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Author Topic: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?  (Read 12221 times)

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Offline El Destructo

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #15 on: October 13, 2010, 05:40:09 pm »
Wayne...they normally just pile.it up out back....or toss it out....so I scab on to what I can get  for reloading....but I have to mix it with tin to harden it up for my 45acp :D
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Offline recurve shooter

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #16 on: October 13, 2010, 07:35:07 pm »
hmmm ok well all the tire shops i checked today wouldnt give me any because they said they are under a contract with some recycling company. my pawpaw found some plumbing strore that sells it but they want sixteen bucks for five pounds of it. so i guess im still on the hunt for lead. i dont know if we have an electric co around here, but i'll check and see.

again, thanks for all the help.  :)
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Offline El Destructo

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #17 on: October 13, 2010, 09:15:17 pm »
Another thing you may look for is Babbitt...some Babbitt Alloys are 80% lead.... 15% antimony.... 5% tin and some are 75% lead.... 10% tin.

There are a couple of Pure Lead Sinker companies that I know of that will sell you Lead for $1.75 a pound...up to 60 pounds ....and ship it USPS Priority Mail for $13.00

Most new Tire weights have very little lead in them...thanks to the EPA...they are mainly alloys now
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Offline Hillbilly

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #18 on: October 13, 2010, 10:13:43 pm »
I always just used a tin can and some vice-grips over a fire or Coleman stove like Cowboy said. I got ahold of a whole bunch of lead awhile back that was behind the sheetrock in an x-ray room. Hope it ain't radioactive. ;D
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Offline cowboy

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #19 on: October 13, 2010, 10:27:05 pm »
I got a bunch of that big electric cable wrap lead - its about gone now. I'm wondering about old car batteries? Would the acid in that lead be detrimental to the bore of your guns and rifles? Not trying to hijack a thread - just curious..
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Offline El Destructo

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #20 on: October 13, 2010, 10:51:27 pm »
Paul...either Sodium Hydroxide or plain old Baking Soda will neutralize Sulphuric Acid.... then simlply rinse the Plates well with Water...and heat to melt the Lead out
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Offline stickbender

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #21 on: October 14, 2010, 02:10:49 am »

 
     Hillbilly, My Dad got some of that X-ray lab lead also, quite a few years back.  We used to make fishing lures out of it, and I used it for my muzzle loaders.  Except for this third eye, I haven't noticed any problems.......oh, wait a minute that is just a big zit.  ::)  Dang, never seen a Zit wink before...... :o ;D

                                                                              Wayne
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Offline recurve shooter

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #22 on: October 14, 2010, 09:20:40 am »
lol. well i'll have to dig around and see where i can get it from. thanks a ton guys!
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #23 on: October 15, 2010, 03:43:31 pm »
Quote from: Eric Krewson on October 13, 2010, 10:08:08 am
My buddy and I shot an archery tournament at Briarfield Iron Works state park this fall, this is the site of the Alabama state M/L championship. We picked up about 100 lbs of lead in an hour out of the berm.

I picked lead from a shooting range berm long ago and got plenty of stock.  When melting it down the copper jackets float to the top and are easy to skim.  But I found the lead to be very hard stuff, not good for muzzleloaders at all.  Gave it all to a friend that casts for his 44 Mag.  He also cast up 20 lbs of 3/8 and 1/2 ounce catfishing weights for me just for the promise of a few filets ever summer.  Done deal!
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Offline recurve shooter

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #24 on: October 16, 2010, 04:37:46 pm »
ok, problem solved. turns out there is a scrap yard about five miles from the house. lead for a buck a pound. and i borrowed islandpiper's mic and found some patch material thats actually the right thickness. now it shoots right lol. so, ima get my paycheck tonight after work, along with two hundred bucks for my birthday, and i'll be buying my molds, ingot mold, and dipper thing. cant wait!!! thanks guys!!
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #25 on: October 16, 2010, 05:40:32 pm »
Just remember to take advantage of the best ventilation you can muster.  It's really possible to suffer real brain damage from the fumes off molten lead.  It seriously beats the crap outa your coordination and will ruin your ability to shoot bows or even make 'em. 
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Offline stickbender

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #26 on: October 16, 2010, 10:01:17 pm »

     Listen to what JW said about good ventilation. ;)  It can do some nasty stuff your nervous system.  Not just dain bramage! ;) ;D


                                                                         Wayne
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Offline El Destructo

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #27 on: October 17, 2010, 01:40:48 am »
Yep...have a Buddy that worked for Years in a Radiator Shop...ended up with Lead Poisoning....and Mercury Poisoning...had to go in for Chelation Treatments to remove the Heavy Metals from His Blood...but the Brain and Nervous Sysytem Damage is permanent....He has a constant twitch now in His Tongue....and His Hands shake like Parkinsons....do it outside when Possible...or with one hell of a good exhaust fan please...
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As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up ways to kill one another.Why do you think we invented politics and religion.
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Offline Marc St Louis

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #28 on: October 17, 2010, 12:10:54 pm »
Dropping wheelweights in water hardens the lead, good for high velocity pistols or medium velocity rifle.  I've used hardened wheelweights in my .44 mag lever action rifle for hunting big game for years. 

The commercial hollow base .38 special wadcutters are almost pure lead.  Up here you can go to a shooting range in the Spring after the snow melts and you can pick up as much lead as you need just laying on the ground
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Offline Dane

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Re: electric furnaces for casting bullets. really needed?
« Reply #29 on: October 18, 2010, 08:21:33 pm »
Contact your area gun clubs. In my state, at least, they are rquired to have an environmental program, and that means they mine lead from the berms, indoor pistol ranges, etc. You can get tons of the stuff that way without grubbing in the sand berms and breathing god knows what. We had multiple fifty gallon drums full of lead last time we mined the indoor range.

But considering just how dangerous lead is, it may be better to just buy your minis, round ball, etc. More expensive, but safer.

Dane
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