What to do with contaminated lead?

[Geezerbiker]

I have about 30 pounds of lead I salvaged from tire weights but I think I missed a zinc weight and this batch is contaminated. I've had those ingots in a GI ammo can for years and now I need to find a use for them or to get rid of them. Any good ideas?

Tony

 

[Dave P]

I sure would not worry about contamination in 30 lbs. Pour it, shoot it.

 

[Mike / Tx]

I sure would not worry about contamination in 30 lbs. Pour it, shoot it.

That would be my plan as well. I had a batch that was really weird and looked like oatmeal that I broke down I nto ingots and mixes into known pure to use making RN bullets for blasting ammo. So far I've used it successfully on several thousand 9mm bullets and to make up jig heads for fishing.

 

[TXAZ]

There are metal recyclers in most every city if you don’t want to shoot it.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Dive weights.
Sell the alloy to a dive shop or diver.

 

[Geezerbiker]

Thanx for the suggestions. I don't know of any dive shop around here but I'll look. The last time I tried to cast bullets from this batch of alloy the didn't fill out well. For now I have plenty of good alloy to cast with so I'll get around to dealing with this when I do...

Tony

 

[Doyle]

Could it be be used for fishing weight casting?

 

[dahermit]

I sure would not worry about contamination in 30 lbs. Pour it, shoot it.

Depending on how many Zinc weights were missed, Zinc contamination results in misshapen bullets that cannot be used.

Also, trying to dilute Zinc contaminated bullet casting alloy by adding more pure lead has been reported by some casters as being problematic in that they maintain that it will take great deal of pure lead to dilute the Zinc contamination to the point where cast bullets become usable.

 

[BarryLee]

Why not simply toss it in the general household trash? I believe all municipal landfills are lined and this is really not a large amount.

 

[anothernewb]

cast a few. see how they turn out. If they cast okay. then no worries. if they don't, then there's always the other options. All depends on how much zinc is actually in there.

 

[gwpercle]

Cast it into small "mini-muffin" ingots and add 1 mini-muffin to every pot when you fill it for casting . In small amounts the zinc has no discernable affect on a large pot 10 - 20 lb. pot ... there is just too little zinc in it to do any harm .
Times are too hard to be throwing any reloading stuff away .
Gary

 

[5whiskey]

Cast it into small "mini-muffin" ingots and add 1 mini-muffin to every pot when you fill it for casting . In small amounts the zinc has no discernable affect on a large pot 10 - 20 lb. pot ... there is just too little zinc in it to do any harm .
Times are too hard to be throwing any reloading stuff away .
Gary

Best answer I think. 1-2 pounds of the contaminated lead per 10 pounds of Known good alloy should dilute enough to use as normal. And agreed it would hurt my soul right now to just toss 30 pounds of lead. Even if it did have issues.

 

[101combatvet]

Why not simply toss it in the general household trash? I believe all municipal landfills are lined and this is really not a large amount.

Oh, Lord. You sound like the commercial fisherman I knew that use to pour used motor oil on his dirt driveway to keep the dust down. You might as well dump sewage into the Bay; he finally got the message.

 

[LOLBELL]

I had an Aunt that put used motor oil on the dirt road in front of her house to keep the dust down. Worked great. You would get locked up for doing that nowadays. I never could understand all the hoopla. The oil and lead originated in the ground, whats wrong with putting it back where it came from. I pump water out of the ground to water my lawn and nobody says anything.

 

[Geezerbiker]

Best answer I think. 1-2 pounds of the contaminated lead per 10 pounds of Known good alloy should dilute enough to use as normal. And agreed it would hurt my soul right now to just toss 30 pounds of lead. Even if it did have issues.

If you were close by, I'd let you have it...

Tony

 

[Don Fischer]

How do you know you have zinc in it? I found when melting down wheel weights that the wheel weights of lead melted much sooner than zinc and the zinc weight floated out. If I remember right, that would be good!, zinc melts at 850* and lead at something like 600*. I never smelter lead at over 650* and actually no problem with zinc, at 650* the zinc won't melt!

 

[101combatvet]

I had an Aunt that put used motor oil on the dirt road in front of her house to keep the dust down. Worked great. You would get locked up for doing that nowadays. I never could understand all the hoopla. The oil and lead originated in the ground, whats wrong with putting it back where it came from. I pump water out of the ground to water my lawn and nobody says anything.

Funny

 

[101combatvet]

How do you know you have zinc in it? I found when melting down wheel weights that the wheel weights of lead melted much sooner than zinc and the zinc weight floated out. If I remember right, that would be good!, zinc melts at 850* and lead at something like 600*. I never smelter lead at over 650* and actually no problem with zinc, at 650* the zinc won't melt!

^THIS^

 

[Geezerbiker]

What makes you think I had a temperature controlled furnace to melt it? I used a stainless steel pan on a camp stove. I'm pretty sure I melted at least one zinc wheel weight in the mix. I can't get good bullets from this alloy even with my best molds.

I might mix it in with better alloy someday or it might just sit in that GI ammo can for the rest of my days.

Tony

 

[USSR]

Tony,

Some advice for melting clip-on wheel weights in the future. Test them with a pair of side cutter pliers. If you can put a dent in them with the side cutter, they are lead; if you can't, they ain't.

Don