Casting lead

[Musclebob]

Hi,

I'm new to casting and I'm looking for a good source for soft lead that I can alloy with tin 20:1 in order to cast boolits for shooting in a Trapdoor Springfield. Is lead flashing the way to go, or is there a better source than building merchants for soft lead?

Thanks

Any help appreciated.

[dromia]

Builders/plumbers lead preferably scrap is the way to go.

You can get pure lead from foundries but they will charge a premium, if you can scratch it with a finger nail then it is good to go, tin is helpful in castability and in toughening the alloy although you shouldn't need as much as 5-1 lead to tin for target shooting. Just a smidgen around 1-2% is all you will need for castability and good shooting.

[Musclebob]

Much appreciated. Thanks.

[pumpkinman]

Hi I always have to use flashing lead for my Ruger ,but I think you could use other sources for harder lead , apparently tyre garages have an abundance of old wheel weights which would be cheaper than scrapyard value lead , they always over charge buyers and undercharge when selling.

[pumpkinman]

You can increase the hardness of your cast bullets by dropping the newly cast bullets into bucket of water. ! Don't get the water any where near the Moulton lead .

[glevum]

Modern wheelweights are zinc. They are no good for casting with.

The old ones used to contain lead.

[dromia]

You can increase the hardness of your cast bullets by dropping the newly cast bullets into bucket of water. !

No not quiet, it depends on the alloy which must be antimony/arsenic bearing.

Why on earth anyone wants to harden their alloy for most cast bullet uses is way beyond me, but if you do then there are better methods than just dropping it from a mould. The bullet doesn't actually harden it is just the outer layer that does so.

[pumpkinman]

Well pointed out I never actually collected any wheel weights ,times change . . I once added antimony to some lead 10% i think . wasn't happy with the results and felt I'd wasted a pot of lead . Bought them ready cast eventually to remove the possibility of it causing inaccurate rounds ,

[pumpkinman]

I cast some 30 calibre heads a while back hardening these up with antimony ,on top of that I had to use gas checks because of the velocity . Grouping was poor against copper Jacketted.

[dromia]

Too hard an alloy, too poor a fit!