lee tumble lube molds

[sabot_round]

Ok... I was pricing it on Ebay and its running about a buck a lb for processed plus shipping.

If you are going the Ebay way, stay away from Bubba's parts in Alabama. Their processed lead is mixed with zinc and it will f@#k up your smelter.

 

[BadgerLB]

Good to know, thank you...

 

[Old Fart]

I ain't tellin



Just keep your temps below the melting point of zinc and they float up and get skimmed off with the rest of the trash.
But, yeah you sure don't want to buy a bucket full of them.

Larry's right just keep the temp just high enough to melt the lead. Much hotter and Zinc starts to melt. If you have a lead thermometer lead melts at around 500 degrees F. Steel is up the scale a ways.

 

[Roadking Larry]

It would yield about 375lbs once you remove the metal clips. I wouldn't pay more than $0.35 x lb.

Not nearly that much. I got a little over 125# of clean alloy with the last 5 gallon bucket I melted down. As far as pre melted goes I can with great difficulty and much huffing and puffing grunting and groaning move a 5 gal bucket full of wheel weights around and manage to get into the bed of my truck. If it weighed even 375# there is no way I could do that.

 

[sabot_round]

Not nearly that much. I got a little over 125# of clean alloy with the last 5 gallon bucket I melted down. As far as pre melted goes I can with great difficulty and much huffing and puffing grunting and groaning move a 5 gal bucket full of wheel weights around and manage to get into the bed of my truck. If it weighed even 375# there is no way I could do that.

Was it only half full? We are no talking about cotton, are we?

 

[RustyW]

I used to buy WW from a local tire shop for $20.00 for a 5gal bucket. That's only been about 2 years ago. I would cast some #4 & #5 sinkers in trade sometimes. Those days are gone now. Now the going rate is $50.00 a bucket and my "supplier" is in some kind of contract with his supplier where he trades his old for a discount on what he gets new. Lead is getting harder to find nowadays. I'm glad I stocked up when I could. I've smelted well over a ton of wheelweights and it's been my experiance a 5 gallon bucket is about 130-140 before processing.

The local recyclers here are paying about .20cents a pound if you're selling. They charge $1.00 per pound if you're buying. I'll never pay that for lead, I have enough to last luckily.

 

[sabot_round]

I used to buy WW from a local tire shop for $20.00 for a 5gal bucket. That's only been about 2 years ago. I would cast some #4 & #5 sinkers in trade sometimes. Those days are gone now. Now the going rate is $50.00 a bucket and my "supplier" is in some kind of contract with his supplier where he trades his old for a discount on what he gets new. Lead is getting harder to find nowadays. I'm glad I stocked up when I could. I've smelted well over a ton of wheelweights and it's been my experiance a 5 gallon bucket is about 130-140 before processing.

The local recyclers here are paying about .20cents a pound if you're selling. They charge $1.00 per pound if you're buying. I'll never pay that for lead, I have enough to last luckily.

Hell, I must have gotten lucky. I had to divide the weights into 2 different buckets to lift 'em up into my truck.

 

[Old Fart]

I've smelted well over a ton of wheelweights

Doesn't sound like you should need any lead for a while.

All the buckets I ever bought were heavy. If I was forced to guess I would have said probably a couple hundred pounds or more. Of late I've been lucky. My father in law gave me a pickup load of scrap lead. It bowed my 3/4 ton pretty good. Fortunately I only live about 7 or 8 miles from him. I wouldn't have wanted to drive very far with that load on.

Now then back to the problem of finding ww's. As I said earlier most of my luck has been with the little mom & pop outfits. Also check with the little filling stations that are off the beaten path. Salvage yards usually have a pile of scrap lead and ww's you can pick up relatively cheap. Just gotta get out and look.

One other thing to think about. If you're getting lead and you're not sure of it's make-up you'll probably want to invest in a hardness tool. Lee make a fairly cheap one. I keep a eye out out for linotype or tin to mix back in on the soft stuff to harden it up.

 

[RustyW]

I strayed a little from the original post. I use the Lee tumble lube molds too. I have 3 different styles in .38 cal. & 2 in the 9mm. I have about 10 or 12 in several different calibers from .30cal to .45 that are not tumble lube type but I use the Lee Liquid Alox on them with good results in pistol and rifle. It takes a certain learning curv to get the lube to the right thickness. I use mineral spirits to thin it out and apply 2 light coats. A lot of people use velocity as a guide to load lead boolits. I've found that sizing the boolit for your bbl and sometimes 1-2thou oversize will help eliminate a lot of leading. The other is pressure not velocity is what determines the hardness of the lead you should use. Lee has a guide in their kit with their hardness tester that shows what BHN will handle a certain PSI. The 9 & 40 are high PSI rounds. You will probably need something in the mid to high teens for them. The 45 & 38, something around 10BHN or straight WW will probably do well. It has for me. As a handloader you can adjust or load with powder types or weights as needed/wanted. Semi autos can be a pain sometimes because of the recoil spring. You can get a lighter spring to accomodate a lighter load but if you go back to the normal load the heavy spring should be used. Revolvers don't have that problem. The powders I've had the least leading with in pistol is Unique and 2400. I'm getting good results in the 45/70 with IMR 4759 and 3031. I use LLA on all of my loads and so far so good. If I can just keep the lead supply coming in as quick as I/we shoot'em up.

 

[Phat Mike]

I second OF's motion.

I 3rd that motion! plus I find it relaxing and see some of my own when I cast the lead and loaded the bullet!