good and cheap source for lead

[somoss]

i live in maryland, near DC. can someone recommend somewhere i can get lead for making my own lead round balls and harder lead for "modern" ammunition?
what i mean is can you give me the name of an actual recycler, or store?
also how much should i expect to pay for the pure vs the "wheel weight" stuff"
thanks

 

[Chawbaccer]

Look in your phone book for a plumber supply store, they will have pure lead, also check for scrap yards.

 

[sundance44s]

SUNDANCE44S

The scrap yards in MS. tell me they can`t sell it anymore because of the EPA so i`m sure north of the Mason Dixion line will be tougher . But the plumbers supply does sell good soft lead ingots here great for round ball casting around 1.80 a lb here .. still half price for balls . and another good soft lead source here is duck decoy anchors about 1.80 a lb also .. same grade soft lead .
Wheel weights are junk too me .. too much tin and junk in them very hard lead. Ain`t nothin like good soft lead bullets too .. the ones i cast for my 45/70 are really good shooters too . I`ve had problems with the harder lead leading my barrels .. the soft lead doesn`t . Don`t like seeing lead on my cleaning patches .

 

[huli]

I have lots of Hard lead ingots, 2 for a buck and u pay shippin.

 

[armedandsafe]

I haunt the scrap yard and flea markets/GoodWill/Senior Centers. Scrap yards have used plumbers lead (if they are allowed to sell it) and the flea markets/etc sometimes have dive belts, which contain lead shot.

If you can find a dental/x-ray office being rebuilt or torn down you can pick up lead sheets pretty easily. A friend of mine asked a demolition crew for some from an x-ray office once and was told he could have it only if he took it all. He now owns 3 TONS of the stuff. He doubts he will cast enough bullets to use all of it.

Pops


Pops

 

[gmatov]

Sundance,
I was under the ( mistaken? ) impression that the reason TO add tin, and then antimony, to PURE lead was to allow it to grip the rifling and NOT wipe lead onto the rifling.

Pure lead will wipe and strip the rifling when velocities go over what the tensile of PURE lead will take. Go so fast that they cannot "grab" the rifling, so soft.

Cheers,

George

BTW, Many sites do NOT say you HAVE to use PURE LEAD with BP guns, either revolvers or long rifles. Hell, they sell, and I'm sure you use, plastic saboted, pure copper bullets. THEY don't meet the rifling, but the plastic does. Purists don't like petrochemicals in BP shooting with sabots.

Just search the BP Forums. "Nuttin' but pure animal fats!!!"

 

[HiWayMan]

Ask your dentist for the lead from the X-ray films done on teeth, it is pure lead. Most will give it away as if they don't, they must pay to have it removed. For harder lead seek out tire shops for the near extinct wheel weight.

 

[NukemJim]

Ask your dentist for the lead from the X-ray films done on teeth, it is pure lead

Uhmm.... someone is a little bit confused and I do not think it is me. ( Or at least I hope not I am a X-Ray Tech )

Dental X-ray films are not made of lead. The Base is plastic the emulsion is made of gelatine and the image receptors are Silver Halides ( Primarily Silver Bromide IIRC ).

If you are willing to do some phonework you might be able to find a Nuclear Medicine Department that would be happy to have you take away their lead. It is getting difficult legally to acquire and dispose of lead due to safety concerns.

NukemJim

 

[HiWayMan]

WHoops.........My Bad.

Well NukemJim would know more about this than me then. I have never asked my dentist, but I had always heard this.

Once again, My Bad.

 

[sundance44s]

sundance44s

Black powder by nature needs a good gas seal to be efficent .. no gas seal and you get sloppy loads .. good soft lead will help you get the gas seal needed ... there isn`t enough time in the bullets passing through the rifleing to get a seal with hard lead like ( wheel weights ) so the leading factor is worse .. i`ve tried the harder leads in my 45/70 and they shot all over the place ... then i switched to my soft plumbers lead and .. problems solved it`s a tack driver now and i get no lead on my cleaning patches NOW.. did with the harder lead castings . May be the harder lead was skipping over the rifleing where as the soft lead expanded and sealed the bullets in the rifleing and left behind nothing but powder fouling ....and tightened my groups by 2 inches at 100 yards .

 

[Pat McCoy]

I've been using the lead foil backing from dental x-rays for years. Pure lead, but it takes about a years worth to make 20 pounds or so from my dentist.

The x-ray film is indeed plastic, but it is backed up by lead foil in the little plastic unit they insert in your mouth. There is also a paper liner separating the film and the lead, and you will have to pick some of these out of the box of foil while casting your ingots or RB.

 

[huli]

My lead ingots have all been spoken for , Thanks

 

[Steve499]

You beat me to it Pat. I also have been getting the lead foil from both the dentists in my town.

NukemJim, I'm sure you know about your type of x-rays but I bet you don't do dental x-rays. The little strips of lead foil are about 1 inch by about 1 1/2 inches and are peeled off before the itty-bitty thing is exposed.

HiWayMan, you stand vindicated!


Steve

 

[mothernatureson]

lead source

I have a neighbor who is a commercial roofer. They are always removing roof flashings and don't reuse them. These are all pure, sheet lead. I get all he wants to give me. It is easy to cut into strips using a tin snip, and the only foreign matter on it sometimes is roofing tar. Burns off fast in my melter. Its great stuff. One flashing is 7 or 8 pounds. Look up some of the roofers in your area. A twelve pack or whatever would let him know your intentions are good. Happy hunting.

mothernatureson

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

Steve i`ve got my local dentist saveing me his x rays and i haven`t picked them up yet .. thought i`d let them build up a bit first .. any tricks too getting the lead foil out of these ? I`m wondering if they are gonna be worth the trouble .

 

[arcticap]

I save all of my used airgun pellets that I shoot into a .22 bullet trap and have even accepted donations from other pellet shooters who would normally just throw their used ones away. Depending on the type of trap used, pellets usually flatten into "thin lead pancakes" at the very low velocity of 500 fps because of how soft and pure the lead they are made from is.
Try to find pellet shooters willing to give you theirs and add wheel weights, linotype or powdered lead from an indoor shooting range to make the lead harder for casting modern bullets.

 

[Duncaninfrance]

Ever thought of church roof's
Duncan

 

[mike101]

You can get any kind of lead you want at Midwayusa.com. Shipping costs have to be taken into consideration, though. I always got my pure lead from a plumbing supply store.

 

[robert garner]

Wheel weights and round balls

Wheel weights ARE too much trouble to load into muzzleloaders(patch and ramrod) too little 'give'.
However! a little work and....
1st melt I load a 5 gallon paint bucket bout 1/3 full after previously knocking a few holes in the bottom and use a torch to melt the lead this strains out the
keepers and road trash
2nd melt my pot is cast iron 2 quart cooking pot(EX cooking pot!) melt lead into pot till 2/3 full and cover with charcoal bout an inch or better cook for a while stirring char and soon ash into melt constantly, skim off detritus, lead is now clean (everything floats on the lead) this does NOT remove antimony nor tin but cap and balls love it!
CAUTION! When using ANY scrap lead start with cold lead in pot and bring it to temp NEVER add scrap lead roofing or even wheel weights to already hot lead! inclusions of OTHER MATERIALS Especially WATER is Worse than bad!
A Steam explosion is one of the most attention getting , dangerous, shock and awe inspiring demonic moronic scares y'all will encounter!
I was tought better but HAD TO TRY IT ONCE! WONT DO IT AGAIN FOR NOTHIN,BESIDES IT WASTED ABOUT 40 OR 50 LBS OF LEAD!
robert

 

[Steve499]

Sundance44s, it isn't the film itself, only a small piece of lead foil. I've not examined a new piece of dental x-ray film so I'm only assuming that the small piece of lead foil is attached to one or maybe both sides, I would again assume to prevent any exposure to the film by ambient radiation. Before the film is used, the foil is stripped off. When I get a box of foil, inside it there will sometimes be a piece or two of cardboard like black paper the same size as the foil pieces. Those don't cause any trouble, if you are melting a large lot of foil, the cardboard can just be skimmed off the top when the lead melts. This foil melts down to pure, soft lead. The only drawback is, as Pat said earlier, the volume it takes of it to amount to anything.

Steve

 

[NukemJim]

NukemJim, I'm sure you know about your type of x-rays but I bet you don't do dental x-rays.

You are right. My mistake. The only dental films I did were Panorex. However in my defense the original post read

Ask your dentist for the lead from the X-ray films done on teeth, it is pure lead.

My response was

Dental X-ray films are not made of lead. The Base is plastic the emulsion is made of gelatine and the image receptors are Silver Halides ( Primarily Silver Bromide IIRC ).

It was then confirmed

The x-ray film is indeed plastic

The little strips of lead foil are about 1 inch by about 1 1/2 inches and are peeled off before the itty-bitty thing is exposed

Before the film is used, the foil is stripped off.

If the lead is being removed prior to exposure is the lead a packing material? Is that correct?

If the lead is removed prior to exposure then I believe I am correct in saying the film is not made out of "pure lead".

Thanks I like it when I learn something.

NukemJim

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

Thanks Steve