Lead for bullet casting...

[Drummerob]

does anyone know where you can purchase lead ingots for casting bullets in southern maryland?

 

[CableChick]

Wow ... brings back some memories! We used to shoot into a lead box in the basement ... old colt 45 black powder gun ... lubed it up w/ the Chrysler k-car grease for the wheel bearings. I don't remember where Rick got his stuff. Sorry.

 

[rack'm]

Wheel weights

 

[Novus Collectus]

The price of lead is way crazy right now, but you can find some ingots online. http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=133824&t=11082005

What some people do is they go around to garages and ask for their used wheel weights. You can remove a lot of the impurities by using flux and hardenning by adding antimony or something like that.
Depending on which bullets you are trying to reload with, you can get away with not using the antimony in the wheel weight lead and by hardenning by dropping them while still hot in cold water I hear.

 

[Drummerob]

back when... we use to melt down 3-4 ounce sinkers to make smaller ones, but, the sinker prices are outrageous now. I want to try some home made muzzleloader bullets and just trying to find some lead.

Does anyone around here cast bullets for muzzleloading?

 

[Novus Collectus]

back when... we use to melt down 3-4 ounce sinkers to make smaller ones, but, the sinker prices are outrageous now. I want to try some home made muzzleloader bullets and just trying to find some lead.

Does anyone around here cast bullets for muzzleloading?

I don't, but I was thinking about it for reloading .45 Long Colt.

For muzzle loading, I hear you can get away with using lead wheel wieghts as long as you flux out the impurities.

 

[Dukesdad]

I reload my own for the 45 LC and have found that I can buy precast from midway for a low enough price to stop casting. What type of 45 do you ave. I bought an EMF hartford premier and it is sweet!

 

[Novus Collectus]

I reload my own for the 45 LC and have found that I can buy precast from midway for a low enough price to stop casting. What type of 45 do you ave. I bought an EMF hartford premier and it is sweet!

I have a steel frame Pietta reproduction 1858 Remington cap & ball revovler with a R&D conversion cylinder in it.
Actually I have two steel framed Piettas, but only one is still in good shape. Piettas don't seem like they can take a lot of abuse, but it is fun doing it though

The Piettas have eight inch, octogonal barrels in case you are wondering.

 

[Dukesdad]

so you are loading the brass with black powder or pyrodex or something?

 

[Novus Collectus]

so you are loading the brass with black powder or pyrodex or something?

Actually I tried BP, Pyrodex and smokeless. The BP and Pyrodex was just for fun, but the BP is probably what beat up the one Pietta in the end. I loaded up with about 40 grs of BP in the cases I toyed with and they had an amazing kick.
You can use smokless in a steel frame with a cartridge conversion cylinder as long as you stay below about 900 to 1000 feet per second loads. That is what the commercial Cowboy loads using smokeless are loaded to about.

 

[huntr1]

If you want straight lead, check with the recycling yards (Waldorf Metal). When we lived in Frederick I bought 250 lbs of cable insulation lead (sheet lead) and melted it and made lead "muffins" by pouring it into old muffin pans. Put them into milk crates and used them for weight in the back of my truck during the winter. Now I use them for weight on my aerator that I pull behind the tractor.