Clean Lead for casting

[Angel_Eyes]

Hi guys, does anyone know of a method of ensuring that lead is as pure and soft as necessary for casting for black powder loads.
I can lay my hands on lead but can't tell how pure it is.( Any way of taking hardener out ?)
I just cast up a few hundred .457 for my ROA's and had to take out a gym membership to get them into the chamber!
Back in the pot for .44mag rounds, now I know how hard this batch is.

Thanks in anticipation, UKshooter.

[August]

There are technical ways to know the alloy, but I don't know any of that.  I can tell you what I do, however.  I get pure lead from a known source.  My current supply came from the demolition of a radiology lab where the shielding in the walls was pure, sheet lead.  Also, roof flashing and plumbing connections are pure.  I can tell you that pure lead has a distinctive blue color and that even small amounts of alloy make it silver in color.  It's nice to have pure lead on hand to mix with wheel weights and range scrap.  That's about all I know about lead.  I think if I was needy, I'd go to the scrap dealer and ask for some pure lead, hoping he had a supply or a source.

[Angel_Eyes]

HI August, I understand what you are saying, but at the moment in the UK if I were to go to a scrap dealer, there is every possibility that I could be had up for receiving stolen property.
There is a huge rise in the theft of lead over here, due to the price of scrap, because of the Chinese buying up everything in sight.
I appreciate your input and didn't know about the colour difference between hardened and pure lead, that could be useful, thankyou.

Regards, UKshooter

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[Ace Lungger]

 :)Howdy UK, Midway and Brownells both sells harness testers. But telling you how to make it pure lead I can't. August is right about his sources and the color. Pur lead can be scrathed with your thumb nail. In thin form, it bends real easy. I wished I had more answers for you!
Sorry ACE

[Angel_Eyes]

No problem Ace,
             at the moment I am over heating the pot, without fluxing, and skimming off the colourful residue which appears to be moderately successful. I can certainly score the ingots with a finger nail which I couldn't do, before boiling.
Gonna cast some ball from this mix and try them; will report back.

Thanks for your help, UKshooter.

[Professor Marvel]

Greetings UK -
finding pure lead is a constant challenge - old roof flashing and lead pipes (usually drainpipes) are a common source.
If one has the skills and resources to handle them some folks reclaim the lead plates from "dead" lead acid auto
batteries, but I like my body parts the way they are, thanks.

Regarding hardness, in  the BP archives we find http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,9451.0.html
how to test lead using pencils!

Many of us are constantly trying the find the "reverse alchemists stone", to try to remove alloying agents from
lead,  but the experts tell us that we essentially want to "refine" the lead, a tedious, toxic, and expensive process :-( 

your humble servant
Prof Marvel

[WyrTwister]

Hi guys, does anyone know of a method of ensuring that lead is as pure and soft as necessary for casting for black powder loads.
I can lay my hands on lead but can't tell how pure it is.( Any way of taking hardener out ?)
I just cast up a few hundred .457 for my ROA's and had to take out a gym membership to get them into the chamber!
Back in the pot for .44mag rounds, now I know how hard this batch is.

Thanks in anticipation, UKshooter.

     Please forgive me , I do not shoot BP .

     I have read you need pure lead for muzzle loaders and cap and ball revolvers .

     For BP cartrage guns , I would think what you have should work ?

     Or trade your lead to people that shoot smokeless ?

God bless
Wyr

[Drayton Calhoun]

As for heating the pot, try heating it slowly until the lead just melts. If I remember correctly, tin melts at a higher temp than lead, so it becomes dross on the surface. Also, Dixie Gun Works used to sell Blue and Gray lead flux that helped too.

[Delmonico]

As for heating the pot, try heating it slowly until the lead just melts. If I remember correctly, tin melts at a higher temp than lead, so it becomes dross on the surface. Also, Dixie Gun Works used to sell Blue and Gray lead flux that helped too.

Alloys can not be seperated that way.  The dross on a lead pot is oxidised lead.