Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Lead pipe

Buddy was doing some work on his rental and removed a length of lead pipe and gave it to me. I cut off the galvanized fittings and melted it down. Seemed to melt easier than the wheel weights..

Was lead pipe pure lead?

For practical purposes plumber and roof lead are pure.

Thanks Dan'l

Dan

Yes is was what they call pure lead.

You can mix it with clip on wheel weights for some good bullets or use it as is with a little tin added for a muzzle loader.

I'm curious - why do you add tin to your ML projectiles?

Don't know if it was a regional thing or not, but in the 50's we were able to find quite a few 10 and 12 inch diameter culverts, some up to 20 feet long that had been installed under country roads in the early 1900's. They were pure lead with wall thickness of 1/2" or so. Quite the treasure for bullet casters. Also have "rescued" quite a few counterweights that were used in large steel frame windows. They were about 3-1/2" square and 2 and 5 foot lengths. They were also pure lead. Still have a couple of ingots made from them.

I go both ways now and then. Two piece bullets are one excuse, whim another. 60:1 lowers cast temp slightly and helps with fill out. Such frivolity orbits the bullets used with paper patch mostly. They seem to shoot a bit better as well. I don’t do it for round balls.

Even for impractical purposes.

It's a cinch...

I agree with this fully.

I see what you did there...