Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons > General Interest

Little help for Casters, especially those just getting started.

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Winter Hawk:

--- Quote from: Butler Ford 40 on January 24, 2021, 01:13:38 AM ---A suggestion, if you will, if you luck into some recovered plumbing, roof flashing or any other forms of lead, do NOT try to clean it in your casting pot!
--- End quote ---
:hairy Thank you for the heads-up!  :yessir: I bought a bunch of lead pipe last summer and it is piled under the work bench right now.  I think I'll see what the second hand stores have for a usable pot to melt it all down in.

~Kees~

Doc Nock:

--- Quote from: Butler Ford 40 on January 24, 2021, 01:13:38 AM ---A suggestion, if you will, if you luck into some recovered plumbing, roof flashing or any other forms of lead, do NOT try to clean it in your casting pot! Darn near impossible to flux enough to get all the impurities out of the lead and most of the leftover dirt will remain in your pot stuck to the sides and bottom and will get back into your clean lead when you refill the pot to start casting.

--- End quote ---

Folks are long dead now, but Dad had a friend who grew up the Son of a plumber and they had a rather sizeable (???) caldron in their Shed they smelted lead pipe for the old Soil pipe horsehair and lead packed sealant...

That gent told of how they used an old axe to chop up the lead pipe and apparently one bit still had some moisture in it and when it was tossed in the pot... well it exploded and sent hot lead everywhere... He said it was he, his Dad and brother at that time in the shed smelting it and when it blew, none of them were hit with flying, molten lead but it "emptied the rather large pot"...

Just FYI

I had a Lee 10# that over time turned into a drip-o-matic...so I plugged the hole and got a dipper and use it for RBs only and lucked into an older style (made in USA) Green Bottom pour I use for my 45LC bullets (or did)... Since I'm not shooting much these days of any type, I may not need either one again... :( :Doh! :scared:

Butler Ford 40:
Doc, that is the very reason I never add to the smelting pot. Takes longer to start each pot cold but by the time everything gets to the melting point, all moisture has evaporated.

Doc Nock:
I read somewhere that a bird flew over and crapped in a guy's pot and it blew and another guy said he had a lot of cats around  and he'd "Hose down" his pots to cool them and they NEVER blew...

The internet... helpful till it's not...

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