Dental lead for casting

[Boremouse]

I have acquired a fair amount of dental lead taken from the used slide. "Bite Wing" x-ray
 Anybody happen to know what the approximate Bhn hardness might be? It appears to be fairly soft so probably would be sufficiently soft for casting round balls or conicals.
I would think that this lead is probably fairly clean of any impurities, so melting it down for casting probably would not require very much fluxing,
If any members have experience in dealing with this type of lead, would appreciate any suggestions or advice that you may have in casting and shooting it!

[Hungry Horse]

In my experience it is some of the purest lead obtainable. Sadly technology is passing this means of dental X-rays by, so get it while you can. Remember this stuff has been in a total strangers mouth, so handle it accordingly.

  Hungry Horse

[Candle Snuffer]

You might say this stranger finally can shoot his mouth off... Had to be said...lol...

[bob in the woods]

I have used pounds and pounds of it. There is a "coating" on them, so it's smelly when melting them due to burn off.  Nice soft lead.  I've probably got 50 # of it left to melt down.

[Scota4570]

It is good stuff but a pain to open an melt.  If you have a connection to get it, work fast.  My old dentist quit saving it for me.  A law change now requires him to account for it and treat it as a hazardous material.   

[Daryl]

The packets for dental x-ray 'plates' must vary with manufacture.  They still feel soft, but are very thin foil and are a lead alloy here - too hard for our normal .005"/under patched ball with .020" to .023" patching. I would guesstimate the Brinell # to be around 10- far from dead soft or pure lead.

The lead from the X-ray room walls, on the other hand is dead soft and & I have to add a small amount of tin to improve the casting and slow down the oxidation rate- oxidation rate is the worse part of this extremely soft lead when casting balls.  It only takes 1/2" or so of 50/50 solder in a 20 pound pot to do the trick- fluxing it in with more wax - beeswax or paraffin  or Marvelux.

[Kermit]

Daryl's right, it doesn't take much tin to vastly inproving casting and oxidation.

[JBJ]

Amen to the variation in dental lead! After cleaning up about 25 lbs. of dental lead from a dentist freind, image my surprise when I discovered that the stuff was actually quite brittle. Before I got around to casting any bullets, I used part for a handful of decoy anchors which broke when flexed. Note to self - this is not pure lead! As they say, your mileage may vary. Did make decent fishing weights with it.
J.B.

[Daryl]

It will also make good balls for smoothbores - or quite undersized balls for large bore rifles.  The lower the pressure, the less likely for burnt patches.
Of course, they'll likely work fine for cast bullets for your BP Ctg. guns.

[Boremouse]

Good information here!
 I guess my dentist likes me, because he takes out the lead foil from the individual packets and puts in a sack for me to pick up! So I never have to touch it, and when I get home I just dump all of the foil into big jars to store  for casting.
These balls will be used primarily in smooth bores.

These balls will be for  .62 caliber and 12 gauge!

[Bob Roller]

Amen to the variation in dental lead! After cleaning up about 25 lbs. of dental lead from a dentist freind, image my surprise when I discovered that the stuff was actually quite brittle. Before I got around to casting any bullets, I used part for a handful of decoy anchors which broke when flexed. Note to self - this is not pure lead! As they say, your mileage may vary. Did make decent fishing weights with it.
J.B.

I have a few pounds of X ray lead that is dead soft. I had a lot of it but blowing it down range at 560 grains per
shot thinned it out a bit. Never heard of dental lead,must be OLD.

Bob Roller

[JBJ]

Bob,
Remember the dentist taking x-rays of your teeth and you had to chomp down on the "bite wing" film holder? That stuff came with thin sheets of what is referred to as "dental lead". All the dental practices around here have shifted over to digital imagery and dental lead is a thing of the past.
J.B.

[Dropbled]

I remember that the metal that I had left after the procedures at the dentist made me a part of my necklace. But before that, they added impurities to it to make it stronger. It's just that there is a lot of such material left after the procedures and because of this, such procedures are very expensive, so the next time I made myself a birthday gift, namely, I ordered transparent aligners so that they could not be seen on my teeth. I did my own in https://jeffreygrossdds.com/services/cosmetic-dentistry/ for 2 weeks, as my friend said it is very fast for this price. Now I wear this necklace and beautiful teeth, I see some advantages in this. And at the same time, I am completely satisfied with everything.