Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons => General Interest => Topic started by: BIG SKY TRAPPER on April 07, 2009, 07:29:45 PM

Title: Lead from "lead water pipe"
Post by: BIG SKY TRAPPER on April 07, 2009, 07:29:45 PM
My new job I started working a small town, water and sewer.  As we fix leaks ect acroos the main lines and such, If we find Lead  Water Line, we are required to dig it up and replace to the property line with plastic.  

So I have an almost endless supply of this stuff.

It is dead soft (can dig it out with a finger nail) aproximatly 3/4 dia, less than an 1/8 wall thickness.  But seems a little light in the weight dept for being "lead".  It melts right down as fast as lead.  

Ive googled it, and can come up with any composition, just lots of lead poisioning articles from the gov on how to get it out of your drinking lines ect...

Your thoughts on using this for round balls?????
I still have plenty of plumbers lead, wheel weights and linotype to mix it up if needed...
Title:
Post by: jbullard1 on April 07, 2009, 07:32:51 PM
Ship all you dig up to ME  :shake

Melt it down, pour it and then SHOOT IT
Title:
Post by: Sean McKown on April 07, 2009, 07:42:44 PM
No kiddin,  I would take all the lead pipe i could find.
Title: Re: Lead from "lead water pipe"
Post by: Trois Castors on April 07, 2009, 08:03:54 PM
Quote from: "BIG SKY TRAPPER"
It is dead soft (can dig it out with a finger nail)
That sounds good! :bl th up

Regards,
Title:
Post by: Uncle Russ on April 07, 2009, 08:53:25 PM
Back in the 70's and early 80's, Lead "Pipe" was very sought after for casting dead soft projectiles. I have, from time to time, seen an honest BHN of 5 with pipe. It is hard to find that nowadays, even with the high dollar stuff!

I haven't seen any for a long time, and I'm actually surprised to hear there is still some in the ground.

Good stuff, for sure.

If I recall, back when lead pipe was readily available, it created a tremendous amount of dross in the pot from the chemicals used in water treatment processes....best thing to flux the stuff with was a simple birthday cake candle, or a green stick.
When she flared up, you just light the smoke and it quickly settled down. Clean all the ugly off the top and it looked like a pot full of nice clean silver....ahhh, the good old days!

Congratulations on your find!

Uncle Russ...
Title:
Post by: BIG SKY TRAPPER on April 07, 2009, 09:06:55 PM
good deal for me! then. Today I pulled nearly 40 feet of the stuff, tommorrow will pull another 40 feet, almost a 100 pounds worth!  

WOOOHHHHOOOO!
Title:
Post by: BEAVERMAN on April 07, 2009, 09:17:06 PM
BST Ill send Fletcher over to get all you want to get rid of, he and I will hook up somewhere down the line, plumbers lead and lead water pipe is the best you can find in a scrap yard! Used to know an old plumber here in town that had 4000 lbs of lead ingots from retro fitting all the old mill houses here, could have picked it up for free, I went over and got 200 lbs once, next time I went over to see Floyd, he had passed and the house was sold and the lead was long gone!! didnt have anywhere to put the 4000 else id still be running ball with it! lucky boy you are!
Title:
Post by: KHickam on April 07, 2009, 10:25:56 PM
Big Sky Trapper - Sounds great I try to get all I can at the scrap yards - love it
Title:
Post by: BIG SKY TRAPPER on April 07, 2009, 10:29:07 PM
Beaverman....might cost ya one of fletcher bows hahahahah
Title:
Post by: BEAVERMAN on April 07, 2009, 10:36:45 PM
He might just go for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title:
Post by: R.M. on April 07, 2009, 11:40:29 PM
BST, be careful with that stuff. The moisture will remain in the scale for years, even when stored indoors. You don't want to know what happens when you stick a piece of it into a pot of molten lead. It ain't pretty. Well it actually is, shiny lead tinsel all over the place.
I cut it with an axe, and stand it up in an empty pot, then turn on the heat. All the moisture will evaporate by the time the lead melts.
Really good stuff for balls. Be safe.
Title:
Post by: melsdad on April 08, 2009, 06:30:04 AM
Looks like you hit the lead jackpot!!
Title: Re: Lead from "lead water pipe"
Post by: Gambia on April 08, 2009, 06:56:19 AM
Quote from: "BIG SKY TRAPPER"
Your thoughts on using this for round balls?????
I still have plenty of plumbers lead, wheel weights

You defenitly hit the jackpot. keep all you can get. I look for this stuff to be very hard to get in the future. as for the wheel weights....I would get rid of them. too much tin.
Just my opinion
Title:
Post by: Stryker on April 08, 2009, 09:40:17 AM
When I got out of the service in 1987, I worked for a few months in a lead factory until I got situated. We made all sorts of stuff, including lead pipe. The stuff we made was very soft. Very little antimony. Not as soft as came lead, but it was the same stuff we made into wire and sold to ammunition companies who cold pressed their ammo.
Title:
Post by: Fletcher on April 08, 2009, 11:44:15 AM
BST - been there done that also.

As RM said there is a lot of trapped water and some WAY NASTY scale inside the pipes.

I boiled down about 50 feet of the stuff about 12 years ago.

I have a large Plmbers cast iron pot.  I set it up on a couple concrete blocks with a metal tray over them outside on the concrete patio.  I used a camping fry pan screen over the pot to keep the scatter down.  Some of that noxious crap will literally try to explode out of the pot.

I sawed the pipe into 4" chunks with a sawsall so they would fit the pot.  I have a single burner propane stove that I use only for lead casting.

I know that is a lot of special stuff - but I am a gadget freak and will go a long way to get FREE STUFF.

All in all it was a pretty easy go of it.  I just made sure the wind was away from the house and would flux the pot with wax after it boiled down.  I poured off the lead into my Lyman ingot mold that has 4 bars.  Worked out pretty well.  I must say the lead we stripped out of the Xray room was overall less work for the effort.

But soft lead is good wherever you can get it.
Title: Re: Lead from "lead water pipe"
Post by: Three Hawks on April 09, 2009, 01:04:41 AM
Quote from: "griz"
Quote from: "BIG SKY TRAPPER"
Your thoughts on using this for round balls?????
I still have plenty of plumbers lead, wheel weights

You defenitly hit the jackpot. keep all you can get. I look for this stuff to be very hard to get in the future. as for the wheel weights....I would get rid of them. too much tin.
Just my opinion

[size=150]GET RID OF THE WHEELWEIGHTS???  [/size]Are you out of what's left of your mind?   Wheelweights are the perfect centerfire bullet alloy and are getting hard to find .  I know casters who'd trade their first born for a hundred pounds of wheelweights.

Keep the WW's and cast rifle bullets for your centerfires.  Wonderful stuff.

incredulous ol'

Three Hawks
Title:
Post by: Gambia on April 09, 2009, 01:21:09 AM
Wheel weights made from lead will be all gone very soon.The last set of tires I bought at Costco were installed with iron weights a month ago.The installer told me Costco quit using them some time ago along with a bunch of other large retail tire outlets. Apparently the process is voluntary so far but some states like Ca.have outlawed them I suspect Wa. and Or. wont be far behind.
Title: Re: Lead from "lead water pipe"
Post by: Gambia on April 09, 2009, 06:57:38 AM
Quote from: "Three Hawks"
[size=150]GET RID OF THE WHEELWEIGHTS???  [/size]

Lets see now, Ifn' I remember right, this is the Traditional Muzzleloading Association and has nothing to do with modern center fire rifles, that would be why my answer is what it is. Wheel weights are too hard for Round balls that you will shoot in your mild steel rifle barrel of your flintlock or percussion rifle.
I hope that is better understood. sorry for all the confusion.
Title:
Post by: Riley/MN on April 09, 2009, 09:58:37 AM
Interesting that we had this thread yesterday...Last night I was in a meeting, was talking to a guy about casting balls and getting lead. There was a contractor in the meeting that offered up what he had laying around...4-500 pounds of pipe. So I guess I better find a mold or two...
Title:
Post by: Fletcher on April 09, 2009, 12:46:30 PM
Riley, It really does not cost that much to get started.  Get a bunch of that lead and a melting pot and some kind of ingot mold.  I even saw a guy use the cast iron pan that had little ears of corn as forms to mold his lead! (I think it was a muffin pan!)

The Lyman ingot mold is better because they are very close to one pound if you carefully fill to the level line.

Follow my directions and you can't go wrong you fuzzy little devil  :evil:

If you make more than you ever shoot - sell tham at a trade show or Rondy. Lead is where you find it - gold too!
Title:
Post by: BIG SKY TRAPPER on April 09, 2009, 07:14:30 PM
Just giving it all a good initial cleaning, and getting it molded in manageable pieces/blocks.


(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/bigskytrapper/leadpipemelting.jpg)

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/bigskytrapper/leadpipedirt.jpg)

All the nasties in your water line, least they float right on top and easy to skin off

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/bigskytrapper/leadmuffinpan.jpg)
ssshhhhhh...dont tell the mrs. i "borrowed" her muffin pan  

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/bigskytrapper/handlead.jpg)
just shy of a five pound block.
Title:
Post by: Three Hawks on April 10, 2009, 01:32:20 AM
If you use that muffin pan for food, you're asking to get sick.   Go to a thrift shop of some kind and get an aluminu muffin tin with round cups.   They cast led muffins around a pound in weight.  When mine get a bit long in the tooth they go into the garbage.  I usually pay about a buck for my muffin tins.

Lots of guys use those little cast iron corn fritter pans.  Again, after they've had lead in them, never use 'em for food.  

You should think  about what's going to happen with cast iron cookware you've used for casting lead after it leaves your possession.

Gerry
Title: Re: Lead from "lead water pipe"
Post by: Three Hawks on April 10, 2009, 01:35:43 AM
Quote from: "griz"
Quote from: "Three Hawks"
[size=150]GET RID OF THE WHEELWEIGHTS???  [/size]

Lets see now, Ifn' I remember right, this is the Traditional Muzzleloading Association and has nothing to do with modern center fire rifles, that would be why my answer is what it is. Wheel weights are too hard for Round balls that you will shoot in your mild steel rifle barrel of your flintlock or percussion rifle.
I hope that is better understood. sorry for all the confusion.

I wager none of us shoots muzzleloaders exclusively.   I shoot a bunch of calibers of centerfire arms along with muzzleloaders.  tossing wheelweights is heresy in my eyes.  It's also danged expensive and can be sold to buy muzzleloading stuff.

Three Hawks.
Title:
Post by: Riley/MN on April 10, 2009, 08:23:44 AM
There were also a recent thread (don't have time to search right now) on how wheelweights are ideal for roundballs used on big dangerous beasties...
Title:
Post by: bluelake on July 08, 2009, 03:49:17 PM
I just picked up 100 pounds of wheel weights from a local tire company (they had about 500# on hand).  It cost me $20 (the market rate is about .23-.25 per pound).  I melted some of it down and it works really well.
Title: Re: Lead from "lead water pipe"
Post by: snake eyes on July 09, 2009, 04:36:24 AM
Quote from: "Three Hawks"
Quote from: "griz"
Quote from: "Three Hawks"
[size=150]GET RID OF THE WHEELWEIGHTS???  [/size]

Lets see now, Ifn' I remember right, this is the Traditional Muzzleloading Association and has nothing to do with modern center fire rifles, that would be why my answer is what it is. Wheel weights are too hard for Round balls that you will shoot in your mild steel rifle barrel of your flintlock or percussion rifle.
I hope that is better understood. sorry for all the confusion.

I wager none of us shoots muzzleloaders exclusively.   I shoot a bunch of calibers of centerfire arms along with muzzleloaders.  tossing wheelweights is heresy in my eyes.  It's also danged expensive and can be sold to buy muzzleloading stuff.

Three Hawks.

 Three Hawks,
                      Sorry,but you would loose that wager with me.
I shoot and hunt with nothing but B/P muzzleloaders, and all
are traditional.
                      My wife does have a Browning .25 Auto for her
personal household protection,being I work nights.I have never
fired it and don't even know where she keeps it. My son is even the
one that schooled her in its use.
                      I will say that maybe 30 years ago I owned nothing
but C/F arms. Then bitten by the B/P bug got rid of them all, and over time have gone to B/P only.
snake-eyes :shake
Title:
Post by: pathfinder on July 09, 2009, 08:13:12 AM
Move over Snake-eye's,make room on that wagon fer one more. I too shoot our beloved muzzleloaders exclusively. our house guns are all Colt army(if the ball don't get ya,good luck with the infection,scumbag)
I do have a Lakeland target .22 I won at a club meeting years ago(harassed unmercifully) that sits in the gun cabinet unfired.
I do use wheel weights in my smoothie's. Have watch fella's shoot 'em bare ball and shoot darn good,so I figure with all that blow by and they still shoot good, impressing the patch on the soft ball probably doesn't matter all that much. My 2 cents after discounts and inflation.
Title:
Post by: bluelake on July 09, 2009, 06:40:54 PM
Today, my .375 cal. conical c&b bullet mold came in (I tried to buy a rb mold, but they seem to be as scarce as hen's teeth; everybody was backordered).  I also ordered some .375 rb and they came this evening.  Anyway, I took a bunch of my wheel weight lead and cast several conicals.

My .36 cal. c&b revolver is one I bought about a decade ago, but have never shot.  Everything finally came together today; I now had not only the revolver, but also the powder, bullets, and percussion caps (CCI #10).  I used 15gr of 3F and only loaded one chamber, as I have never fired c&b before, so I wanted to get used to it.  I did not use a wad and placed the ball directly on the powder.  It all worked wonderfully!  I stood at about 25 yards and shot at a piece of cardboard placed up against the sand pile I had hauled in yesterday.  I hit exactly what I aimed at (I tried two more times after that and had similar success).  What a feeling  :)