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"Gold Krugerrands" I replied.
With cities yanking out lead service pipes, this is a good time to stock up on heavy metals. In ten years it might be hard to find castable pewter-like metals on the open market.
"Gold Krugerrands" I replied.
With cities yanking out lead service pipes, this is a good time to stock up on heavy metals. In ten years it might be hard to find castable pewter-like metals on the open market.
When I was casting lead bullets I used to order alloys from a company who had a shipping deal - All they could fit into a USPS flat rate box. That's knocking at fifty pounds in a box the size of large textbook.
ReplyDeleteThe letter carrier hated me.
A friend got some for me from a place in AK doing a similar 'if it fits, it ships' deal. Pretty funny seeing all the boxes in his garage - until we had to unpack and stack them.
DeleteIt may not be the prettiest source of heavy metals, but if you can afford to let the core charge go, keep the car battery.
ReplyDeleteModern automotive battery grids are made from either lead-calcium or lead-selenium alloys. Neither casts well.
DeleteAny hints on locating pewter suppliers?
ReplyDeleteEbay
DeleteThx
DeleteGunbroker. All the lead and supplies you want.
DeleteRocky Mountain Reloading sells their scrap cores from bullet making process. They are prettty reasonable.
DeleteHospitals get radioactive material in lead containers. Find the guy who disposes of those containers.
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about shielding lead is that it is nearly 100% pure lead.
DeleteThe bad part about it is that it is nearly 100% pure lead, which makes it too soft for bullets unless you paper patch or do your own alloys.
You want to be careful with those containers (I'm in the medical radiation field). I've used them before for casting boolits, but there are several types of metal container used for shielding the radioactive seeds and you don't want to throw the wrong metal into your pot. Many of the containers used to be a terrific lead alloy- you can tell it's alloy and not pure Pb by dropping it on your garage floor- lead goes "thud" and alloy will make a nice ringing sound when it hits. In the last 10-15 years, new companies have entered the radioactive seed market and they have been using some oddball light metal for the containers- I don't know what it is but it isn't lead or a lead alloy. I'd keep those out of the pot.
DeleteTom from East Tennessee
When I was reloading more often, I went to tire shops and asked for used wheel weights.
ReplyDeleteMy husband used to do this. Got a lot of lead from the wheel weights.
DeleteSNH
Wheelweights have been zinc and tungsten for 20+ years. The tungsten wheelweights are now worth $ 100 per pound. The zinc wheelweights are crap.
DeleteYeah, but lead costs more to dispose of. My local mechanic still has a couple of 5 gallon buckets of the lead weights he lets his customers pillage to avoid the environmental fees.
Delete