Batery terminal, safe or not?

[pps]

Part of the scrap lead that I got from the range included an old battery terminal taken from a cable. Will the terminal have some nasty things like Strontium or other nasties in them or will it be ok to add to my next smelt?

[45nut]

I have tossed them in,, no ill effects.

[runfiverun]

they are pretty much pure lead.

[4570guy]

Battery terminals can become contaminated by battery acid if the battery leaks (and most do over time). You won't be able to tell. If there is any chemical residue on the lead, this will turn into some pretty poisonous gasses when heated. I wouldn't take the chance if I were you. I'm not trying to fear monger -- just stay away from any lead associated with car batteries.

[pps]

Cool. I withheld it from yesterdays batch of range lead because I did not want to "contaminate" a whole batch of lead. I will add it with confidence to the next batch.

[blysmelter]

Is this the kind of terminals you guys are talking about?

[hershey]

i have found that they melt at higher tempts allot of the time, a tell tale sign of zinc, i scim off the floaters when everything else has melted, but other than that no issues....

[HeavyMetal]

Terminals are pure lead! So unless the terminal looks real corroded, and a baking soda bath will nutrealize that, toss it in and melt it!

[Shiloh]

Rinse them off and they are good to go.

I used to frequently see some in the bucket with the wheel weights when they more available than they are now.

Shiloh

[jawjaboy]

The last bucket that I got got had 5 of them in it. They go in the mix.

Brush the corrosion off, ya good to go.

[goon]

I was curious about this too. I know a guy who has been saving terminals for years. He hauls a lot of scrap metal and junk but locally they only offer about 12 cents a pound for lead - it hasn't been worth the bother for him to take it in.
Anyhow, I was talking to him about casting bullets the other day and he mentioned that he has a lot of these around - I think he said something like 50 pounds.
Guess if it's as easy as just cleaning them off with baking soda I'll probably take him up on his offer.

[Meatco1]

Take the terminals and drop them into a glass of warm water mixed with 1 heaping tablespoon of baking soda. Mix the soda into the water first, and then drop them in.

There will be a lot of bubbles rising while the terminals are being neutralized. When the bubbles stop, you can melt down without worry (after drying, of course!!)

Richard

[goon]

Thanks. I'll probably have to go a little larger scale than that though - It would take a long time to do 50 pounds of them one at a time.

[Ole]

Gentlemen:

I found this info when googling "battery terminal alloy". Proves kind of interesting. I think i'll toss mine (about 6 of them) in with my next clip on WW smelt:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6300007.html

[Tom Herman]

I've melted battery posts (snapped off from the tops of batteries), and the clamps/terminals. They all melt fine for me!

Happy Shootin'!

-Tom

[Chunky Monkey]

Thought I'd add to this thread instead of starting a new thread.

I melted down battery terminal lead a couple of weeks ago.



Got about 54 pounds out of it. It was very dirty I tossed it in the cast iron pot and walked away.

I kept it separate as I figured it would be nearly pure. Well I randomly checked some ingots this morning. Out of the 4 battery terminal ingots I tested on the cabine tree tester I got .075, .075, .075, and .070.

I also randomly checked 4 WW ingots and got .070, .075, .070, and .067.

Three lino ingots came out at .086, .090, .090.

Everything was smelted separately so there was no mixing. Is it possible that the battery terminal lead can be as hard as WW?

[Goatlips]

Couple years ago I met a guy at a flea market that was selling his battery terminal business, some molds, couple pots, stove bolts, a box of lead, etc. I think he wanted $300. Central to this discussion, I asked what he used for casting terminals, and he said anything that would melt. So, much like scuba weights, you could find anything in there. Probably best just to cast a few and try shooting it if the price is right.

Goatlips

[Chunky Monkey]

Couple years ago I met a guy at a flea market that was selling his battery terminal business, some molds, couple pots, stove bolts, a box of lead, etc. I think he wanted $300. Central to this discussion, I asked what he used for casting terminals, and he said anything that would melt. So, much like scuba weights, you could find anything in there. Probably best just to cast a few and try shooting it if the price is right.

Goatlips

Thats good to hear Goatlips, maybe the person who made most of the ones I got use WW or somethining similar. I will randomly check some more just to be sure they are all about the same. If thats the case I'll be good to go using it to cast for my 45acp.

[Mike W1]

I had a source once for new battery terminals and they tested about 14 BHN and upwards. Made nice bullets!

[Chunky Monkey]

I had a source once for new battery terminals and they tested about 14 BHN and upwards. Made nice bullets!

Mine would be about 12.5.