Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons => General Interest => Topic started by: No Powder on April 18, 2024, 01:36:14 PM
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Decided to cast some balls today using some old lead lines that my friend gave me. Some was 1 1/2" , and a small piece of 4" . Used two pieces of the 1 1/2" and everything was working fine. Decided to try some of the 4" " stuff. That's when everything went wrong. I was using a Lee pot, and this stuff didn't want to melt and everything in the pot turned into what looked like silver cement. I got most of it dug out, but more in the bottom yet that I don't know if I'll ever get it out. Never had this happen to me before. [ Invalid Attachment ]
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I've never had anything like that happen so no idea what the cause could be.
However, Tom, I don't think today is the day for you to buy Lotto tickets. :lol sign
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Good advice. I don't do the lottery thing anyway. But my wife does. I think I found the problem. I decided to heat the pot again to help remove what's in the bottom of the pot. I think my pot bought the big one. It is not heating up. Has anybody else had their pot quit working in the middle of a melt? I think it makes sense. I bet this stuff would melt if my pot was heating.
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Hit the thrift stores and look for a heavy pan you can put on the kitchen stove (with windows open) or a camp stove, and try melting the dregs that way. No sense getting a new electric pot and maybe ruining it....
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Good idea Kees. I live about 150 yds. away from a Family Dollar store. But it's not that thrifty.
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Zinc? Would be my bet.
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Hey Bill could you enlighten me a bit more on this zinc stuff. It has the appearance and is easy to bend and cuts just like lead. The pot won't even get warm, but anything is possible. I ordered a 4lb. Lee pot this morning. It could be a coincidence that the pot quit working at that particular time, but I don't want that to happen again.
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I'm not sure what all it is used for but I do know that they frequently used them for wheel weights and when they get mixed in with the lead wheel weights, it all turns to sludge resembling your photo. I can't imagine any reason for it to have caused your pot to fail?
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This was a piece of 4" line of some kind. I cut 2" pieces off this pipe, and then used a pair of tin snips to cut that in half. Would I been able to cut it with snips if there was zinc in it?
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Good idea Kees. I live about 150 yds. away from a Family Dollar store. But it's not that thrifty.
I meant the second hand stores, not Family Dollar or Dollar General! :lol sign
~Kees~
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That's why you make the big bucks , huh buddy. Well Kees I did a little experimenting today. When I held the bernzomatic on one of those pieces of slag, there were pretty little silver, shiny drops falling into the pan. So here's what I think happened. My pot quit heating several minutes before I placed those pieces in. The molten lead remaining in the pot was getting cool. When those pieces of cool lead were put in, the other lead in the pot cooled even quicker, forming that ugly slag in the picture. Thanks for everyone's help.
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Practice some alchemy and turn the metal into gold..... :bigsmile:
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If I only knew how to do that. :pray:
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It may get to be gold, the way the world (& USA) is going. Lead is bad for the environment, and for people so it will be banned for private possession.... I can see it coming.
~Kees~
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Not for sure about what you have BUT if you get zinc in your lead melt, the melt will look like oatmeal mush. Pure lead melts at 621*'s and zinc melts at 800 something *'s. I think your original melt had some zinc in it. Zinc is harder than lead also. Pure lead at 800*'s plus takes on a purple like hue if that'll help you decide about the temperature of your melt. Good luck and if it was me, I'd chuck that stuff away and stick with pure lead for special shoots and REAL wheel weights I.E lead ones for the plunking and blasting trips.
doggoner
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Thanks for your comments Dennis. I was going to use it, but your comments and comments from others have me convinced that I should trash this stuff. And as Kees said, I don't want to destroy a new pot. I wish I were more educated about metals, so I would know what I'm throwing in the pot. Maybe learning about metals might be one trick this old dog can't learn.
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I'm back again. Hoping to learn more. I've been reading about artist pencils that are used for testing the hardness of lead. In fact another member here has said he's sending me a set that he said he no longer uses. Has anyone else had any experience using these pencils ? My friend is sending instructions too. I just have visions of me pushing too hard and snapping the lead in the pencils. 40 yrs. ago, when I first got into this hobby, I never expected to be using pencils in my muzzleloading at all.
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No Powder
If you are reading about casting and such, go to http://www.lasc.us/ and read anything written by Glen Fryxell. He is a very knowledgeable man when it comes to casting lead bullets. He shoots mostly hand guns of the "modern" type but his bullet casting is the same as we use for our "smoke generators". Also check on the cast bullet notes logo at the lower right corner of the title page. Good luck in your reading adventures. You can get lost for hours learning about lead bullet casting.
doggoner
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Thanks Dennis. I plan on checking that site out and maybe learn something about what may have happened. I really wish you knowledgeable guys were here to explain things as they come up. I'd have a lot of questions for you to answer.
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No powder
Here is another place you can get lost in casting lore. Enjoy. https://castboolits.gunloads.com/
doggoner