Was over visiting a friend (he's retired, and a part-time gun monkey) to trade some parts, and I asked him if he knew of a good source for cheap scrap lead.

He said "Is free cheap enough for you?"

Left with a little over 200 lbs of wheelweights, and 50+ lbs of honest-to-goodness linotype.  Gonna be busy for a while on my next set of days off.

Nice. 

I need some new lead.  I think the current batch is on the fourth reforming.  Or a different ingot mold.

 

Nice. 

I need some new lead.  I think the current batch is on the fourth reforming.  Or a different ingot mold.

  What do you mean by "fourth reforming"?

Two options I would think.

1.  Shoot, mine the berm, re-melt and clean, cast bullets, repeat

2.  Cast bullets, never use them, get new cartridge/mold, re-cast the bullets.

That's sort of what I had in mind for what he meant, I just wanted the specifics.

When I am bored and tired I sit and turn my lead pile from one shape to another.  Right know it is going from a small cast iron sandwich pan, to RCBS ingot molds.  I want to find a small round shape to put the lead into.

Surely you're kidding. I've never heard of anyone smelting lead out of boredom before .

This is obviously an indicator that you need to shoot more often  .

[quot e author=MTK20 link=topic=27793.msg490665#msg490665 date=1507601682]
Surely you're kidding. I've never heard of anyone smelting lead out of boredom before .

This is obviously an indicator that you need to shoot more often  .
[/quote]

It is relatively quiet, so I can listen to my book.  I do it sitting down.  I am outside, so I can smoke.  It takes little space as I am melting the lead in a large cast iron skillet with a lip that pours into the mold.  I can do it in the dark by headlamp. 

To actually cast into bullets, or fishing weights, ect I usually heat a dutch oven on an outside burner and then ladle into the molds.  To heat the dutch ovens that I have used in the past took in the neighborhood of 45 min to an hour.  And a similar time to safely allow to cool.  Due to the amount of hot metal I do not like to leave the pot to cool unattended.

With the exception of the being outdoors and smoking, reloading is the activity that I would rather spend my evenings doing.  But it requires a semi-permanent set up that I would like to be somewhat secure. 

I would love to shoot more.  I was just thinking today how disappointed I was that I have not gotten to shoot more in the last couple of years.  But it requires time in the daylight and reasonably decent weather.  I have not gotten my summer projects done yet and it is Oct.  It also requires money, for ammo, or time and place to reload.  I am hoping that once I get the water tank enclosed, then the chest freezer will move from the spare room to out there, then I can put in a work bench in that room which will give me a place to set up my reloading equipment, as well as gather it all in one location, so that I can afford to shoot more.   

I used to use a muffin pan to make ingots.  It had the added advantage that I could make a hook out of coat hanger wire, and pour the lead in on top of it to make decoy anchors for friends who were serious waterfowlers.  Some of the former wheel weights that I just melted down had been melted before, and poured into a "corn bread" cast iron pan (makes cornbread muffins that look like ears of corn). 

When you cast bullets, you can measurably improve the hardness of them by water-quenching them.  Simply take a 5-gallon bucket of water, take an old towel (Houshold Six will be upset if you use a good one!) cut an X in the center, each half about 3-4 inches long.  Tie this over the top of the bucket, pushing the center down a little.  Drop the bullets on the towel, they roll down into the water through the X, and you have heat treated bullets without worrying about splashing water into your mold or pot.  And you don't have to worry about hot bullets hitting each other and dinging the bearing surfaces.  (Stop when the bucket is about half full, or you might not be able to pick it up!)