# All you lead melters...



## Huntmaster (Dec 8, 2012)

Been reloading for a while now and would like to start making my own bullets... Besides the melter and the molds, what else do I need? I know I need some type of lube along with...?? Help me out here guys! It interests me! Btw, I am using wheel weights for the lead...have an endless supply of them and already have 2, 5 gallon buckets of them. Also I know there is a difference in bullets for black powder shooting and modern rifle/pistol but...?? Somebody enlighten me with their wisdom! Lo


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

Huntmaster said:


> Been reloading for a while now and would like to start making my own bullets... Besides the melter and the molds, what else do I need? I know I need some type of lube along with...?? Help me out here guys! It interests me! Btw, I am using wheel weights for the lead...have an endless supply of them and already have 2, 5 gallon buckets of them. Also I know there is a difference in bullets for black powder shooting and modern rifle/pistol but...?? Somebody enlighten me with their wisdom! Lo


I got started on this path before I had to take a complete break from shooting sports for school.

What I was doing was turning WW into ingots to use later, either for pistols or for my BP rifle I havent even shot yet.

the lube will be when you're running the cast bullets through the resizing dies, there's other things to consider before you even get there!

I don't know how much you have sorted yet, but you should be aware that your WW may not be all lead, ZINC is common and that changes things a lot. Lead melts sooner than zinc so you want to keep your furnace above the melting point of lead, but below the melting point of zinc. You do NOT want zinc in your cast bullets. NEVER.

So to address that I bought one of those laser thermometers and I make sure I keep my furnace in the safe range. more than lead, less than zinc. Then the zinc weights and the steel clips are scooped out and discarded.

there's a lot of youtube videos on how to do this and I suggest watching a bunch of them. You're going to want to learn about fluxing the pot and about PPE (I personally recommend a plastic face shield, a set of welders gloves and a face mask rated to block lead particles in smoke) as well as what I wear every day, jeans boots and long sleeved shirts.

the chance of the tinsel fairy coming to visit you is pretty low... the problem is when she does and you're not ready for it. It would really suck to get your face melted off from molten lead when all of that could have been avoided by wearing a $15 plastic face shield from the home building store and a baseball cap... right? Like a friend once told me on the sport bike forums "dress for the crash, not the ride"


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

For black powder shooting you usually want to purify the lead. you do that by fluxing it there may be other fluxes but we always used about a pea sized chunk of parafin wax in a ten lb pot. flux it then let the "stuff" float to the top and skim it off we always used an old spoon and threw it in a coffee can. For casting bullets for handguns I always got good results using the wheel weight lead as is. 

For a release agent in the molds you can get by with just blacking the insides of the mold cavities with a candle. but the mold release from midway is awful conveinient and I have been using it for a while. Melter, molds then a dipping/pouring ladel unles you are fortunate enough to have a bottom spouted melting furnace. I havent yet gotten to use one of those so I couldn't tell you about any quirks with them. And old towel or somthing to drop the fresh bullets out on. A wet rag or somting to touch your mold against if you are getting too hot (or you can just wave it in the air a lil bit) A wood mallet or I always used the handle that had broken out of a hammer to whack the sprue cutter out to open the mold and to whack it back for the next pour. Thats all I can think of off hand it has been a good little while since I set up to cast a bunch.

Dakine made a good point on the protective gear I can't say I used it all the time but when first putting in the wheel weights or adding weights to some material already in the pot you should have somthing on as any water or oils or grease that may have gotten into the weights where the clips attach can cause minor explosions and some molten material to be thrown about. Never had a big pop but have had a few minor ones that moved material out of the pot a few inches. Making sure the weights have sat about in a dry location for a goodly while will help reduce that risk by no means should you be using wet weights for melting. Water and molten lead are a very bad mix.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

I bought a cheapo stainless steel spoon at the grocery store, 3 bucks I think? and I drilled a bunch of holes into it so I could have a good enough slotted spoon for pulling fluxed debris and the steel clips out of the pot. that's actually worked really well for me, but a pre-made SS slotted spoon would have saved me those 3 minutes... I'm good with that 

I used wax too, I've also heard of people using saw dust. The goal is to give something in the molten mixture that gives the impurities something to adhere to, and then you can skim that out off of the top.

I have a bottom pour furnace, and it's pretty cool, but it has downsides too. 

#1 just because it's down pour doesn't mean it's easy to work with... the little peg legs holding the pot up are seriously in the way when you're trying to manipulate the ingot mold.

#2 the nipple for pouring the lead is prone to cooling below the temp of the pot, that means your lead doesn't flow... thats a PITA. you need a paper clip or maybe a little drill bit and some pliers to try and clear that hardened lead out of the way so you can pour again.


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

never used a slotted spoon I just used the same one we used to make fishing wieghts with. if you river fish a teaspoon makes a good fish wieght mold by the way let it cool drop it out and drill a hole in the end.

also if you lok and get a lee mold that is for tumble lube you can skip the whole sizer thing. I use that in 44 bullets. I also have a 357 150gr HP mold it is a gas checked design I also tumble lube them and I have a inexpensive 357 sizer that fits on a regular single stage load press to size and crimp on the gas checks. 

I never have got one of the fancy luber sizers. I use alox and mica powder to lube. The Tumble lube specific bullt molds don't require that you size the bullets afterwards. If you are gonna go whole hog for alot of calibers and especially if you are gonna do rifle calibers you probably should look into the better luber sizer and the high speed lubes.


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## Huntmaster (Dec 8, 2012)

Wow! Guess I got a little bit of research/YouTube watching to do! Got a good deal at a pawn shop on a nitb 10lb lee melter with a side spout. Thx for the input guys!


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

Im betting you missed my edit in the post just before your respnse it's good info depending on what you are gonna do so please give it a gander.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

You're welcome! and welcome to the world of pouring your own bullets!

I've got about 30 lbs of ingots ready to be poured into bullets, and another 25 lbs of sorted WW to cast into ingots. I need to get back into buying these kind of preps but there's so much other stuff going on with all my other projects this is low on the priority list 

I havent been to this forum in months! but I really need to go remind them I'm still alive LOL!!! there's a fantastic wealth of knowledge there and it's all about guns, casting your own bullets from lead, and making your own copper jacketed bullets in a process called "swaging" as well as everything else about guns.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forum.php?

I have no idea whatsoever what those guys think about survival tactics, techniques, etc etc... I recommend sticking to the topic about what your trying to do, not that you're trying to do it because of a prepper mindset.

just basic OPSEC... nothing more 

(and I have no recollections of anyone being belittled on that site for wanting to prep bullets, on the contrary, that's what these guys do, they make and shoot bullets -- they call them boolits lol... but I've heard about OTHER websites treating newbies or those who are concerned about political events as less than equals)


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## Huntmaster (Dec 8, 2012)

Will chk tha out! Thanks dakine!


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

some of the shops that save me WWs tell me that lead weights are being taken off the market.
I have a few other junkies that save me pure soft lead.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Lead is getting harder to find but you can still order it online if you look around a bit. My advice is to stock up on it. 

I prefer gas check bullets. They'll take the higher velocities better.

Lee equipment works good for bullet casting and sizing. The Lyman sizer/luber works faster but costs a lot more too.

Pure lead works best on all things muzzle loading.

Good advice all around.


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## Huntmaster (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks MMM!


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Sources of pure lead can be difficult. I once made the purchase of a lifetime at a yard sale when a guy had six, 30 lb. ingots that I got for $5.00 each. I've also found pianos discarded that still had the keys on them. Each key has a small (1/2 oz. or so) cylindrical piece of lead on the end opposite the ivories. They're pure lead. Also if you can find someone taking out old above ground power lines, the steel posts that bolt onto the cross piece have lead threads on the opposite end (where the insulator screws on). It's also pure lead and can be easily melted off the steel post.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

people near the oceans and lakes can also find lead keels from sail boats.


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

Hmm. It's been a while since I cast any bullets, need to get back into it.

I have a custom welded burner stand(think fish fryer stand on massive doses of steroids), a huge cast iron pot, and a slotted metal spoon for smelting raw lead/wheelweights/whatever into ingots. I also have ingot molds and an electric hotplate for preheating bullet molds. I do have a bottom pour electric pot, but I usually use a stainless steel pot and ladle for bullet casting. I use my uncle's RCBS bullet sizer, and bought the size dies and top punches I needed(though most of my molds come with the correct top punch), as well as lube.

I recommend http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forum.php as the go to source for cast bullet information.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

When I ran a gas station back in the 80's I saved about 250 pounds of wheel weights, thing is that in those days they were made with antimony. Antimony has a slightly different melt temp than lead as well and needs a lot of fluxing, mixing and proper melt temp to keep the antimony from crystallizing and having a pure lead coating which could lead to barrel lead smearing with high velocity hand loads. Tin is the best for mixing with lead for high velocity bullets, but it's become expensive and not as easy to get as when linotype plates used to be available. I have hand cast many hundreds of 245 grain Elmer Keith type hard cast semi-wadecutters for my 44 mags over the years and when the tin mix is good I never had barrel leading problems with full loads of WW-296, Blue Dot or AA #9 powders.


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

Even recent production "lead" wheelweights have a pretty good percentage of antimony in them. Enough that they can be pretty brittle and break instead of bending as pure lead would.

The adhesive backed lead wheelweights are almost pure lead--save these for muzzleloaders or for adding into the clip on WW metal to make it less brittle.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

A number of years before I retired from the school district they re-roofed the elementary school and there was a lot of lead sheet from under the wall cap flashings as well as around all of the roof drain scuppers. I melted it down into about five pound plus ingots of nearly pure lead. Ended up with a bit over 100 pounds. This might be something to check into as to roofing businesses that do hot mop flat roof work.


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## unioncreek (Nov 30, 2012)

You need to watch newer wheel weights they are not made out of lead. Contact roofers and plumber they usually have surplus lead from jobs.

Bob


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

unioncreek said:


> You need to watch newer wheel weights they are not made out of lead. Contact roofers and plumber they usually have surplus lead from jobs.
> 
> Bob


The method for melting and pouring your ingots is going to play into that quite a bit. For instance I use a Lee 20# production furnace and I have the temp setting just a tad below 7. That does fine for melting lead and is below the melt temp of zinc. If I get a zinc or steel WW in there, it wont melt, I just use my tongs and pull it out and throw it in the box of scrap that all the steel clips go into from the lead ones.

On the other hand I've seen guys using a jet cooker and propane tanks to melt much greater quantities of WW using an old cast iron pan. That's fine as long as you are sorting the WW prior to melting them, otherwise you could have a much harder time regulating your temp and climb above the melt point for zinc and then you'd have an unfavorable alloy to cast bullets with. (they'd be fine for fishing sinkers though!)

There's a really good youtube on sorting WW and basically this guy is using a giant steel nut and bolt to smack the WW against. The steel on steel contact makes a high pitched ping noise, the zinc is not quite as pronounced but the metallic ping is still there, and the lead just goes clunk, a real soft thud noise. He also show using a pair of pincers to put a bite on the WW and lead takes a big scar, zinc and steel do not.


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

unioncreek said:


> You need to watch newer wheel weights they are not made out of lead. Contact roofers and plumber they usually have surplus lead from jobs.
> 
> Bob


Some wheel weights are iron. All of these I've seen have been marked somewhere with "Fe". Some are made of zinc, and I've never seen one that was marked as such. With anything that is questionable, I use a pair of wire cutters to try cutting it. If it's zinc, you won't even dent it. Lead will cut easily.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Well today I got ambitious and did a bit of clean out of a work shed, mainly to find floor space for 16 golf cart batteries for a solar project. I had about 100 pounds of lead bars in a corner and in the process of taking them to another part of the shed I found four three pound bars of tin linotype I forgot that I had:woohoo: so next time I cast a bunch of bullets I'll have some really good hard cast ones for high velocity loads.


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## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

I was a printing press operator for almost 5 years. During that time I supplied my husband, and my father, with linotype lead. Both of them had lots of fun putting it to use and appreciated the antimony in the lead. I wish I had my father's melting pot and molds. :sigh:


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

AuroraHawk said:


> I was a printing press operator for almost 5 years. During that time I supplied my husband, and my father, with linotype lead. Both of them had lots of fun putting it to use and appreciated the antimony in the lead. I wish I had my father's melting pot and molds. :sigh:


How long ago was that? The reason I'm asking is that back in the 1980's the linotype lead was very high in tin, but I had heard that most recent linotype lead went to antimony as a hardening metal. I prefer to use tin but due to it's value it has all but disappeared from the bullet lead market. Back in the 1980's it was common to find lead/tin ingots in gun shops and at gun shows. Before I bought my Lee Melter trying to get a good temperature for keeping lead and antimony mixed would sometimes led to antimony crystals forming and when that happened though the bullets looked good and seemed hard but they would smear lead in the barrel. From what I've read about this is that when antimony crystalizes pure lead is formed on it's surface.


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## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

Viking said:


> How long ago was that? The reason I'm asking is that back in the 1980's the linotype lead was very high in tin, but I had heard that most recent linotype lead went to antimony as a hardening metal. I prefer to use tin but due to it's value it has all but disappeared from the bullet lead market. Back in the 1980's it was common to find lead/tin ingots in gun shops and at gun shows. Before I bought my Lee Melter trying to get a good temperature for keeping lead and antimony mixed would sometimes led to antimony crystals forming and when that happened though the bullets looked good and seemed hard but they would smear lead in the barrel. From what I've read about this is that when antimony crystalizes pure lead is formed on it's surface.


I was a printer from 1977 to 1982. I printed for American Standard's American Bank Stationery (printing bank checks and credit union drafts) for 3 years and printed tags and labels when I worked for Bissell Printed Products at Michigan Tag Company.

A lot, but not all, of the type for the tags and labels, was on rubber stamps mounted on wood or metal blocks. They set all of the rubber type but sent out any work that had to be on lead type. Once the lead type was used they tossed it into a bucket under their type setting table. Every month or so I would ask for lead and they would put 5 lbs +/- (very +) in a box and give it to me.

All of the checks and drafts were printed with linotype lead. ABS had a remelt room and the lead was formed in 10 lb ingots for the 3 linotype machines. I would get the "contaminated" ingot(s) every couple of months.

I used to put leftovers in a round cake pan, covered with aluminum foil, which I took to work and reheated on top of the linotype melting pot. There was always a long line at the microwaves in the break room.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

It looks to me considering the time frame that you were getting the linotype lead that either antimony or tin was being used, it probably had to do with what was available in the area.


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## driftpin (Apr 27, 2013)

I've been only casting for about 10 years and love doing it. Mostly revolver loads, just started dabbling in rifle. I don't know where you live but if it gets cold in the winter and you decide you may end up sizing you bullets, I bought a Lyman heater the bolts just under my luber/sizer and boy it was amazing how well it worked and realized how much I was fighting the lube into the bullet grooves before. 

One other thing I just have to say (and I know its already been said) is we all cut corners here and there on safety in our shops but with casting there is an absolute need to be wearing safety glasses over ANY other safety device. 

Short story. I use a stainless steel spoon to stir my pot and in between ladling out 10#s of bullets, I had to add more and did, as soon as it was melted I threw a Tbs full of marvelux in with the lead and stuck that spoon in and enough time (only 20 mins) had gone by that it caused a mini lead explosion that had it not been for my eye protection, I probably would be blind in at least one eye. So every time I flux or skim I hold the bottom of the spoon over the lead and you can actually see the water being sucked out of the metal. I used to do it when I welded big iron too. A piece of iron that looks totally dry really isn't, you take a torch to it and you can actually see the water that wasn't there a sec ago leach out of the steel and dry up. 

It really gives you a huge amount of pride to look at your cartridges that you made almost from scratch, at least I do. Especially when they help me beat my buddies at the range!!


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## driftpin (Apr 27, 2013)

Viking said:


> I have hand cast many hundreds of 245 grain Elmer Keith type hard cast semi-wadecutters for my 44 mags over the years and when the tin mix is good I never had barrel leading problems with full loads of WW-296, Blue Dot or AA #9 powders.


I love Keith's designs as well and with tin, especially with a true Keith 429421 mold where the lube grove is square cut, the tin helps it fill those completely up. I don't use much tin. You don't need much at all and I don't know how much I'm really using weight wise but when I'm casting for my 44 with non-gas checked bullets, I buy the sticks of tin from midway and usually just dip in the stick about 3/4"-1" and let it melt off per 20#'s of lead and they work great. If you find your not filling in those grooves, check that your molds are hot enough and if they are I'd add a bit more tin.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

driftpin said:


> I love Keith's designs as well and with tin, especially with a true Keith 429421 mold where the lube grove is square cut, the tin helps it fill those completely up. I don't use much tin. You don't need much at all and I don't know how much I'm really using weight wise but when I'm casting for my 44 with non-gas checked bullets, I buy the sticks of tin from midway and usually just dip in the stick about 3/4"-1" and let it melt off per 20#'s of lead and they work great. If you find your not filling in those grooves, check that your molds are hot enough and if they are I'd add a bit more tin.


It's amazing what this bullet will go through, I have an old unusable propane tank that this bullet puts nasty big holes in at 50 feet. This Keith bullet has put a lot of venison in the freezer over the years as well.


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

driftpin said:


> I love Keith's designs as well and with tin, especially with a true Keith 429421 mold where the lube grove is square cut, the tin helps it fill those completely up. I don't use much tin. You don't need much at all and I don't know how much I'm really using weight wise but when I'm casting for my 44 with non-gas checked bullets, I buy the sticks of tin from midway and usually just dip in the stick about 3/4"-1" and let it melt off per 20#'s of lead and they work great. If you find your not filling in those grooves, check that your molds are hot enough and if they are I'd add a bit more tin.


358429 and 429421, My molds can cast either HP or solids.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

If you have the ability, I picked up a cast iron dutch oven from a junk store. I drilled a hole and added a spigot to the bottom for pouring. I set that on the turkey fryer and fire it up. I can cover the lid partially to contain any kind of lead explosion or at least direct it away from everything important. 

There are lots of places to get lead, might have to do extra work for it though. IF you have an indoor gun range nearby. Ask them about scooping some of the range scrap at the backstop. I used to go in and pick up bullet scrap with a shovel and fill a few 5 gallon buckets up. Now the tricky part is getting the lead outta the bullets. I 15lb flat tamper on cement works good to flatten or open up a bunch of bullets quickly. I fill the pot about a 1/3 of the way up and turn the burner on. Cover the lead stew with the lead to prevent any popping from bullets that might not have been cracked open.

Use the slotted spoon gently stirring and once you are comfortable the lead is liquified start spooning out the copper jackets. Set these aside they can be smelted later or sold for scrap once you have collected enough. This lead is so soft its gotta be pretty pure. I always try to blend it with WW lead, and then add tin to it depending on what I wanna cast..


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## driftpin (Apr 27, 2013)

smaj100 said:


> If you have the ability, I picked up a cast iron dutch oven from a junk store. I drilled a hole and added a spigot to the bottom for pouring. I set that on the turkey fryer and fire it up. I can cover the lid partially to contain any kind of lead explosion or at least direct it away from everything important.
> 
> There are lots of places to get lead, might have to do extra work for it though. IF you have an indoor gun range nearby. Ask them about scooping some of the range scrap at the backstop. I used to go in and pick up bullet scrap with a shovel and fill a few 5 gallon buckets up. Now the tricky part is getting the lead outta the bullets. I 15lb flat tamper on cement works good to flatten or open up a bunch of bullets quickly. I fill the pot about a 1/3 of the way up and turn the burner on. Cover the lead stew with the lead to prevent any popping from bullets that might not have been cracked open.
> 
> Use the slotted spoon gently stirring and once you are comfortable the lead is liquified start spooning out the copper jackets. Set these aside they can be smelted later or sold for scrap once you have collected enough. This lead is so soft its gotta be pretty pure. I always try to blend it with WW lead, and then add tin to it depending on what I wanna cast..


I've never heard of the trick with a cast iron stove. Never knew there was lead in em'. I have heard a lot of folks are scouring the backstops mounds at the ranges now. I still haven't gotten that desperate yet. I had a friend who worked for a cities public works garage as a mechanic and saved all the wheel weights for me. Unfortunately they are using all steel now but I have quite a little stockpile.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I have a lead ingot from the counterbalance of an old crane. I also have a few pounds of old 50/50 solder. Would the lead in the ingot be better for bullets with the tin from the solder and if so about how much should I mix in?

Also, is the lead in old batteries recoverable for bullet making?


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

Caribou said:


> Also, is the lead in old batteries recoverable for bullet making?


There was a very spirited discussion I saw on either this or another forum about using old batteries. The general consensus was that yes you can melt it, but the gases that are released are highly toxic because of the chemicals and chemical reactions the lead plates are part of during the normal charge and discharge of the battery.

Considering the really inexpensive cost of WW ($1-1.50 per lb.) I personally would not hazard my health with using battery plates. (then again, I take risks elsewhere that others do not choose to and they think I'm playing a little fast and loose with those)


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## ContinualHarvest (Feb 19, 2012)

A respirator and good gloves. Lead vapor is highly toxic.


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## driftpin (Apr 27, 2013)

It's not the lead vapor you have to worry about with batteries. It has something to do with the sulfuric acid plating the lead. Not sure what the chemical reaction is when you superheat that plated lead but I know old timer from the club I belong to that scrap the jacketed lead from the berms and are so freaking cheap but when the question came up about that, they said no freaking way would they ever do it. Said its a good way to take years off your life. I'd be interested at hearing the real issue with doing it. Not that I'd ever do it but I'd like to be able to logically explain to folks that ask it what is the real problems with it.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

I've never recovered lead from batteries, like others I've heard don't do it it's dangerous....

So is melting, handling and loading lead. I use a respirator similar to the one below anytime I am casting bullets or smelting recovered stuff into lead ingots. All of this is done outside with a highspeed fan blowing almost directly across the smelting setup or casting area. I try to direct everything away from the garage/house and pets. No point in me wearing a respirator and blowing the crap back inside to the animals or the wife. 

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Low-Mainte...or-Assembly/dp/B00004Z4EB/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_3

In a pinch if I needed more the lead than the several hundred pounds I've got, I would probably feel comfortable recovering lead plates from junk batteries following similar precautions to what I already do.

The best way to tell what you need to add to you lead to get good bullet results are to just actually cast some bullets and see.

Do they fill out the mold?
Are they wrinkled?
Are they dull or shiny?
And you can get any one of several hardness testers to measure the hardness of the bullet. Then cast a few, let em air cool, water quench and so on. I've been told but never checked that once bullets are cast they will become harder with age. Might have to measure some of the lead bullets I cast a couple years ago next trip home.


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## driftpin (Apr 27, 2013)

smaj100 said:


> I've been told but never checked that once bullets are cast they will become harder with age. Might have to measure some of the lead bullets I cast a couple years ago next trip home.


I got thinking about it. It might be feasible if the area you lived in were hot and the spot you stored your bullet got even warmer. I'm just thinking of hardening bullets in the oven. Maybe keeping them in a warm area would do that but at a much slower rate? I have a buddy who's go a degree in metallurgy and is a structural engineer. I'll ask him what he thinks. Sometimes I regret asking him something like this though because he can complicate just about anything. Lol


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

driftpin said:


> I got thinking about it. It might be feasible if the area you lived in were hot and the spot you stored your bullet got even warmer. I'm just thinking of hardening bullets in the oven. Maybe keeping them in a warm area would do that but at a much slower rate? I have a buddy who's go a degree in metallurgy and is a structural engineer. I'll ask him what he thinks. Sometimes I regret asking him something like this though because he can complicate just about anything. Lol


I had a friend like that. I told him "I just want to know what time it is." He gave me a funny look because time had nothing to do with what we were talking about. With a bit of a grin on my face I responded "I don't need to know how to build a clock."


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

Caribou said:


> I had a friend like that. I told him "I just want to know what time it is." He gave me a funny look because time had nothing to do with what we were talking about. With a bit of a grin on my face I responded "I don't need to know how to build a clock."


The answer is yes, lead does harden with age, up to a point, and then it starts to soften again. More correctly, lead alloys with antimony and tin do so. This has been proven over and over again. There are a couple of websites you guys might want to check out. One is the castboolits forum and the other is www.lasc.us I'm sure there are others, but those two have a wealth of information.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

I have read that the new generation of low or no maintenance batteries have a form of calcium in them that can give off dangerous fumes when melted. These batteries are better left for recycling or core value. Check with roofing businesses that do flat roof work as often there is scrap lead sheeting that is used in drain scupper areas and wall edge flashings, that's where I got about 100 lbs of good soft lead. I just had to melt the sheets outside to burn off the tar.


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## driftpin (Apr 27, 2013)

Some of the old just sailboat that you see (if you live on the coast like me) use huge chunks of lead for ballast. Many of the boat owners will simple give you the boat for free as long as you haul it of. So with a trailer and tools like sawzalls and chainsaws you can get a few hundred pounds of lead over a weekend but you'll have to work for it and possibly have to pay a dump fee.


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