Sheet Lead

[necchi]

They gave me an invoice that said it had 4 to 6% antimony.
You may want to check the hardness.

A few years ago I sent a sample of the stuff I have to Idaho Ron and his tester showed it was a little harder then true pure lead, but the stuff is still plenty soft enough for round ball and rifle use.
I can't remember for sure but if pure lead is 5 brinnel this stuff was 7.

Get a pair of large tin snips to cut it up with.

I just score one side deeply with a utility knife then fold it back-n-forth a few times,, the cut will fatigue and break real easy.

 

[Tinker2]

If you manage to get more than you will ever use, you can always sell it to your friends.

Or better yet, get a Brown Bess




William

 

[jamesthomas]

Get it! I was lucky enuf to get 300 lbs that came out of an X-ray room. The stuff I have is pure lead or danged close to it.
GW

I have done the same thing!! Though I did sell most of it to a troll board maker down here on the coast, made some extra money on it too!. Mine was from an X-Ray room also. I had around #400lbs in 1 pound ingots. Took forever to melt down and get clean. I still have about 30 or so pounds left.

 

[Heelerau]

Mate there can be copperised lead, that will have a sort of glazed greenish tinge to it, that will be fine for round ball and flat based bullets, might be a bit iffy for minnies. I suspect it will be pure milled lead, and won't be a problem anyways.
:thumbsup: Grab it and run, or chuck the bloke a carton of Millers !! Scrap lead down under is about $1.50 to $2.00 a pound, so sounds similar to the US. We don't seem to have a lead shortage like I get the impression you blokes in the US have?

cheers

Heelerau

 

[eggwelder]

i scored about 100 lbs sheet lead a year or two ago. I rolled it up tight and chopped it into manageable pieces on my chopping block with an axe. fit into my melting pot easier.
I've also used the same lead over and over from range sessions by bringing my own sand filled target trap. i sift the sand and re melt the recovered lead.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Sheet lead was for two applications on a large scale. Roof flashing, and shielding for X-ray booths. In the first case it was very close to pure as it needed to be sort of form-fit. In the second application it was very close to pure as it needed to be as dense as possible while still being thin so it could be mounted.

Today they mix lead into concrete, for the X-ray booths, but about 10 years ago when a local Radiology center was renovating, they found a roll of the stuff, apparently stored in case the company expanded into more X-ray booths, OR for repairs. A friend got the whole roll simply by offering to get it off of their property.

So yeah if you can get it for $400 or even less...JUMP ON DAT!

LD

X-ray rooms are also built using "sheetrock" ( drywall/gypsum board ) that has a thin lead sheet layered within it. Seams are covered with lead foil and mudded over...A 4x8 sheet is extremely heavy....and expensive compared to regular sheetrock.

 

[amcmullen]

If one were to pay for it what would it be worth per pound? He has over 400 pounds.

I got 500 pounds at .40 a pound from a construction sight and the scrap yard has some sheet lead I am going to buy at .75 a pound.

get all you can.


William Alexander

Heard that! I went to my local scrap yard and found they had 200 lbs of pure roofing lead rolls. I asked how much and they told me $0.50 a pound. bought it all. they had a bunch more lead but it was all of unknown origin so i passed.

Another good place to look is your local muzzleloader and pistol ranges. I have several hundred pounds of range lead that I am holding onto its all melted into ingots. The plan is to use it for fishing jigs/ sinkers or to sell it when the lead prices go up and buy more pure when needed. just make sure your club is cool with it

 

[Tinker2]

they had a bunch more lead but it was all of unknown origin so i passed.

Smooth bore guns don’t care. Hard or soft don’t matter.




William Alexander

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Don't get hasty and melt it all down, easy to store in sheet form and works great to line the jaws of your bench vise with.

Also as was mentioned earlier No reason at all to ever pass up cheap (free) lead, known alloy or not, the bonus with sheet lead, it is a known hardness when acquired in sheet form.