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Lead?!

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artkodiak

32 Cal.
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
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With the Chinese taking over the corporate world, does anyone know of a domestic source of lead? (I had to leave a literal lifetime's supply behind when moving from Alaska...)
 
Happened to me, too. If you have a friend in construction they often have access to various quantities of lead. I left behind probably 600 lbs when I moved. Roofers can be a source of heavy lead "flashings". Good luck to you and me both.
 
I've been hoarding it for years and even have a metal-detector so I can recover my target backdrop areas in the woods.

Rotometals is good. Check your county for junkyards and "recycling centers" (aka junk yards). I have five-gallon pails full of plumbing lead that I was given. Filthy but I pre-melt in a cast iron pot and skim the old oakum and dross out, then cast ingots.

The biggest chunk ever was one I was given access to at a boatyard. About 10" wide, 18" high and 48" long. Lord knows what it weighed. It was from a shortened sailboat keel. The "deal" was that I couldn't saw it to leave lead shavings or dust on the ground. I ended up using a cold chisel, but then hit on a Stanley plane. I shaved off 1-1/2" wide curls and ended up getting about 40 lbs off it before they had it removed with a bunch of other scrap.

Some of the other good chunks I have are from old SCUBA weight belts from flea markets and garage sales. Those will go last because I find they are VERY handy for gluing or when I need to weigh something down.
 
I got about a hundred pounds of lead foil used in X-rays from a dentist office. Not many still use the lead foil stuff, but free is free. It saved them a few bucks from having it hauled off. E@ch piece was inside a thin cardboard @nd plastic sleeve. I’d sit for an hour or so, peeling open those sleeves to get the lead out, all while the television is going just to keep me company.

The lead is slightly hard, but not too bad.
 
I was in radiology for 42 years. Find a small xray repair company. All the old machines had some lead shields in them. Also, lead wall shielding is available from remodeling. They used sheet rock with lead lining. It will be pure lead. I got some for nothing over the years.
 
Thanks a mil for all the helpful replies! I had no intention of leaving Alaska so was hoarding the stuff as well. Additionally, I had a literal lifetime's supply of the old wheel wts for modern rifle/pistol bullets. Who would have known!
ArtKodiak
 
A hospital radiology tech turned me on to what was, for a while, a limitless supply. All the vials of nuclear medicines are shipped in various forms of lead containers. Big ones, little ones, thick ones, thin ones, painted, plastic covered and bare lead. Hospitals get tons of this packaging.

It might be good to know what he told me about it being regulated, radiological waste: He said that so long as it had the nuclear symbol on it, it was regulated material. But as a licensed tech, he had authority to check it with a Geiger counter and if it was clean, simply marking out the symbol with a magic marker removed it from being regulated waste.
 
That's interesting. The reason they use lead is that it does not readily absorb radiation especially in short exposures, so how putting a symbol on it makes it somehow dangerous is just silly. Gotta love the pin heads that think this stuff up, but I digress.
I have several hundred pounds of lead from those above mentioned containers. It's not pure lead. It's quite a bit harder. I use it for making pistol bullets and it's perfect for that.
 
View attachment 1325 I shoot an archery tournament at the same state park they hold the Alabama M/L championship at. Before the park, superintendent went into the lead business I could easily pick up 50# in an hour or so of searching the berm. The super picked up 1400 pounds, recast into ingots and resold it to the shooters. He banned lead collection by folk like me as well

Last time I was there the place had changed, the old superintendent was gone and the new one told me to pick up whatever I wanted to. Pickings were slim in comparison to the old days as the bearm had been mined extensively but I still managed to pick up 20# in an hour or so.

This lead is very dirty, I used to try to wash it but now throw it in my lead pot dirt and all. I skim and flux and end up with some very clean lead.

casting bullets 007.JPG



This is about 100#, I separated the lead that splattered on impact and call it soft lead. Projectiles that retain their shape I call hard lead, I cast it separately and save it for my smooth bores.

lead stockpile 002.JPG
 
Berm mining is my main source since my Dentist went digital. Made a sifter box to do Gold panning type search, and have become selective in what I save. JHP .45's and 9 mm's being top of the mix, don't care for FMJ's or cast lead (additives). Also careful when melting, as have had a minor steam explosion from what I assume was captured water.
Cheers,
R










berm min
 
Where I went to college there was a Sheriff's/FBI firing range just a short hike up the hill. When it was quiet weekdays I would walk up and fill coffee cans with lead and jacketed bullets, then melt them down. Range is now closed - and they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove and replace the topsoil and grade it flat.

Heck, they should have just opened it up to shooters to come help themselves.
 
I am still sitting on about 200+ lbs. of X-ray room lead sheeting melted into pot sized ingots. Its been melted and cleaned several times so its ready to go when and if I cast anything again.

X-ray sheeting is good stuff by the way.... Just difficult to get cut down for the pot as it was about 3/8 or so thick.
 
That's interesting. The reason they use lead is that it does not readily absorb radiation especially in short exposures, so how putting a symbol on it makes it somehow dangerous is just silly. Gotta love the pin heads that think this stuff up, but I digress.
I have several hundred pounds of lead from those above mentioned containers. It's not pure lead. It's quite a bit harder. I use it for making pistol bullets and it's perfect for that.[/QUOT

It's not that they ,"absorb radiation", it is because some times the liquid product it is shielding us from gets spilled or otherwise contaminated by the user. Ask me how I know this one,LOL. Some of the radiation materials we used can last for many years. It is very wise to check those type containers for left over material that you probably could not even see. Thank goodness that Technologist was not lazy.
 
I don't know about production facilities for lead in the States, but it may be to reclaim lead from waste sources. I'm not aware of any lead mines in the US anymore. I think they have closed. There used to be some in SE Kansas.
 
With all the storms up and down the coast,might check with boat salvage,sail boats have lead keel weights sometimes.also fork lifts use lead for counter weights.
 
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