Bullet casting question

[Mr.ViperBoa]

I posted tis earlier but I never saw it show up, so I will post it again. I bought a Lyman Big dipper kit and was given some lead that came from a wall in an xray room. Its pretty soft lead so I am almost sure it is pure lead. Any way, after getting all this material and buying a set of Lee 40s&w 175 grn. mold, I decided to cast some bullets because I am a very impatient person and wanted to see if I could do it. My question is, Why did the bullets I cast all come out about 10 grns heavier than the mold says they are to be? Is it because I did it with straight lead and not mix anything with them? Just curious if anyone could tell me. Thanks.

[Jumping Frog]

Yep. The bullet weight is affected by the alloy ingredients.

BTW, you are correct that xray-related lead is pure dead-soft lead. It will never shoot well in a .40S&W because the pressure is too high. Pure lead is good for making fishing weights and muzzle-loading black powder rifles, but not for high pressure pistol bullets.

If you do a 50-50 mix of pure lead and linotype, then you'd have the classic "hardball" alloy (2% tin, 6% antimony, 92% lead).

That lead you have now is still good for mixing with other ingredients, but you'll need to add some antimony and tin to get something useful.

Here are a couple of good links:

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletAlloy.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.lasc.us/castbulletnotes.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[OldCannon]

I will gladly accept all donations of pure, soft lead. My Minie balls insist on only the finest lead

I'm curious about your source. I'm told that there are places that have scrap "xray wall" lead, but I can never find a "Lead Walls R Us" store

[MoJo]

Wheel weight lead is a "down and dirty" EZ bullet alloy. It is also a good source of antimony and tin. Straight wheel weights ,the clip on kind not the stick ones, makes a very hard bullet if water quenched or heat treated. If you are friendly with a tire dealer they may give or sell you the used WW they have.

[OldCannon]

The guys made good points.

Also, bear in mind that lead by itself has a very high surface-tension - with the result that it won't fill out the mould-cavities completely, and you'll end up with the classic "wrinkly bullet" syndrome. 1 - 2% tin added to the lead will give you a liquid that runs like water into the cavities and will result in beautifully crisp-looking bullets; you can add tin from things like 50-50 bar solder (50% tin, 50% lead), etc.

Ah, that explains a few things. I don't often get wrinkly bullets, but about one in 30 I do. I reckon adding a tony amount of tin won't harm my bullet performance. I'm always concerned about getting the minie skirt expansion sealing correctly though.

[Mr.ViperBoa]

I will gladly accept all donations of pure, soft lead. My Minie balls insist on only the finest lead

I'm curious about your source. I'm told that there are places that have scrap "xray wall" lead, but I can never find a "Lead Walls R Us" store

My brother-n-law works for a company that deals with xrays. I took a chance and asked him if he had any lead laying around. He was upset because they had just cleaned out the shop and told me that if I had asked him a week earlier I would be in good shape because they had taken over 100lbs. of it to the dump. Talk about waiting on a train when the bus came in . lol
Seems every tire shop I go to they tell me that someone already gets their tire weights or they sell it back to the manufacturer to make some money back. If i wasnt into reloading or looking for lead, I would trip over it everywhere I went. lol

[Don2]

If I may add a little info.
You need to buy a book...It's the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. I have the Third Edition, not sure what edition is current?
This book will tell you just about all you need to know about what you want to do

I keep mine handy, its always been good reading. Plus it has a bunch of recipes/loads using lead bullets.

Wheel Weights are always a thrill to find...But with all the tree hugging and world saving that is going on these dayZ...they are getting hard to find. Plus they have some now that are not lead...so be careful.
If some float and don't want to melt at normal temp..scoop them out, do not turn temp up..!!!

An old Rancher by me had melted a bunch of misc. lead and poured it into a hole in the ground as a mold???
Think it was old tractor wheel weights.
He had heard me asking people if they had any lead they wanted to get rid of or sell and said he had just what I wanted....all I had to do is get it to my house..!!
Well...It was a LARGE hole about 18" x 18".Needless to say it was toooooooo heavy for me to move, had to use a tractor to put it into my truck then use my front end loader to remove it...It almost imposable to get a large chunk of pure lead into smaller pieces!!!!! Think about it....I tried everything but build a large fire and melt it!!!
I'm still working on it....it's kinda like big a pet lead rock.

ALSO...It would be very nice to have a BHN lead hardness tester to get your mix where you want it.
The best one I have seen is this one, but its about $100..!!
http://www.lbtmoulds.com/hardtester.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A few guys I know on other reloading forums have this unit and love it.

Don2

[Mr.ViperBoa]

If I may add a little info.
You need to buy a book...It's the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. I have the Third Edition, not sure what edition is current?
This book will tell you just about all you need to know about what you want to do

I keep mine handy, its always been good reading. Plus it has a bunch of recipes/loads using lead bullets.

Wheel Weights are always a thrill to find...But with all the tree hugging and world saving that is going on these dayZ...they are getting hard to find. Plus they have some now that are not lead...so be careful.
If some float and don't want to melt at normal temp..scoop them out, do not turn temp up..!!!

An old Rancher by me had melted a bunch of misc. lead and poured it into a hole in the ground as a mold???
Think it was old tractor wheel weights.
He had heard me asking people if they had any lead they wanted to get rid of or sell and said he had just what I wanted....all I had to do is get it to my house..!!
Well...It was a LARGE hole about 18" x 18".Needless to say it was toooooooo heavy for me to move, had to use a tractor to put it into my truck then use my front end loader to remove it...It almost imposable to get a large chunk of pure lead into smaller pieces!!!!! Think about it....I tried everything but build a large fire and melt it!!!
I'm still working on it....it's kinda like big a pet lead rock.

ALSO...It would be very nice to have a BHN lead hardness tester to get your mix where you want it.
The best one I have seen is this one, but its about $100..!!
http://www.lbtmoulds.com/hardtester.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A few guys I know on other reloading forums have this unit and love it.

Don2

I have the fourth edition book and have started reading it. Man thats a lot of lead lol. I wonder how many bullets you can get out of that. Thanks for all the info folks.

[OldCannon]

There's also a highly-recommended legal PDF copy From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners

YES! I have this. Great book! Not directly related to casting, but I also recommend "The ABC's of Reloading".

[Gyrogearhead]

Well...It was a LARGE hole about 18" x 18".Needless to say it was toooooooo heavy for me to move, had to use a tractor to put it into my truck then use my front end loader to remove it...It almost imposable to get a large chunk of pure lead into smaller pieces!!!!! Think about it....I tried everything but build a large fire and melt it!!!
I'm still working on it....it's kinda like big a pet lead rock.

Don2

I had the same problem a few years back when a friend gave me some 50# ingots of plumber's lead. Got tired of trying to saw little pieces off of it and finally tried a wood chisel and a 2# hammer. That works pretty quick and results in small pieces that fit into most melting pots with a little practice.

Gerry

[Jumping Frog]

I know a guy cut up a huge piece with a sawzall.

[OldCannon]

I know a guy cut up a huge piece with a sawzall.

Wouldn't a blowtorch work?