Lead Casting

[oldways]

I just don't want to use anything that may be to hard. Will to hard of an alloy damage the rifling in a roundball barrel?

[Habu]

I just don't want to use anything that may be to hard. Will to hard of an alloy damage the rifling in a roundball barrel?

The lead won't damage the rifling.  Getting a ball stuck part-way down and shooting it out without seating it on the powder will damage the rifling, and that might be more likely to happen with hard lead.

The "hard" lead you get from wheelweights will cast larger than soft lead.  Being larger, it is harder to load using the same patch--and it won't deform to fit the rifling/take an impression of the patch.  And it won't obturate on firing, to fill the rifling. 

The one place where the use of hard lead can cause damage to the gun is with revolvers.  The hard lead can accelerate wear on the loading lever, or even break it. 

For the most part, I stick with soft lead in rifles.  I do use a fair amount of wheel weight lead (the "hard" stuff) in smoothbores.  My loads were developed with that in mind.  A couple of friends use hard lead in big-bore rifles, but again, they developed their loads with that in mind. 

[heelerau]

Aluminum Lee Molds all the way, makes a very good roundball. I have a .490 and a .395. if it makes a bad ball its my fault.

I use iron, brass and lee moulds, don't seem to have a preference, they all seem to cast well.  I get BHP ingot lead 50lbs, 99.98 pure, for minnie' ball, and pritchets, some times use a harder lead for balls.  Just got a 6 gang lee mould for the navy colt, that has taken some getting used to but casts well.

Cheers

Heelerau

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Folks, James sent me some samples of the wheel weight lead he uses for casting round ball...it is dead soft lead  - the type I wouldn't hesitate to use for my own ammo.  Thanks James for your thoughtfulness.  I'm going to look into acquiring the same stuff here...

[oldways]

I have some old t.c. maxi-balls, would they be OK to melt down and cast them for roundballs?

[Habu]

Give them the drop test.  Drop them on a concrete floor.  If they go "thud" and get smashed, they should be OK.  If they ring like a bell and bounce, probably not. 

The maxiballs sold by TC were all soft lead, as far as I know.  I've only ever acquired them to melt down into round balls. 

[Kermit]

I have some old t.c. maxi-balls, would they be OK to melt down and cast them for roundballs?

That 's the best use for them. 

[Bible Totin Gun Slinger]

Give them the drop test.  Drop them on a concrete floor.  If they go "thud" and get smashed, they should be OK.  If they ring like a bell and bounce, probably not. 

The maxiballs sold by TC were all soft lead, as far as I know.  I've only ever acquired them to melt down into round balls. 

I had some lead you couldn't brake the sprue off,,,they bounced all the way down the driveway, I ain't wastin powder on em.

[WadePatton]

Been a while since i cast balls, but am getting geared up for another batch, so I'm refreshing my memory with your notes. 

Have a Jeff Tanner brass mould on the way.  I've been saving lead for, well ever.  Pretty sure i have a mixed up bunch of ingots (cast in a measuring cup) but that I'm going to set all those aside until i can borrow my buddy's lead hardness tester.

THEN swap him all my hard lead for his soft lead as he's doing cartridges yet.  Or at least ID my ingots.

Presently cleaning up some flashing lead, which seems quite soft.  And have a few pucks of plumber lead, plus some wire sheathing lead (what a mess).  All of these i expect to be soft enough.

And until i get a TON of lead saved up, i'll keep most of my shooting into a dirt back where I can "mine" my own Pb.

[moleeyes36]

Wade,

A friend and I got about 1600 pounds of unused lead roof flashing at a metal salvage yard a few years ago for fifty cents a pound.  That stuff is incredibly soft lead.  We went back a few months ago and the salvage yard told us they don't sell lead anymore because of all the government hassle required to handle it.

Mole Eyes

[WadePatton]

I won't feel "fully stocked" until i have a 1/4 ton or so myself!  Missed a possible great opportunity when they demolished the old hospital in bigcity next door a few years back.  

I LOVE the flashing, cutting it with kitchen shears (heavy scissors), feeding electric pot, casting ingots of a different shape than all the others as many of my others are "not dead soft".  

I suppose now is a good time to work that wire sheathing down too (it's kinda hard, i just discovered).  Problem with buying lead at the scrappers here is that I'm going to pay his selling price which is double what he paid for it (that's just biz).  Key is catching it before it gets there.  And I started using stick-on wheelweights too, unrelated, but not!

Roundballs!

[iloco]

I won't feel "fully stocked" until i have a 1/4 ton or so myself!  Missed a possible great opportunity when they demolished the old hospital in bigcity next door a few years back. 

I LOVE the flashing, cutting it with kitchen shears (heavy scissors), feeding electric pot, casting ingots of a different shape than all the others as many of my others are "not dead soft". 

I suppose now is a good time to work that wire sheathing down too (it's kinda hard, i just discovered).  Problem with buying lead at the scrappers here is that I'm going to pay his selling price which is double what he paid for it (that's just biz).  Key is catching it before it gets there.  And I started using stick-on wheelweights too, unrelated, but not!

Roundballs!

What is the going price for a pound of very soft lead.....?

[WadePatton]

Depends a bit on how much you buy, but a quick glance at "sold" items on ebay which indicates 1.50-1.75#.  

related note (as i saw some for sale): I found that some of the stick-on wheel weights I had collected were not soft lead.  I put them aside.

[jamesthomas]

Wade,

A friend and I got about 1600 pounds of unused lead roof flashing at a metal salvage yard a few years ago for fifty cents a pound.  That stuff is incredibly soft lead.  We went back a few months ago and the salvage yard told us they don't sell lead anymore because of all the government hassle required to handle it.

Mole Eyes

 And I thought I was doing good to have 200 pounds!!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

James:  200 pounds is great, and so much better than 20 pounds.  If all of your 200 is like that that you send me, you should be smiling!!

[jamesthomas]

 Taylor, yes it is! dead soft lead like I sent you.

[moleeyes36]

Wade,

A friend and I got about 1600 pounds of unused lead roof flashing at a metal salvage yard a few years ago for fifty cents a pound.  That stuff is incredibly soft lead.  We went back a few months ago and the salvage yard told us they don't sell lead anymore because of all the government hassle required to handle it.

Mole Eyes

 And I thought I was doing good to have 200 pounds!!

James,

Well unfortunately I didn't end up with the full 1600 pounds of lead.  My friend and I split the load and I got talked into selling about 200 pounds of my half to "leadless" friends and then gave probably another 100 pounds to the 4-H kids for use in their ML program.  So I probably ended up with about 500 pounds.  And that goes quicker than you'd think when casting .58 caliber minni balls and .62 caliber round balls.  And like Wade, I don't feel fully stocked without a few hundred pounds of lead on hand.

Mole Eyes

[jamesthomas]

 Well, my lead will last awhile because I just have .395's and soon will be casting .445 for my .45 caliber Pennsylvania, Virginia, Sheetz rifle. Kinda stuck on what I want right now  . I'm retiring my .50 cal. J.P. Beck rifle it has started to pound me at the range (My back has been getting worse this past 2 years  ).

[LH]

Lead can get used up quicker than it seems like it should.  I typically send about 75lbs of .395's and another 30 or 40lbs of .530's downrange every year and it sure does not seem like I'm doing an excessive amount of shooting.  I start getting antsy when my supply gets below half a ton.   

[WadePatton]

Lead can get used up quicker than it seems like it should.  I typically send about 75lbs of .395's and another 30 or 40lbs of .530's downrange every year and it sure does not seem like I'm doing an excessive amount of shooting.  I start getting antsy when my supply gets below half a ton.   

I hope to recycle a good bit of my downrange lead.  A dead tree is catching 'em now. 

also just got the Tanner brass mould and am fitting some "non-standard" handles to it.  And it's storming out, or I'd be dropping some roundballs presently.

and but wait there's more.  Heck i just "discovered" that hardwood can be used for an ingot mould.  No telling what other secrets i've yet to discover. 

[yardhunter]

Hmmm, let's see.
17 pounds of roofing vents….



plus 3 hours pouring…..



equals 574 lead balls…50 caliber.



I used the BSA equipment I already have. All I needed was a ball mold I picked up in Indiana a few weeks ago.

I really like this kind of math. Now all I need is more time to get out there & lose some of this lead. ………….see ya yard hunter

[Bible Totin Gun Slinger]

Nice pics Yardhunter.

[Daryl]

I hope to recycle a good bit of my downrange lead.  A dead tree is catching 'em now. 

also just got the Tanner brass mould and am fitting some "non-standard" handles to it.  And it's storming out, or I'd be dropping some roundballs presently.

and but wait there's more.  Heck i just "discovered" that hardwood can be used for an ingot mould.  No telling what other secrets i've yet to discover. 

Outdoors, of course! HA!

[WadePatton]

Castigated some balls today.  But man this new job is like WORK, but that's ok, Thursday is the new Friday.

Not happy with my sprue cutting.  Balls look good, about to measure a few when they cool.

[mark esterly]

wade
use an electricians multi tool to cut the sprue. one from the dollar store works just fine. the flat side toward the ball and the hole to strip 18 ga wire does a nice job.  you'll be happy.