Bullet Casting with pure plumbers lead

L

Lemmon

New member
Just came into a number of pounds of plumbers lead taken out of cast iron pipes. I have been hand loading since the 70's but have no experience in bullet casting. Only want to start slow such as 38 semi-wadcutter. Any suggestions, Is it worth the trouble or should I find some one that casts and trade lead for finished bullets?

Lemmon from Rural South Carolina....

BTW.... little brother just retired yesterday and his friends gave him a Marlin 336.....I retired last year and got a plastic clock....Retirement is the BEST even with a plastic clock.
 
Retired...cast until your hearts content.

I suggest starting with a Lee two cavity mold and a cast iron lead pot
over a coleman camp stove, out-doors or in an opened door garage.

Plumbers lead makes good bullets for me.
Still interested ?
 
Plumbers lead works great so too does the old fashioned heat tape with a lead jacket. I had a bunch of that plumbers tape given to me so I cut it into pieces and put it into my old retort outside. It would catch fire and smoke but once that was done I could scrape off the floating debris that was left and cast ingots.
 
Don't push those 38's very fast. I tried using pure lead in my 9mm and it leaded the barrel something fierce. Something in the 700fps range should be fine.

Alternatively you can push them much harder if you powdercoat, which I may end up doing if my wheelweight source dries up.

I also suggest adding a bit of tin (pewter) to the pot so the mold fills out better.
 
Still need to extact lead from pipes

I need to extract lead from the pipes and weight it to see what I have to work with. Smoke & Recoil you brought the process down to the basic task with a small equipment investment. I will keep you posted on my progress. I have always wanted to cast my own but no time to do it. I now have more time now for casting.....

Lemmon from Rural South Carolina
 
If I reading you right what you have is cast iron pipe with lead poured into the joints. What I have done is smached the pipe apart with a sledge hammer and the cracked the cast iron and the doughnuts just popped free.
 
hartcreek you are correct.......

hartcreek you are correct.......my plumber told me that he would be glad to crack the pipe for me....I am doubtful that the amount of lead will not be great. Once I have it extracted I will weigh it and post how much it was..... I may start looking for wheel weights for casting. I love shooting low velocity 38 special wad-cutters.... not full power but a hoot to shoot....

Lemmon from Rural South Carolina
 
I would mix some tin into that pure lead to harden it up for casting .38 special bullets. That or trade another caster that pure lead for some wheel weight lead. That pure lead is gold to us black powder casters.
 
@ Lemmon,
When you're ready to get equipment started, just give the word and we'll
all give our two cents worth of suggestions on the cheap to start.

#1 would be to smelt (melt) the lead and pour into ingots, that will
burn off all the junk.
 
Pure lead is great for black powder. Shooting it in other stuff can cause leading in your barrel.

I always try to get an approximate mix of 95Pb/3%Sb/2%Sn. That gives you some hardness and also mold fill advantages. And lower casting temps! I use the FREE Excel Alloy Calculator to mix by weight and arrive at the Bhn I want.

Get Sb from COWW's or Hardball alloy from Rotometals.

Get Sn from solder, pewter, or pure form Roto.

I then powder coat everything for no grease and no leading!

Have fun! :)
 
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