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Lead

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Pure lead is good especially if your gun is say pre-1900. I use wheel weights and they are soft. Find lead locally so you dont have to pay shipping
 
Wheel weights are a fine source of lead but be careful. They all arent lead like in the old days. Only about a third of them are even lead anymore.Avoid those with a Z for zinc or Fe for iron stamped on them.
 
im thinking of try my hand at making my own round balls, what am I looking for as far as lead. Thanks
Try finding a local metal scrap yard someplace around where you live. They often have lead that they bought from companies that do home remodeling.

A local plumber might have lead but they are often using more modern methods of sealing sewer pipes and rain gutters.
A local roofing company might have lead. It is used for forming the flashing around pipes and chimneys.

Please remember. NEVER use an aluminum pot or pan to melt the lead in. The high temperature will be enough to remove almost all of the strength from the aluminum and more than a few aluminum pan bottoms have fallen out pouring molten lead all over the place.
 
Plumber's lead or roofing lead may be your best bet for use in muzzleloading guns. Automobile wheel weights if real lead alloy are at least 2.5% antimony and will be slightly too hard for use in muzzle loading guns without special treatment. You want lead that is easily scratched with a finger nail or Brinell Hardness 5 not harder. A small amount of tin may not be a problem, but even 1% Antimony will cause your lead to age harden significantly.
 
There was a similar post about this very subject several weeks ago. I had several pounds of wheel weight lead, which may have been too hard, I mixed it with fishing weight lead (pure lead). That should have given me a mixture of about 1% antimony. That is still alittle on the hard side but it passes the "scratch with a thumb nail" rule and useable. But be cautious though, fishing weights can hold a little bit of water inside the lead and explode when being melted. I would highly recommend looking up the old thread. And please wear long sleeves when melting.
 
I use sheet lead and lead pipe for muzzleloaders.

I would highly recommend getting a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. It's an older copy, but I prefer the 3rd edition as it has ballistic coefficient information for their molds.

If you have never cast lead before, there are some safety concerns. Obviously molten metal is dangerous, the fumes can be bad for your health, but a little water introduced into the lead pot can be very hazardous. These and other safety concerns will be covered in any good manual. I use welding gloves, leather apron and wear leather work boots when casting.
 
Water volume expands about 700 times when it flashes from water straight to vapor. You might as well be dropping a hand grenade in your 800deg. pot.
 
Thats what I meant by being cautious when melting fishing weights. Its not likely but it is possible for them to contain a drop or two of water if they've been used fairly recently.
 
I too had planned on melting some balls for a 44 that I recently bought. But before I invest in a mould, I just may buy a box of "ready mades".In the mean time save the lead for the 45s. I already have the moulds for them.
 
And please wear long sleeves when melting.

Yes!.
You don't want water anywhere near anything that is molten and you definitely want protection.
I have been burnt by melted asphalt, molten lead and molten steel . All three stick to skin and continue to burn until they cool. VERY PAINFUL.
Lead cools the quickest, Molten steel does the most damage, asphalt is the stickiest.

Your head/ eyes are the most vulnerable.
 
Actually water around is no problem. Even drops of water landing in the hot lead is not an issue. The issue is lead that has moisture inside it. Like holes or cracks. Dropping a cold ingot with a crack that has moisture in it will cause a violent explosion. Even dropping a freezing cold ingot into hot lead will cause it to boil a bit. I am much more worried about lead that is freezing cold than a glass of water sitting by the pot.
 
I never had that problem with freezing cold lead. Anyway it hasnt happened in South Texas yet. It does make a person leary of used fishing weights though.But they are a good source of pure lead aren't they? Can wheel weight lead be "unhardened" by melting pure lead in with it and making a blend to soften it up?
 
Plumber's lead or roofing lead may be your best bet for use in muzzleloading guns. Automobile wheel weights if real lead alloy are at least 2.5% antimony and will be slightly too hard for use in muzzle loading guns without special treatment. You want lead that is easily scratched with a finger nail or Brinell Hardness 5 not harder. A small amount of tin may not be a problem, but even 1% Antimony will cause your lead to age harden significantly.
Wheel weights work good in a smoothies but may be too hard for a rifled bore. Pure lead without any alloy is best.
Wheel weights are often used in casting pistol bullets in those modern cartridge revolvers. Then again I don’t think those will catch on. Breech loaders are just a fad...
 
Do the fingernail test. If you can dent it with your fingernail, it's probably soft enough. Test that against some store-bought cast suppository gun bullets as well as known pure lead stuff like store-bought swaged ML'er RB's to see if there is a difference in dentability between them all. I'm pretty sure that .22 LR's are pure lead too.
 
It does make a person leery of used fishing weights though. But they are a good source of pure lead aren't they?
They can be, but not all will be.
Can wheel weight lead be "unhardened" by melting pure lead in with it and making a blend to soften it up?
Sure - you can reduce the hardness by mixing in pure lead. But why would you?
 
Years ago I put a lead mixer spreadsheet together to help adjust the hardness of my cast boolits.
Lee makes a hardness tester that is under 12 bucks.
Cabine Tree makes an EXCELLENT hardness tester that is a bit more but worth every penny.
Get Richard Lees second edition loading book. It has a chart in it for pressure vs hardness for any cast lead bullet.
It has been an irreplaceable reference for shooting lead at long ranges and higher pressures without leading the barrel.
If anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheet I did, drop me a PM with your email and I will be happy to send it to you.
Pure lead is readily available on FleaBay. If you buy a decent quantity, some will ship flat rate for cheap or free.
 

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