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Thread: How pure is my lead?

  1. #1
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    How pure is my lead?

    My Lee production mk4 arrived earlier this week and it's great! It gets to temperature and melts really fast, it has a new design of tap which (so far) hasn't dripped and is allround a great thing.

    I have scavenged lead from the range and now have over 9kg of pure-ish ingots, basically stirred and scraped until nothing else came to the surface. I made and used lots of 12g slugs from this stock, but now I have a mould for .357. Do I just use this grade lead or does it need treating with wax first?

    I did flux a batch but I didn't really see a difference, am I doing it wrong?

    Last question, one ingot fell in half when I lifted it, was this just because it was too hot? Once it was cool it marks with a nail etc.

    [IMG][/IMG]

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    I would always recommend fluxing every batch of lead being melted .
    The ingot break does not look right but as you said could be because it was hot when dropped and broke.
    If the lead is pure in the pot you’ll notice an almost iridescent finish on the surface of the melt.
    Could be that you need to turn the heat up a bit in the pot .
    No doubt you’ll get more replies from people with a lot more experience of casting than myself.
    ATB
    James

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    lead

    is the range scrap all slugs or various cals of bullets?

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    Thankyou James. I am a complete beginner and this forum is a great resource of info

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    Quote Originally Posted by tinbum View Post
    Thankyou James. I am a complete beginner and this forum is a great resource of info
    if you can scratch it then its soft lol....
    looks like the ignot wasnt fully hardened when dropped

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    Quote Originally Posted by JB101 View Post
    I would always recommend fluxing every batch of lead being melted .
    The ingot break does not look right but as you said could be because it was hot when dropped and broke.
    If the lead is pure in the pot you’ll notice an almost iridescent finish on the surface of the melt.
    Could be that you need to turn the heat up a bit in the pot .
    No doubt you’ll get more replies from people with a lot more experience of casting than myself.
    ATB
    James
    Pure lead will bend and stretch, not break when hot. That ingot has a lot of either antimony or tin in it, i suspect antimony. Good for casting metallic auto bullets but I wouldn't use it for shotgun slugs without a sabot

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    Quote Originally Posted by TALL View Post
    is the range scrap all slugs or various cals of bullets?
    All sorts including lots of lead dust from the knock-down hoppers

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    Lead

    range scrap is usually very hard, not good for slugs,
    roofing lead and pipe is a good source of pure-ish lead,
    yours will make nice rifle bullets,
    good luck,
    T

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    Quote Originally Posted by TALL View Post
    range scrap is usually very hard, not good for slugs,
    roofing lead and pipe is a good source of pure-ish lead,
    yours will make nice rifle bullets,
    good luck,
    T

    I melted some lead, did some fluxing and tried my new .357 mould. They look pretty

    [IMG][/IMG]

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    sized and lubed
    PERFECT,

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    Quote Originally Posted by TALL View Post
    sized and lubed
    PERFECT,
    Sizing and lubing is new to me, not been necessary for the FMJ's I normally load. These are coming up .360" and I was going to get a .357 sizer and just use the bullets in a bag lubing method.
    Since then I've been told the carbine wants a slightly oversize bullet, but the pistol will want sizing.

    I am a bear of very little brain. My head hurts.

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    Lead bullets work well at .001" oversize. For a rifle you need to match the pressure and velocity to the lead type and any gas checks. Not so important on pistol bullets at lower pressures.

    A lee bullet hardness tester is a good investment. My range scrap comes out as BHN 11 so I add more tin and antimony for rifle bullets. It is fine for pistol bullets though.

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    The cheap way of testing lead hardness. https://i.imgur.com/HL3q9xo.png

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    At 360 I would tumble lube and load them.
    I assume they will be low velocity target loads?
    The ingot mould broke as it was till hot.
    From my experience I wouldnt get too hung up on fluxing your mix for the actual casting.
    I gave up doing that years ago. Just gets a good stirring as I go along.
    When I used to bulk refine range scrap I would use sawdust or beeswax stirred in.

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    All you can do is try you bullets, as folks say they need to be sized a bit closer, about .001" over, to your (measured) groove diameter .

    Here is some good reading re. lead alloys: http://www.lasc.us/Kelter_Cast_Bullet_Alloys2.pdf

    Depending on the 'mix' the hardness of the alloy can change over time. A lead hardness tester is your friend for consistency, I have a ST item (now Cabine Tree) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJPE1E8LQ6c

    I tend to not use unknown scrap, range lead's OK for short range pistol cartridges but for things like BPCR you need to be a bit more fussy for bullets needing to go a distance.

    Lead flashing or old lead piping is good for close on pure lead, tin and antimony can be bough of 'the bay'.

    Casting can be addictive - good luck

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