Softer lead?

[Coalforge1]

Is there any practical way to soften lead or remove the added material?  IE - make wheel weight lead usable for muzzleloading?

 

[exMember]

You could try heating it REALLY HOT to help separate the different alloys.

 

[Coalforge1]

You could try heating it REALLY HOT to help separate the different alloys.

I will give that a try. I swapped some to a fellow for pure lead but I still have quite a bit of hard ingots. I am not sure what it is but I can't scratch it with my fingernail.

Different subject: How's the neck?

 

[exMember]

Neck is healing up nicely. Still some aches and pains and limited movement. Im sure with more time everything will be a-ok.

 

[burlesontom]

I have done a lot of casting over the last 28 years but am no expert. But what I would do is melt the lead but not so hot it is bubbling or boiling. Thats how you get lead poisoning because lead will be floating in the air.

But make sure its well heated but DO NOT flux the metal. If the metal has not been fluxed the other alloys will float to the top where they can be skimmed off. But if you flux the the different metals will combine. And once a metal is fluxed its always fluxed. You should end up with pure or almost pure lead for BP use.

Save what you skim off. If its tin and antimony it can be added back to lead you may want to make handgun bullets for in centerfire rounds. Then it can be dropped in water to make hardened bullets needed for that use.

 

[Rifleman1776]

You could try heating it REALLY HOT to help separate the different alloys.

I will give that a try. I swapped some to a fellow for pure lead but I still have quite a bit of hard ingots. I am not sure what it is but I can't scratch it with my fingernail.

Different subject: How's the neck?

Most of us do not have equipment that can get hot enough to separate alloys out of lead. I seem to recall being told you need to be at about 1400 degrees. Even if you could do it, that would be a very dangerous procedure. BTW, I don't use flux, I merely stir my lead and skim what rises to the top.

 

[burlesontom]

If you have your lead hot enough to cast with then its hot enough to separate alloys. The reason you flux metal is to get the alloys like tin to combine with the lead. If you want pure lead for BP use then don't flux. If you are casting for smokeless loads and want harder bullets and bullets that flow into the mold crevices then yo need to flux the metal so the tin and antimony combine with the lead.

I would suggest if you are serious about lead casting that you get a copy of the Lyman cast bullet manual or at least spend some time over at the castboolits website.

What is more likely to cause health problems is not so much the lead vapors but lead dust. If using wheelweights they contain arsenic in the mix. Arsenic becomes a vapor at 860 degrees. I suspect all lead has at least some arsenic in it. Ventilation is your friend.

 

[strong eagle]

thanks for the info, ive learned alot.

 

[burlesontom]

You're welcome. There is really not a whole lot to learn about casting. I learned what I know from the Lyman books and from articles in gun magazines. When I started casting there was no internet. Just doing it will teach a lot. My biggest problem when I started was trying to use a Coleman stove to heat the lead. It doesn't get quite hot enough for a good lead melter. I had many wrinkled bullets.

One of the sure enough lead melting pots like the Lyman or Lee or like I use now a turkey fryer made by my dad. I have never fried a turkey but have melted a lot of lead with it. And it will get it plenty hot too. Almost too good. Wrinkled bullets are a thing of the past.

 

[oneshot1]

You could try heating it REALLY HOT to help separate the different alloys.

I will give that a try. I swapped some to a fellow for pure lead but I still have quite a bit of hard ingots. I am not sure what it is but I can't scratch it with my fingernail.

Different subject: How's the neck?

Most of us do not have equipment that can get hot enough to separate alloys out of lead. I seem to recall being told you need to be at about 1400 degrees. Even if you could do it, that would be a very dangerous procedure. BTW, I don't use flux, I merely stir my lead and skim what rises to the top.

This is what I found I couldn't get some so called Soft Lead Igots to melt.

I bought it supposed to be Soft Lead and it was far from it.

oneshot

 

[burlesontom]

An old man that lived about 3 houses down from me tried to give me some "lead" ingots he had. After testing them I determined they were Zinc and not lead. And they did not want to melt. Even with a torch on them. Maybe thats what you have.