Lead casting?

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Fyrstyk

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I have just started casting round balls for my muzzle loading rifles. The question I have is if I put non-pure lead in my pot, will the non-lead material float to the surface of the pot to be skimmed off leaving only pure lead? The reason I ask, is I have access to several hundred pounds of miscellaneous pistol lead bullets that are being cleaned out of the indoor range bullet traps of my club. I only want to cast pure lead round balls for my muzzle loaders and was hoping I could use this lead if it can be separated into pure lead.
 
Alloys cannot be separated for the most part.
If you bring the pot temperature up slowly till it just becomes liquid, antimony and copper will float on the surface and can be skimmed off. It will look lumpy.
The pot should not be fluxed or get any hotter.

A tiny amount of antimony will increase ball diameter over pure lead and make loading harder. Changing patch thickness didnt seen to help me. T/C Hawken 45 cal flint rifle.

Sell scrap , buy pure lead.
 
Normal alloying components like tin and antimony are going to be VERY hard to remove once alloyed into the lead.

Also when melting down scrap it's advised to NOT use the pot you pour with.
 
If the bullets you will be salvaging are cast pistol bullets, the alloy will probably be harder than you want/need for muzzle loader balls. Separating the alloyed ingredients that make the lead too hard is nearly impossible as mentioned above...
 
Thanks all for your responses. Looks like I will not be able to use this scrap lead to cast my muzzle loader balls. I will just melt the stuff down and make ingots to sell to hand loaders that use cast bullets for their handguns and rifles.
 
You might be able to swap your range scrap for pure lead or stick on wheel weight ingots. I use the latter for muzzleloader projectiles with good results.
 
if the lead is from the cores of jacketed bullets, that's a pretty soft lead. probably pretty close to pure lead.

"Glen Fryxell wrote this reply to me in response to an email I sent him and I used it in my article on cast bullet alloys. Cast Bullet Alloys & Alloy Maintenance

Salvaged range lead can be quite the mix unless you’re familiar with the range and know that a specific type of shooting is mostly done. [1].22 lead is mostly lead, virtually no antimony, and usually about 1-2% tin. Jacketed bullet alloy composition ranges anywhere from pure lead to 5% Sb. As a very general statement, many handgun jacketed bullets have pure lead cores (almost all Noslers, almost all FMJs, and most std. velocity jacketed handgun bullets). Some have hardened cores (e.g. the Sierra 300 grain .44 Mag bullets is 5% Sb). If the range has centerfire rifle bullets, then they are commonly 3% or 5% Sb. So the bottom line is that jacketed bullets can contribute almost any hardness to bullet metal."
- https://www.artfulbullet.com/index.php?threads/composition-of-jacketed-pistol-alloy.1848/



edit: sb = antimony. which makes bullets harder. Lyman #2 alloy (90% Lead, 5% Tin, 5% Antimony has Brinell Hardness of about ~ 16. The Brinell Hardness scale of 99.9% Lead is approximately 5.
 
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I typically use range lead for low pressure handgun bullets where some softness won't hurt, 38 special, 45 acp, etc.
 
Sierra Bullet Cores



Sierra makes the core of the bullet from four lead alloys: 6% antimony-4% tin, 6% antimony, 3% antimony, 1 1/2% antimony and pure lead. For each bullet, Sierra selects the proper lead alloy for the best combination of accuracy and expansion in the finished projectile. A customized lead extrusion process contributes to our product uniformity.
http://www.sierrabullets.com/about-us/sierra-story/ FYI- Antimony makes the alloy harder.
 
Weigh a same diameter pure lead projectile and compare to one cast from your mix, alloys will be lighter weight.
If you cannot mark it with a finger nail you better have a metal ramrod.
 
Our indoor range only allows lead pistol bullets, .22-44 mag. The lead I would be getting would be a mixture of centerfire rounds and rimfire. I only want pure lead for my use, so Like I said, I will make ingots of the salvaged lead and sell it to club members who cast their own pistol bullets, or trade it for pure lead. As for wheel weights, it is my understanding that most of the weights currently used are not even lead, but some sort of composite material. I only want pure lead for my muzzle loader balls.
 
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I would take all the scrap bullets I could get, then trade them for pure lead. Someone would jump on a deal like that.

35W
 
Fyrstyk, if you are trading with someone they may have multiple types of lead. In addition to pure, what I am trying to communicate is that you can accept ingots made from a specific type of wheel weight. Most guys separate clip on and stick on wheel weights before they smelt. The stick on weights are very soft and almost pure lead. They work great for muzzleloader casting.
 
I get all my bullet lead out of the pistol berms at my gun club. Be sure and cut into fully jacketed bullets or they might burst in your smelting pot, OUCH!!!!!! it happened to me. hdbiker
 
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