What IS this stuff?

Have any of you encountered this in your lead pots, and WTH is it? How do you stop/get rid of it?
It’s really messing with my bullets. They still shoot ok, but I am after perfect.
You can see in the bullet, some inclusions, and the base isn’t perfect.
I melt down plumbers sheet lead in a cast iron pot and flux, and skim, and flux, and skim, until I have a nice shiny surface. Then I cast into mini muffin tin ingots, mix with 50/50 solder to 35:1 alloy (17-1/2 lbs to one pound 50/50 solder) melt in my Lee 10 pound bottom pour pot, and then get all this crap stuck to the sides and on the valve rod. Of course it decides to come off in the pour.
I use candle wax as a flux, have used cedar sawdust also and tried leaving it on top of the melt after stirring it thoroughly.
I used to plug my spout with it too, all the time, until Lewis suggested drilling the spout out a little larger. Now it doesn’t plug, but after about 1/2 a pot, I start getting the crud.
I don’t think I’m running too hot either, it takes about 2-3 seconds for the spruce to solidify and there is no color in the bullet, I’ve gone too hot before and had some pretty rainbow colors show up, mostly purplish.
I had the same thing there too. Crud in the bullet.
I stir and scrape the sides of the pot also while I am casting and seem to always get a little more of it to float every time I do. At a loss....

Same here using sheet lead reclaimed from X-ray rooms. It’s got to be an impurity in the lead.

herschel conyers said:

Same here using sheet lead reclaimed from X-ray rooms. It’s got to be an impurity in the lead.

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That’s what I’m thinking but, I would think, all the stirring and skimming would get that out. I go until I’m. It getting anymore floaties, but after 30 minutes in the bottom pour, there it is.

I get the same in my Lee pot. I have the dipper type of pot. I get it regardless of the source of the lead. I have always thought it may be a reaction between the lead and the lining of the pot. Two different metals forming a chemical reaction.

4stringdude said:

I get the same in my Lee pot. I have the dipper type of pot. I get it regardless of the source of the lead. I have always thought it may be a reaction between the lead and the lining of the pot. Two different metals forming a chemical reaction.

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I wonder that too. I get it in my cast iron kettle a little bit too though. It’s a pain to have to drain the pot out all the way every time and clean it, only to have it come back.
With all the people out there shooting range lead, I would think they would have this problem way worse because of all the dirt stuck into the bullets, but I have seen some dang nice bullets cast out of that stuff.

I have used range lead, plumbers lead and lead from many unknown sources. I get this it regardless of the source. I've scraped it off only to have it return with the next pot of lead melted. My bullets pour clean, so I guess I just live with it.

herschel conyers said:

Same here using sheet lead reclaimed from X-ray rooms. It’s got to be an impurity in the lead.

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The bullets shoot good so, I guess just live with them being ugly... The deer doesn’t care whether it was an ugly or pretty bullet. I just want them to look pristine...

I would buy either Pure lead or 40-1 Lead from places like Buffalo Arms or RotorMetals and see if that makes a difference.

why you using solder with 50/50 lead. just use pure lead, if you want little harder put 1 pound tin for every 20 lead. no need for any other stuff. that keeps it simple

Never had this problem . All of my lead /tin mix is mixed in a cast pot. Lead is melted into ingots first in the same pot , fluxed and cleaned and poured. I use beeswax to flux. What doesn't burn off is skimmed with the dross. = Shiny melt. Later lead and tin mixed to hardness that I want. Pure is already done so 30-1 BPCR hunting bullets , 16-1 pistol bullets, all mixed in Iron pot and poured to ingots. Each mix has its own lead pot. 30-1 has ladle cast Wagge pot. Pure lead has ladle cast Lyman pot and 16-1 has RCBS bottom pour. I am going to get a Lee bottom pour and drill it out like IdahoLewis cause he pours some dang nice bullets with his and that's something I have to learn with a bottom pour pot.

if you are casting for ML's you don't need anything harder than 40-1 Lead.

edmehlig said:

if you are casting for ML's you don't need anything harder than 40-1 Lead.

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I agree, for Hunting, after all i came up with the 1-40 Alloy here

But for Target, especially with the “Pointy” Nose Type LONG RANGE Blackpowder Bullets, i would go as hard as 1-16 Alloy, With 1-20 Alloy being the Most Popular amongst the Top level Shooters in the World. Not everyone would agree with me on that, But it’s AWFUL Hard to intelligently Argue with the Success of Guy’s like Dave Gullo, and Lee Shaver’s, Both of which are 2-3 Time World Champions

One of the BIG Problems with Bottom pour pots, is when you Finally get the Lead-Alloy Clean DON’T Dump your Sprues, and Cull Bullets back in, They have the Contaminates in them! And They are Heavy, Therefore they Sink back to the Bottom of the Pot and START THE CYCLE ALL OVER AGAIN!

Get yourself an Old Slotted Kitchen Spoon, one of the Bigger type. When you are Done Casting, and Ready to Dump your Sprues back in, Load that Spoon up and Hold it on TOP of the Melt, Allowing them to melt on top, Now you have the Contaminates Floating on Top Skim this Top off and Get rid of it. Toss a little Sawdust on Top as a Flux, DON’T Stir it in! Allow it to Char on Top, This protects the Precious metals underneath from Oxidation

That's a good tip Lewis on the sprues, and such. I'll have to remember it when I start casting round balls again.

When I started in m-l in '71 I was using lead buckshot (I can't recall what number)(my friend & I both purchased a 25# bag from a LGS to use in our .44 cap and ball revolvers) to cast my balls with. He soon got bored, and I ended up with about 45# of whatever number buckshot.

They were just a little too large in diameter for a .45 caliber rifle, so a cheap DGW scissors mold in.445 was purchased, and away I went.

I just heated the lead over the gas stove in the kitchen with the exhaust fan on in a thin aluminum saucepan. I stuck a piece of yew that we cut down in the back yard onto a big soup spoon's handle for insulation, and that was both my ladle and my skimmer.

I used paraffin wax for flux. Didn't seem to have a lot of dross coming to the top.

I shot balls from that 45 pounds of buckshot up until I sold off all my muzzleloaders.

Bruce

All of these comments about what lead to use are academic. They do not address sdporter's original issues with the residue on the pot. That is the real reason for this thread.

No, but basic answers on how to avoid trashy bullets. No way to know what kind of contaminates the OP has but possibly a way to avoid the problem.

still don't understand reason for 50/50 solder

Idaholewis said:

One of the BIG Problems with Bottom pour pots, is when you Finally get the Lead-Alloy Clean DON’T Dump your Sprues, and Cull Bullets back in, They have the Contaminates in them! And They are Heavy, Therefore they Sink back to the Bottom of the Pot and START THE CYCLE ALL OVER AGAIN!

Get yourself an Old Slotted Kitchen Spoon, one of the Bigger type. When you are Done Casting, and Ready to Dump your Sprues back in, Load that Spoon up and Hold it on TOP of the Melt, Allowing them to melt on top, Now you have the Contaminates Floating on Top Skim this Top off and Get rid of it. Toss a little Sawdust on Top as a Flux, DON’T Stir it in! Allow it to Char on Top, This protects the Precious metals underneath from Oxidation

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I do dump the culls and sprues back in, that might just well be half of my problem.

45-70 said:

why you using solder with 50/50 lead. just use pure lead, if you want little harder put 1 pound tin for every 20 lead. no need for any other stuff. that keeps it simple

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It’s 50% lead 50% tin that I use. I figure that into the ratio.

45-70 said:

still don't understand reason for 50/50 solder

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50% lead 50% tin. That’s how I get 40:1 or 35:1. 17 lbs lead with a 1 pound roll of 50/50 solder = 17-1/2 lbs lead 1/2 lbs tin = 35:1 or 19-1/2 lbs lead = 40:1