Melted lead WARNING !!!!

[Allen]

Just a word of caution to you who cast your own bullets. This subject may have come up before but if so I'm not aware of it. Many years ago I was melting some old tire weights in my electric Lee Production Pot. All was going well and I had melted quite a few weights and cast a bunch of bullets. I ran out of weights that had been stored inside my workshop so I went outside and gathered some from a 5 gal. bucket. The weights appeared to be dry but low and behold they harbored some moisture. When I put a couple into the nearly full pot of molted lead the moisture flashed off with a "boom" and emptied the pot on the 8' ceiling. Of course from there it splattered and went everywhere else. Somehow I didn't get burned. So, even though these things looked dry some moisture was present in the dust or oxidation on the lead. Obviously it doesn't take much so be careful. From that day forth I have used only lead stored inside and spread out where I know w/o a doubt it is dry. Another good reason to wear safety glasses too.

[Hefights]

"Somehow I didn't get burned." Lucky lucky lucky. Yep molten lead has zero tolerance for moisture. So you have to have a "zero defects" process when it comes to making sure the product going into the pot is dry.

[p246]

Of course it slows things down but I always put whatever I'm smelting in a cold pot then heat it. Any missed moisture can steam off as it warms. Glad the lead fountain missed you.

[Matt Anthony]

Glad to hear you didn't get burned or lose your eyesight. Any one who starts casting should read, read and read some more before plugging in the furnace. Lyman's cast bullet manuals are probably the best source for beginners and veteran casters.
I don't have any horror stories as I follow a strict protocol on alloy storage, furnace and tool maint and safety glasses and a face shield.
I just purchased 40 lbs. of Hard Ball from Roto Metals for $123.60, free shipping on any purchase over 100 bucks. I could of purchased from Missouri Bullet, 66 lbs. for @$143.88 plus $14.00 shipping. Roto is higher in price but I know their alloy and it's right on.
As all of you know the EPA has shuttered the last lead smelter here in the states. Now we must mine the ore, send it overseas for smelting, then ship it back here. This will increase the price perhaps to our breaking point. I hope it does so Americans take back their country from these damn liberal do gooder people controllers. Anyway, the company could not spend the 100 million dollars to upgrade the plant to the new EPS regulations. This is good chance for Mexico or Canada to build a plant right near the borders and cash in on our stupidity!
This is not gun control according to the O administration, it's about the enviroment. Bull Hockey I say, this fixation on lead being so harmful is just not true. It's far safer than the gasoline they approve of! I am getting irritated on all of the lies polititians shove down our throats. Be a voice or we will lose it all.................
Matt

[leftyo]

always exciting. ive worked for a few years in the lead plant of a major ammo manufacturer, and it's always exciting when someone throws a wet lead ingot into an 800deg pot.

[madsenshooter]

I swept up some drippings from my Lee Drippy once, threw them back into the pot. Lo and behold, there was a live primer amongst the other silver things. It all missed me, but I had a lot more little drippings to sweep up and scrape off the ceiling. More power in a LR primer than what you'd think! Yea Matt, you're right, it isn't as harmful as they're making out. I read one greenie post that was talking about the oxides coming off wheelweights building up along the roadside. No it's the many years of tetraethyl lead that is along the roadside. Still, I knew a mechanic that washed his hands in leaded gasoline several times per day since the end of WWII. He only lived to be 82.

[Allen]

I swept up some drippings from my Lee Drippy once, threw them back into the pot. Lo and behold, there was a live primer amongst the other silver things. It all missed me, but I had a lot more little drippings to sweep up and scrape off the ceiling. More power in a LR primer than what you'd think! Yea Matt, you're right, it isn't as harmful as they're making out. I read one greenie post that was talking about the oxides coming off wheelweights building up along the roadside. No it's the many years of tetraethyl lead that is along the roadside. Still, I knew a mechanic that washed his hands in leaded gasoline several times per day since the end of WWII. He only lived to be 82.

The lead is gone now from gasoline but it still can contain hazardous chemicals, the main one being benzene. Gasoline is so thin it penetrates the skin easily as well. Back in my younger days I worked on my cars quite often and got my hands plenty greasy. I used to soak them in what was convenient which was always gasoline. Times have changed.

[PhillipM]

The lead is gone now from gasoline but it still can contain hazardous chemicals, the main one being benzene. Gasoline is so thin it penetrates the skin easily as well. Back in my younger days I worked on my cars quite often and got my hands plenty greasy. I used to soak them in what was convenient which was always gasoline. Times have changed.

As a child in the 70's the grownups called gasoline either red or white. I asked dad the difference and he said put red in the car and use wHite to wash parts!

Matt, IIRC, you have it backwards. The lead smelter that shut down processed virgin lead. There are plenty of smelters reclaiming car batteries and such. I saw some peculiar looking lead batteries at a scrap yard that were cell phone tower back up batteries. The case was lead instead of plastic. I almost bought on for the novelty.

[Tuna]

[QUOTE=PhillipM;466281]As a child in the 70's the grownups called gasoline either red or white. I asked dad the difference and he said put red in the car and use wHite to wash parts!

Yup the white gas was Amoco. It had no lead additives in it. It was responsible for a lot of burned out values in cars back then in the mid 60's onward using high test gas. They needed the lead to lube the values back then.

[Matt Anthony]

I swept up some drippings from my Lee Drippy once, threw them back into the pot. Lo and behold, there was a live primer amongst the other silver things. It all missed me, but I had a lot more little drippings to sweep up and scrape off the ceiling. More power in a LR primer than what you'd think! Yea Matt, you're right, it isn't as harmful as they're making out. I read one greenie post that was talking about the oxides coming off wheelweights building up along the roadside. No it's the many years of tetraethyl lead that is along the roadside. Still, I knew a mechanic that washed his hands in leaded gasoline several times per day since the end of WWII. He only lived to be 82.

The EPA and other Federal agencies and most State Governments continue to push the lie that lead is an evil material. In Illinois it is illegal to install lead wheel weights on any vehicle. A repair facility must buy the new steel wheel weights which has caused an increase in expense for the end user, the consumer.
Lead is a natural occuring metal, in fact it's depleated uranium, but in the natural setting. Lead is our friend, used in hundreds of products, but has been misunderstood or should I say, "Americans have been hoodwinked" into believing lead is evil! Lead has saved many of lives, without it we could not of won WWII. I guess in the war case it's bad for the receiver of lead but good for the victors!
Another thing that is surprising is the lead paint BS! Poor ghetto babies getting lead poisoning from eating paint chips or sucking on window sills or baseboards. This is simply the biggest conspiracy the government has pushed down our throats. An entire industry changing the composition of their product because little babies are sucking on paint. BS, they probably were sucking on the bullets their daddy keeps on the tables and floors of their subsidised housing.......
Regardless of the game changers and government dummies, lead is our friend and if we don't start voicing our displeasure on government regulations, we are doomed to a world of total people control. We are presently almost there, but it's never too late to stop them.
Matt