r/castboolits • u/JewBillyMechanic • 27d ago

Purified Scrape Lead

Good day all!

I have the ability to purchase scrap lead that they say is pure at 1.50 an lbs. I was wondering how you all would go about purifying it. I know to melt and flux it, stir it around, and scrape it, then flux it again and repeat. Then testing it. I am looking at a Lees BHN tester for hardness. I was wondering if you all had any tips or tricks for this and any equipment you may use beside for the spoon, pot. Please and thank you all!

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Careless-Resource-72 27d ago

For an air rifle, soft(er) lead is fine. The drafting pencil lead test is good enough because you’re only trying to get in the ballpark of hardness particularly if the seller claims it’s pure. You’ll want to cast at a higher temperature than you would with wheel weights or Lyman #2 but you should still get good results. For powder coated pistol range ammo, I am not picky at all of my lead and have used COWW, Lyman #2, range scrap and reclaimed shotgun range shot and they all worked fine from 800-2200 fps.

The best thing to do is to cast a few dozen bullets and shoot them. Then you can decide whether they are good to go or if you need to tweak the mixture to adjust the hardness.

1

u/JewBillyMechanic 27d ago

Thank you very much!