Lead fishing weights for casting?

[USAF_Vet]

I've got access to a metric ton (or somewhere close) of fishing tackle, which includes a lot of old lead weights. I'm not really much of a fisherman, so I don't even know if lead us still allowed.
Is it economically justifiable to collect, melt down and cast bullets out of these?
Seems like it would be better than stomping around the junkyard scavenging wheel weights.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

Fishing sinkers are usually pure, or dead soft lead so they wouldn't be too great of an option in anything other than a muzzle loader. However, you could alloy with antimony/tin from other vendors, to create the correct brinell hardness for your applications.
What kind of bullets are you planning on casting?

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

is there an affordable source of antimony and tin? i've heard of using solder, but does it make sense from an economic standpoint?

 

[CoRoMo]

Who in the world compiles 2,200 pounds of fishing tackle?!!?

Was it all dredged up from a lake or something? I'd presume that most of it will be line, brush and twigs, and only a small portion of it will turn out to be lead weights, right? It's going to be a big chore to get the lead separated out of a mess like that!

 

[ReloaderFred]

Fishing weights can be most any alloy, from my experience. I know of one company that bought all their lead for weights from an indoor shooting range.

I've probably melted down about 500 pounds of fishing weights in the last couple of years, and mixed it with recovered range scrap and wheelweights. my alloy makes great bullets with a Bhn of 12, which is what I was aiming for. Super hard bullets aren't necessary for most applications and contribute to leading when not loaded properly.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Is it economically justifiable to collect, melt down and cast bullets out of these?
Seems like it would be better than stomping around the junkyard scavenging wheel weights.

YES, without a doubt, if for no other reason than it's clean and you don't have to dig in the junkyard! If the price is right, I would get as much as you can.

Like said above, fishing weights are usually very soft lead. All you need to do is add solder to the alloy and you will probably get a 10BHN or 12BHN alloy which is perfect for casting bullets. You can find a ton of information on what type of solder and the ratios over on CastBoolits.com...

 

[Nwflycaster]

Mixing with solder will boost the tin levels but wont do anything for you with antimony. Very few solders have more than just a trace amount of antimony.

As others have said, the vast majority of fishing sinkers will be made from a soft lead though likely not pure. If your talking about the bodies of lures like a rooster tail spinner then you would be looking at either 4 or 6 percent antimony but no tin. I'll assume you have sinkers and downrigger balls because that would be a heck of a lot of bodies. We cast downrigger balls at roughly 1/2 percent antimony, enough to harden them up a little without being hard enough to ring if struck against rocks on the bottom.

You can probably find a secondary foundry that would take what you have and alloy it to whatever you want it to be for a minimal charge. Then you wouldn't have to be doing it pot by pot as you go. We do that frequently for people with Babbitt, and have a few times for bullet metal.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

From what I understand, the most commonly used source from Cast Boolits forum is rotometals.com
You could join and wait for a group buy for a discount, or scrounge around ebay for fishing boat keel, or typemetal linotype from printers. These have very high amount of antimony, not sure about arsenic. From here, to make a good alloy you could invest in a Lee ingot mold, and use the 1/2 lb ingots to help find the right balance for your applications.

However, if you're new to casting I'd reccomend you buy at least a few pounds of clip on wheel weight ingots from ebay, at least so you have a standard which you can use to compare your alloys.

There's a lot of good information on cast boolits and I highly recommend spending a lot of time reading the materials on that website, or even better www.lasc.us

 

[USAF_Vet]

Mostly I'll be casting 00 buck shot and slugs, but may cast some .38 S&W if I ever get my top break working reliably.

Its probably not a metric ton, I was exaggerating somewhat. But my father in law is bit of a pack rat when it comes to fishing gear. He buys new tackle every few years, but never gets rid of the old stuff. So 50 plus years of fishing tackle adds up quite a bit. I'm sure I could probably snag a few pounds of lead weights.

As it happens, I have a couple old rolls of solder. So old its no good. That may be enough to increase the tin levels.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

Hey, why didn't you say so!
I don't cast for shotguns, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but shotgun slugs should be pure lead, same for buckshot.
See how it turns out after you prepare the mold, you might not need the tin at all.

 

[morcey2]

Who in the world compiles 2,200 pounds of fishing tackle?!!?

(sheepishly raises hand)

Ok, not 2200 lbs, but I'm trying.

Just watch out for zinc sinkers. Not a lot of them out there, but getting one of those in you melt will ruin your day.

Matt

 

[blarby]

Mostly I'll be casting 00 buck shot and slugs

HALT !

Keep it as pure as you can.

If thats your goal- and you have close to a ton of pure lead, you're real close to the alchemy everyone was trying for back in the day

Even if it ends up being "mystery metal" alloy- thats what I end up casting a lot of my plinkin buckshot and slugs with anyway.

 

[conrad427]

I've never heard anyone use the metric ton saying besides myself, I use it all the time! What a great place!

 

[Catpop]

Why will a zinc sinker in alloy ruin your day?
Can't you just scrape it off with the steel, brass, etc. I had saved a bunch of old zinc anodes over the years to pour into dive weights. I tried to melt it with propane- could not get to melt. Ended up selling it off as scrap.
Any thoughts here?

 

[Tolkachi Robotnik]

Zinc hurts the cast finished outer surface and

changes the release from the molds. It makes an inferior product that does not have the same size as alloys without the contaminant. You may be able to make buckshot with some in it, but it may cause you pain and suffering as you go. It changes the specific gravity and can cause holes in bullets due to surface tension changes, in the very least it makes for rougher outer surface of bullets. Zinc is more reactive and does anode action in uneven mix, so the finish product can corrode if enough is present. Of course all metals corrode if left long enough, zinc is more corrosive potential than iron.

Even though the melting point of zinc is different than lead, the two mix and cause a poor melt. This may be why the bullets made with zinc mix are non-uniform. It takes too much heat to melt the zinc properly and by then you have lead too hot to be around.

Some people say zinc alone can be used. It has different properties. For buckshot there may be a certain amount of zinc that you can tolerate, but it probably is not a lot especially if you cast some with pure lead and get use to the way it releases from your molds.