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Source for Lead?

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joe sebia

36 Cal.
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Mar 9, 2014
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My uncle passed away a while ago who was an avid fisherman. He had in his garage about 25 pounds of egg sinkers that appear to be lead ( I can put a depression in them with my fingernail)

What has me questioning the purity is that these sinkers are "Shiny" and appear to be coated in tin or zinc. They are not your typical dull grey you would expect of lead. They may have been for Salt water fishing

Whould they be good for casting RB's? I was going to cast a few and check the weight of the RB. I believe a 50 cal RB is 188 grains. Is that a good test?

Appreciate any insight. is there away of cleaning up the mix ie the skimming tin/zinc from the top or would it be fine as is.
 
Regardless of their composition they would be suitable for shooting patched round balls since the patch would engage the rifling. Although I don't know if these sinkers are pure or not, if you can indent them with your fingernail, they are soft enough to shoot in a cap and ball without a patch.

I have been told that you can heat lead alloys very hot for an extended time and eventually remove tin, antimony, and other metals by stirring and skimming. This is not the same process as fluxing though.
 
I don't know what they use to coat lead sinkers, if anything. If they are coated, it is most likely something like lacquer. If they are soft enough to scratch significantly with your fingernail, they will most likely make decent balls. Actually, if you are going to use patches on the balls, you can make balls from just about any lead alloy since the ball itself does not touch the inside of the bore. The patch is what fits into the rifling. Properly patched, the ball never touches the bore. One of our contributors, Roundball, has tested brass balls and they worked just fine for him. So, I'd say that you can use the lead sinkers to make balls. Realize, of course, that differnt alloys will yield different ball weights. So, I would not mix them with your pure lead balls. The different weight will cause your POI to change just a bit. This can make a difference between shooting an X and shooting somewhere outside the 10 ring.
 
Usually, what you did is sufficient to remove "dross" which is the word most commonly used for crud, junk, trash, whatever that floats to the surface. Fluxing involves adding an organic substance to the molten lead, stirring it in, and skimming the dross off. Beeswax is the most common organic material but even sawdust can be used. It removes more junk than just skimming does.
 
you can heat lead alloys very hot for an extended time and eventually remove tin, antimony, and other metals by stirring and skimming.
That's one of the great myth's that never dies.

Yes, when you get lead and/or lead alloys very hot stuff builds up on the surface and can be skimmed off.
It's the actual lead burning up (oxidizing), then floating.
In the case of lead with tin/zinc/antimony it's still the alloyed mix burning and floating to the top, not just the added metals.
The only way to separate lead from it's various alloy's is with multi million dollar equipment in an industrial setting.
 
ApprenticeBuilder said:
Any parafin wax (candles) will work, just takes a small amount at a time to flux.

Just a small piece, the size of the top of your thumb, will do the job.

Did anybody mention that doing it outside is a plan?

Try it indoors and see what happens...everybody is entitled to one mistake, right?

That's what I said to the medic in ER. after mrs tac and had a 'quiet word' by way of a skillet.

Me and 'F'taaaaang' are now close pals.

tac
 
necchi said:
It's the actual lead burning up (oxidizing), then floating.

Thanks for this info. I'm new to molding but have had pretty good success getting good quality balls within +/- a gr (.610) weight and a nice surface. But I may be heating the lead a little too hot as I think I get more crud than I should from what is supposed to be 99.9% pure lead bars.

I do have a thermometer. At what temperature does the oxidation occur?
 
My 1st and only time was in the garage about -20 wit the doors shut :shocked2: . Me wife stayed with me put I can NEVER mess with it again inside (or near the house at all).

Been about 15-18 years so I may try again soon when she's gonna be gone for half a day!
 
I see it happen with my thermometer around 800.
I'll see the iridescent colors floating and if it get's much hotter the crud starts building up, and that's an indication to those that don't have thermometers that it's getting pretty hot.

It seems to me that when melted lead get's on the high end,, that extra 25-50 degrees really makes the difference,
I don't use the thermometer much anymore I watch for the colors,, I use a Coleman stove, a cast iron pot that holds about 15#, it's a balancing act between the flame and adding more lead as I cast.
It's that whole melt temp, mold temp and rhythm that makes the cast.
 
The thing that tac is alluding to is the fact that when you add any of the mentioned fluxing materials, you are going to get large volumes of smoke. Occasionally, this smoke will ignite by itself. If this happens, just be calm. There should not be a big flame and it will quickly extinguish. But this is why you need to do it outside or at least in an open garage where the flame won't catch something on fire. Some people will actually intentionally ignite the smoke to get rid of it. The flame will consume the smoke as it comes off the lead and you will not have your garage or shop full of smoke.

I use both candle wax and bees wax depending on which is closest at hand. Both work great. Just drop in the chunk of wax and stir it into the lead. The dross will come to the surface and you can use your dipper to skim it off. I keep a can on the bench that I dump the dross into as I skim it off.

Necchi nailed it when he said "It's that whole melt temp, mold temp and rhythm that makes the cast. ". Good advice.
 
I used to do it on my kitchen stove. The initial part I did outside where I cleaned the lead up. The wife didn't like me doing it there so I did it when she wasn't home and it gave me incentive to clean up extra good so she wouldn't know.

I have since bought an electric pot and do it in the garage with the door part way open at least depending on the weather. I also have a exhaust fan hooked up. I rarely flux because I have already cleaned the lead but still do occationally.
 
A local prepper can be a good source of lead. I chased one downthat had the local scrap suuplies. Now he brings me lead and I cast bullets for him and get equal amount by weight for my trouble.
 
I hit up a tire shop yesterday for 36 lbs. The manager said $10.00 please, but I was broke. I'm going back on Monday to pay him and to get more, I still have two 5 gallon buckets to go through. So far he is the only one who the fishing weight guys haven't locked up for their lead. :shake:
 

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