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Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 17,818
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 17,818 |
Hell, I was casting bullets in elementary school. Good ventilation, wash hands....zero probs.
Pops passed. Reckon 500# of Lyman ingots plus a couple big chunks from ?
Corner of garage.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 10,351
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 10,351 |
powder coated don't care if it's zinc contaminated. just the casting part will...
Whatever you are willing to put up with, is exactly what you will have.
When your ship comes in. ... make sure you are willing to unload it.
PAYPAL, sucks and I will never use them again. I recommend you do the same.
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,799
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,799 |
I heard that tale too about lead fumes. Look up the properties of lead. 620 degrees or so to melt 3,000 degrees or so to vaporize and get in the air to inhale.yea, not happening on your puny little furnace. what you smell is the 'trash' that is burning off of the lead, and most think that is the lead fumes. It's not. my wife had the same argument when we started a family. Fortunately I could get her to think logically about what she was concerned about. I promised to keep the mess to a minimum and outside and wash my hands when done. Washing hands and keeping clean is the biggest help of anything. Exactly. I started casting bullets in the early '70s. "Pure" lead for muzzle loaders and wheel weights for my centerfire pistols and rifles. Then in the mid '80s I started competing in ATA registered Trap shoots, shooting up to 1,000 12 ga shells per week, and the cost of shot got to the outrageous cost of over $5 per 25 pound bag, so I started making my own shot. Wheel weights made the best shot and was hard enough for my 27 yard handicap loads. For about 15 years I was making about 700 pounds of shot each year. I do my lead smelting outdoors and my shotmaker is in the garage which is well ventilated with one large door and the side door open. For the past 30 years I have done my bullet casting on the bar in my 1,000 sf trophy room with it's 14 ft ceiling. I've never worried about lead fumes, because I've known that my casting and lead melting will not get the lead hot enough to vaporize. Last week I cast 13 pounds of .38 bullets and 17 pounds of .44 bullets.
SAVE 200 ELK, KILL A WOLF
NRA Endowment Life Member
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 10,351
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 10,351 |
I'm thinking you could sell some shot...
Whatever you are willing to put up with, is exactly what you will have.
When your ship comes in. ... make sure you are willing to unload it.
PAYPAL, sucks and I will never use them again. I recommend you do the same.
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Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 1,017
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 1,017 |
I was at a new salvage yard the other day and happened upon a 5 gallon bucket of "soft" lead. It took two guys to lift it into the back of my truck. It's soft alright. I can dig a finger nail in it. Most of it is plumbers lead and some lead pipe
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Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 17,818
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 17,818 |
I toss 65 lbs in a GI ammo can and sell the thing for 75. Guys buy it to make fishing lures.
That quantity and container keeps it convenient
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Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 8,881
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 8,881 |
It's not how much you have but how much you can recycle out of the bullets you cast. Shoot them into a easily reclaimble back stop and do so. No telling how many times. I've sieved my sand filled backstop rinsed, dried and returned them to ingot status. MB
" Cheapest velocity in the world comes from a long barrel and I sure do like them. MB "
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Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 1,017
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 1,017 |
I've always enjoyed digging spent bullets out of the backstop berm, and enjoyed making new bullets out of them. I have plans to make a used bullet sifter to make the endeavor more productive
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,225
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,225 |
Found a source that gets me soft lead every now and then for free. Anytime they tear out something with lead in it I get it. There are some nails and other stuff to clean out before melting. My old Coleman camping stove looks nasty but it sure works a long time on one fill of the tank. Be Well, RZ.
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill.
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 6,518
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 6,518 |
A few years ago I was given about three hundred pounds of pure lead which I melted and poured into one pound ingots. With Rotometal’s help, I can cast bullets from 10 to 16 Bhn. I haven’t fooled with wheel weights since. I only cast about a thousand bullets a year, that lead will last a long, long time. And I’m always on the look-out for more pure lead.
If we live long enough, we all have regrets. But the ones that nag at us the most are the ones in which we know we had a choice.
Doug
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,203
Campfire Savant
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Campfire Savant
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,203 |
Us old plumbers have melted tons of lead, I haven’t noticed any bad affects from it yet. We wore gloves, but that was it. They don’t use lead for pipe joints in construction any more. I don’t think you could cast enough bullets to cause health concerns from lead. I’d do it outside if possible.
Last edited by hanco; 07/04/21.
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,989
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,989 |
Get 'em while you can lads, they are fading away. I agree! I started casting sometime in the late 60's as a kid helping my Grandfather. Since then I've seen lead go from free or cheap and plentiful to hard to find at any price. I still get a partial bucket of weights from the local tire shop every 4 to 6 weeks. I sort them as I get them so as to not get hopelessly behind. The lead yield is still running 60-65% lead, pretty good compared to other places. Me and a buddy get together in late winter or early spring and have a joint smelting party. I have a pot and Propane fired burner that will melt 400# of lead in 20 minutes or so, although only filling it to 350 gives us more room to stir and flux. We run about 7 or 8 of the Lyman style ingot molds.
lightman
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,101
Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,101 |
Just picked up what might be my last load of WW. 400# +/- Melt pot is giggling.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,101
Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,101 |
Sorted about 100# today and the FE/ZN pile is a fair bit bigger than the last load. 35# is my guess.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
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Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 17,818
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 17,818 |
I have a couple hundred Lyman ingots. Doubt I use em up.
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Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 95
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 95 |
I picked up some xray sheeting at the local scrap yd for $1.25 a lb. the guy tried to push some wheel weights on me , i told him i wanted the pure stuff!
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,084
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,084 |
I spent years bird dogging wheelweights, and probably have enough "for the duration". Now I'm on the prowl for pure (or nearly so) lead and more importantly tin. Vintage single shot breech seated target rifles can be persnickety in that way.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 771
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 771 |
I still pick up good lead wheel weights when I find them but have mostly moved on to other sources . I just got tired of sorting and ending up with fewer and fewer lead weights and more and more iron, plastic and zinc . I might try a pot of pure zinc bullets for target shooting . Zinc cast light but you can make bullets out of it and guys living in socialist states may have to use it unless they can afford more expensive alternatives. I don't throw zinc weights away , just incase !
Grumpy old man with a gun.....Do not touch . Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. Don't bother my monument and I'll leave yours alone.
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Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 771
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 771 |
I have a couple hundred Lyman ingots. Doubt I use em up.
I use more than that a week .
Grumpy old man with a gun.....Do not touch . Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. Don't bother my monument and I'll leave yours alone.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 6,204
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 6,204 |
Get 'em while you can lads, they are fading away.
That they are. Again, entire 5gallon bucket from the shop I usually get WW from, ended up with two handfuls of actual lead. He apologized, said it is what it is and he didnt pre sort. I told him thanks for the yrs fo busisnes, I'll probably focus time on range scrap from now on.
Quit giving in inch by inch then looking back to lament the mile behind ya and wonder how to preserve those few feet left in front of ya. They'll never stop until they're stopped. That's a fact.
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