Automotive Battery Lead

Bad, cuz it's not pure lead.
Don't try melting it because it has things in it that are hazardous when they get hot. I don't mean "50 Lbs of it will kill a laboratory mouse in California" bad but "it'll mess you up if you breathe that stuff" bad.
 
WOW!
Thanks for the info guys! I won't be doing that! I will kill myself slowly with red meat instead. :D

Justified
 
Common sense says not to do it. But then, common sense isn't for everyone.

Maybe if I had a large piece of property and could toss batteries into a pit and burn it all day without having to stand over it, and then dig up the lead later after it all cleared... maybe... but probably not for me.

Try this site, they will deliver:
http://www.rotometals.com/Lead-Products-s/20.htm
 
When I was a budding bullet caster in high school or college I remember reading that you could get the lead out of a car battery by pouring out the acid, filling it with water, putting it into the fereezer for a few days then smash it on the driveway where all the plastic, tar and ice will seperate and leave the screens of lead for the melting. Well, I did that and it didn't shatter that well. I needed a sledge hammer to bash it up and eventually got some lead like metal screens from the mess in the driveway. Once melted (outside) I got something I could cast but the round balls were grainy and would actually crack when struck by a hammer rather than just flatten. It was lousy, hard, mealy "lead". It might make OK slingshot ammo but I eventually melted it into a big batch of pistol bullet lead and got rid of it by casting it up & shooting it. I only got a few ounces of "lead" from the battery. It's too labor intensive for poor casting sort of "lead". Don't waste your time with it. Take it to a scrapper and get real lead with the cash or trade.
 
I recently had an experience melting down the lead plugs I got from aircraft battery vent plugs. The lead melted fine after soaking in baking soda solution and cast a fine lot of bullets, but afterwards, I kept finding the guns rusting every time I checked. Finally figured out it must have been left over sulfuric acid in the lead, despite my soaking and fluxing the lead. I will never use it as a lead source again.
 
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