaining store bought bullets with it also.