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Thread: Roofing lead to hard cast?

  1. #1
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    Roofing lead to hard cast?

    I am sure this question has been asked before, but I can’t find the answer.

    How do I turn roofing lead into lead suitable for casting 357’s, ie hard cast.

    I have quite a bit of old roofing lead, in fact, loads of the stuff, all collected over the years from various jobs. I have been going through it and melting it all down in an old saucepan and casting into a Lee ingot pan to get rid of the crud. So now I got loads of clean ingots, which from what I understand is pure lead.

    So what do I need to add and how much to harden it up so I can cast for my 357?

    Ideally I want something I can just go out and buy, not spend ages hunting about for other scrap.

    All help and pointers much appreciated.

    Thanks

    Dave
    It’s sometimes best to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid rather than open your mouth and dispel all doubt…

  2. #2
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    linotype lead....think its 4 per cent added

  3. #3
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    It depends on how old your roofing 'lead' is.

    I tried a few years back casting the recently-made stuff, but had the sense to weigh a few before trying them in my two BP revolvers.

    A .451" diameter bullet of pure lead should weigh 535gr.

    A bullet of the same size cast from my amalgam roofing lead weighed 338gr.

    You don't have to be a math prodigy to figure out that somethig is wrong there.

    The strange-coloured dross I skimmed off it contained stuff that only appears on the Planet Plorg. Sure, there was lead there, but not a lot of it.

    Hardcast? Buy pure lead and add antimony to taste.

    tac

  4. #4
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    Its a funny old game casting bullets. Iv been using old wheel weights for years which i can recycle every now and then by scavenging my chosen
    lane back stop at the range. Iv tried using 5% linotype with pure lead for .357 bullets in my long barrel revolver and they shoot well with my relatively
    low powered pistol rounds. Don't know if they would stand up to more pokey rifle rounds though. Let us know how you get on. Tim

  5. #5
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    To harden the lead for centrefire ammunition you need to add tin.
    If you have water pipes with soldered joints melt them into it. If you collect range lead you will find most cast bullets already have some in so add this to the melt as well.

    When I first started casting for my .357" revolver I used to heap loads of tin in the melt thinking this was the way to do it. As an experiment I just added small amounts of tin until the cast ingots/bullets had a slightly frosty appearance and these worked just as good as the bullets I had cast with a high tin content.

    I have now got a .357" rifle and I use the same method to cast the bullets and they are accurate out to 100 yards.

    Later roofing lead contains zinc, you only find this out when you melt it, as tac said.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by enfield2band View Post
    Later roofing lead contains zinc, you only find this out when you melt it, as tac said.
    More like 'later roofing zinc contains some lead, but not a lot'.....

    tac

  7. #7
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    Thanks guys, some good information there. The stuff I have is mostly off the house I am in, and it was the original and needed replacing, so I know it was from around 1960, do not remember odd looking out of space dross on the top other than the normal oxide and pitch that was on there.

    Dave
    It’s sometimes best to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid rather than open your mouth and dispel all doubt…

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    The Lyman No 2 alloy is a classic. It's 90% lead, 5% tin and 5% antimony.

    Tin is relatively easy, e.g. solder of known composition e.g. 60/40.

    Antimony is harder, however this company claims to sell it (it has a highish melting point, so see if you can get it in alloy with lead):

    http://www.carnmetals.co.uk/

    You didn't want a scrap solution, but wheel weights used to have ~5% antimony and a bit of tin. Don't know what they are made from now, but maybe worth investigating.

    Another scrap source is of course lead from a range.

  9. #9
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    Think wheel weights are now all Zinc.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by thibben View Post
    Think wheel weights are now all Zinc.
    Yup. EU rules. Can't have babies sucking wheelweights any more, now can we?
    tac

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