Can one break down 25lb lead bricks with a hammer?

[Sandspider500]

Oh well

[Sandspider500]

Maybe you could rig up a soldering iron to a electric turkey carving knife.

[pacrat]

Ya don't really need to reduce the size of the bars if they fit in your pot at all.

Look at SandSpider's pics. Get the pot hot and stand them on end, if they fit enough to touch bottom. They will melt down into the pot, from the bottom up.

KISS RULE APPLIES

The lube grooves were not defined on my first ever attempt at casting.

Causation for that, is because the lead, the mould, or both, weren't hot enough.

[Sanderhawk]

Thats not a bad price. I`ve seen it for as much as $3 pound on ebay.

[BIGOX]

Originally Posted by pacrat

Causation for that, is because the lead, the mould, or both, weren't hot enough.

Most likely this is the case unless using pure lead. Use a hot plate to get your mould hot and turn the heat up on your pot. If using a bottom pouring pot try keeping the mould closer to the spout. If bullets start looking frosty and groves have not improved then you'll need to add a little tin. Nothing wrong with a frosty bullet.

Originally Posted by Sanderhawk

Thats not a bad price. I`ve seen it for as much as $3 pound on ebay.

Thats a great price for known clean lead in ingot form shipped to your door. I would use caution buying lead ingots off some random guy on ebay most have no clue what type of lead alloy they actually have or if it contains zinc. I would consider buying lead in raw form on ebay. Unless your making fishing weights then have at it.

[Geofois]

Originally Posted by pacrat

Ya don't really need to reduce the size of the bars if they fit in your pot at all.

Look at SandSpider's pics. Get the pot hot and stand them on end, if they fit enough to touch bottom. They will melt down into the pot, from the bottom up.

KISS RULE APPLIES



Causation for that, is because the lead, the mould, or both, weren't hot enough.

I should probably have said I have a Lee bottom pour so the 25lb bricks won't fit and this Lee has that spout bar in the middle so you probably can just fine fishing weights or small 1 lb ingots. I did tilt a stainless steel pot on it's side and torch a 2.5lb round fishing weight to melt and make a crescent moon looking ingot that will touch the bottom so I'll probably have to do that for all the other round weights i have. For the 25lb brick if I get some I'd have to probably torch it also and let it fill up the pan on the side or something like that. That guy has redone his add for weeks so at 1.50 people aren't taking it all yet.

The fishing weights are pure lead as far as my pencils tell me so sounds like I do need to add tin from what Bigox is saying "unless using pure lead". The Rapine Wadcutter mold spit out nicely shaped minies after maybe 4 minies and the lube grooves look fine.