My neighbors have asked what I was burning a few different times.
I must keep them all happy.
I must keep them all happy.
Has anyone tried heating lead in pot inside an electric kiln? Great temperature control so zinc would not melt. might be difficult to open lid to flux metal.
if you have zinc in your lead ingots and use an electric pot with a thermostat on it to cast you can set it at around 650deg and the zinc will come to the top looking like oatmeal and you can skim it off -- or if you lower the temp on your big pot - as it cools the zinc will come to the top
probably wouldn't hurt to use them in bullets as the zinc and lead mix is still softer than metal jacket bullets
never had a problem with moisture in ww but was adding some range lead to a pot that apparently had moisture in a jacket or something + and it does explode - that's a fact.
Did you cut open the jacketed bullet(s) before dumping in the pot? I’ve heard a number of times to nip open jacket bullets to allow lead to flow out instead of explode.
You can also smash them with a big hammer just aslong as there is a crack in them, also if you dont want to spend the time cutting or smashing make sure you put a heavy lid on the pot so you dont have splatterings going everywhere
Been over a year since I started this thread. Went back to the same tire shop on Saturday and picked up 400 pounds of WW mix, 5 - 5 gallon buckets a little over half full. 3 hours into sorting and I have the following:
WW clip on 170 lbs
WW glue on 48 lbs - mostly pure lead
WW Zinc 20 lbs
Rejects 205 lbs
Rejects are steel weights, some flat Zinc weight, missed lead clip ons and flat lead weights.
I will haul the rejects to the snap yard next time I have enough brass/copper/Alum to make it worth a trip. Will probably get about half of what I paid for the 400 lbs.
I think this may be the last time I do this unless I can come up with a source that is mostly lead. 3 hours of my time to get stuff sorted, it will take most of a day to get all this into ingots though I will be casting bullets of a bottom pour electric pot during the day. Not sure I will be able to find enough primers to shoot the 400 pounds of WW lead I will have. It does make that $2 a pound that most are asking for clean WW ingots seem a little more reasonable.
Some are trying Zinc successfully as bullet material. Let me know if anyone is interested in the Zinc.
WW clip on 170 lbs
WW glue on 48 lbs - mostly pure lead
WW Zinc 20 lbs
Rejects 205 lbs
Rejects are steel weights, some flat Zinc weight, missed lead clip ons and flat lead weights.
I will haul the rejects to the snap yard next time I have enough brass/copper/Alum to make it worth a trip. Will probably get about half of what I paid for the 400 lbs.
I think this may be the last time I do this unless I can come up with a source that is mostly lead. 3 hours of my time to get stuff sorted, it will take most of a day to get all this into ingots though I will be casting bullets of a bottom pour electric pot during the day. Not sure I will be able to find enough primers to shoot the 400 pounds of WW lead I will have. It does make that $2 a pound that most are asking for clean WW ingots seem a little more reasonable.
Some are trying Zinc successfully as bullet material. Let me know if anyone is interested in the Zinc.
I’ve seen it ruin a pot.
Same, I've had to dump a pot of lead because of the "oatmeal" consistency that just would not skim off. I figured that I must have allowed some zink to melt in with my lead and decided to dump the pot and start over.
If you lower the temp on your melt to just over the point that lead melts and let it stay there for awhile the zinc should float float to the top. It has a slightly higher melting point than lead. I've never had it happen as I know it's a royal PITA and have always been careful. I'll be knocking on wood when I get back to casting.
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