Clean lead?

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kmw1954

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I am not a BP Muzzle loader shooter but I have some pure or nearly pure lead that I'm trying to decide what to do with. It has been my understanding that clean pure lead is harder for find but when asking at Cast Boolits it doesn't appear to be that way.

My thought was to try and trade this for WW lead or Range scrap lead or am I wasting my time?
 
When I went to the scrap yard and purchased lead, all of it was dead soft.

this is an example, of what I was told, was lead poured around pipe joints.

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it was dead soft.

Even wheel weights turned out to be very soft, everything I read claimed they were alloyed to make them hard, but my hardness tester showed cast wheel weight ingots to be dead soft. I guess the wheel weight makers had figured out how to make wheel weights without expensive alloying elements. And that was when lead wheel weights were around. I recently went through a wheel weight bucket and it was 99% zinc and iron. Lead wheel weights are a thing of the past.

The purest lead is medical lead, I used to get Xray lead from the Dentist, and they have purchased different machines that don't need lead foil.

If you can try dead soft lead for alloyed lead, do it.
 
I am not a BP Muzzle loader shooter but I have some pure or nearly pure lead that I'm trying to decide what to do with. It has been my understanding that clean pure lead is harder for find but when asking at Cast Boolits it doesn't appear to be that way.

My thought was to try and trade this for WW lead or Range scrap lead or am I wasting my time?

I wouldn't say it is hard to find, just that it tends to be a little more expensive. Those of us who don't have access to pure lead in scrap form are used to paying 2-4 dollars per pound for foundry stuff.

I have to say that I can't understand trading away pure lead for scrap lead or WW. It's easy to alloy what you've got for just about any purpose, and then you'd know exactly what you have, rather than just guestimating as we do with scrap. I have shot literally tons of scrap lead with good results, but if I had a bunch of lead that I knew was pure, I would definitely not be sharing!
 
that lead pipe stuff is great. Its harder at around 7.5 bhn but still works wonderful even with conical bullets. I picked up 144lbs recently and most was pipe itself, the other was a ton of that thick pipe joint lead.
 
kmw, I imagine that you could trade it or sell it pretty easily. Put an ad up and it will sell if reasonably priced.

If you don't want to do that, buy some superhard alloy at rotometals and make what you want to cast with.
 
Seem to be getting the same responses as at Cast Boolits. Guess I was just figuring that this very soft lead would be of more interest to muzzle loaders where I think is more needed whereas I can get by with Mystery Metal in my pistol plinking.

As I stated at Cast Boolits, Lead here in southern Wisconsin is getting very difficult to come by. Lead WW have been outlawed in Illinois for years and in both Illinois and Wisconsin Lead has been classified as Hazardous Material so the recyclers/scrappers will not sell to the general public. Then every tire dealer I've talked to already has someone picking up their scrap WW's and the ranges I've talked to are the same way.
 
kmw1954,
You didn't mention how much pure lead that you have and what form it's in to see if it would be worth shipping in order to facilitate a trade.
While not all range scrape lead is the same, you should be able to trade for a larger amount or simply sell it outright on eBay where the prices vary.
It would be easier to sell or trade if the price is right.
 
arcticap I have 32lbs of clean stick on WW and about 25lbs of sheet lead that I am still rendering and all in in muffin ingot form. I was thinking to the right person a trade of lb. for lb. if also in ingot form. or 2 for 1 if I have to render it down myself.
 
I have a question for you all...all i cast and shoot is pure lead...and i was thinking about maybe doing a 1:40 tin to lead ratio due to hearing that small but of tin really helps fill in the mold. Is it worth it? Have you all seen/noticed a difference? I shoot mainly conicals. What do you all think?
 
I use 1-40 for my big Gibbs bullets, mostly because that's what everyone else does. I use pure lead for most other BP chores. One pot for both. For a while I would empty out the pot when switching from 1-40 to pure. Then I got lazy and just added pure lead to the 1-40 whenever I switched to making revolver bullets - so my revolver bullets range from 1-40 to 1-50 or 60 or a zillion. Neither I nor my guns can tell any difference, so I consider it utterly unimportant.
 
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Look for divers weights. They are usually pure lead and are easy to melt and clean.
Be careful melting down "divers weight belt lead". I have heard that moisture in the lead, from the water pressure of diving, will cause an eruption in the melting pot that could cause burns or start a fire.
 
I was a commercial diver in a past life and still do some recreational diving now and again. All the lead weights I have used were very hard and "rang" when tapped or dropped. I don't really know what the composition is, but I can guarantee they weren't anything close to pure lead. I don't doubt that pure lead diving weights exist, but I would be careful about assuming that is what you will get if you find some.
 
Be careful melting down "divers weight belt lead". I have heard that moisture in the lead, from the water pressure of diving, will cause an eruption in the melting pot that could cause burns or start a fire.
Are you serious. Like in pockets or something.

I wash reclaimed range lead so while it’s wet I just fill a cold pot with the wet lead and set it on the furnace. The moisture is long gone before the lead melts.
 
I am not a BP Muzzle loader shooter but I have some pure or nearly pure lead that I'm trying to decide what to do with. It has been my understanding that clean pure lead is harder for find but when asking at Cast Boolits it doesn't appear to be that way.

My thought was to try and trade this for WW lead or Range scrap lead or am I wasting my time?
You're not wasting your time. I'd put it up on the North-South Skirmish Association's BB, or the NMLRA Facebook page. You should get someone close to you who will be very happy to make a satisfactory purchase or trade. Hell, if I were in the area I'd be making an offer myself.
 
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