lead bullet making

Nope, a lead acid battery is mostly oxide of one sort or another, only the connectors are bulk lead and they make those as short as they can. You are NOT going to reduce lead oxides with anything you've got in your basement or garage. I've got several tons of wheel weights for pistol bullets along with other lead-based scrap. Sometimes you can make deals with tire shops, sometimes scrapyards will sell them. You DO have to be careful with what you put in the pot, some wheel weights are zinc and just one small one will spoil a whole batch of bullet metal. Makes it so they won't cast. One commercial caster I knew had that happen to him, he made up some big cannonball sinkers for the open-sea fishing crowd to get rid of the potfull. Dropped one and it chipped the concrete floor. Said if they didn't get the sinkers back, they were better off.

Now as to your intent to run them through automatic weapons, you can't run them at the same velocity as service ammo, even gas checks wouldn't let you do that. Probably won't function the gun at the velocity you'll have to use to keep from leading up. With both guns, the boosters are going to get a nice bath of lead vapor, eventually you get to remove it. I'd consider that idea a non-starter. Now for pistols, lever guns and bolt actions, lead bullets will work fine if you load within the limitations.

Stan

Leave the battery recycling to the third world 8 year olds, they're the experts :/

I don't shoot enough pistol ammo to really make this pay. A fella on the Weapons Guild forum claims great success using 168 grain cast .308 boolits with a gas check in his 1919. Its a reduced powder load, don't remember exact specs without pulling up the thread. I think I'd best look for independant confirmation before moving forward.

Karl

She did, but she knows I'm not a total fool and cast with ventilation. Besides, at the temps I use it's not much of an issue.

Its been years..but as I recall..thats a modified recoil cycled weapon isnt it? You will probably have to reduce the strength of the action springs as the firing pulse will not have anywhere near the recoil energy

Gunner

Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli

Tom Gardner fired this volley in news:yPCdnSwAf9gK2 _fNnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Yes, that was the point I made earlier. At near-boiling, lead can do some weird things in air, but not at casting temps.

LLoyd

It has a booster on the end to adjust recoil. If needed I'd make one with a smaller ID and change boosters for lead. If i buy a mold, do you know somebody that would cast up a few for trial? I've got enough hobbies, don't want to do this if it don't work, But if it does, I'd quit flinching on taking it to the range; 500 rounds is typical if I take it out.

karl

There is a guy on AR15 who shoots a 1919 with cast. Says he has no problems other than needing to clean the booster more often.

I have shot my Mini (.223) with cast and not had a problem. They are not tack driving loads but work. Gas checks and lube are a must.

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" on Mon, 01 Oct

I just had a thought: "non-imaging optical focusing". Aiming a lot of sunlight at a small spot, raising the temps significantly (~ two to four thousand degrees), doing more than just melting, but vaporizing. Might work. And it is solar powered and Green!

pyotr

-- pyotr Go not to the Net for answers, for it will tell you Yes and no. And you are a bloody fool, only an ignorant cretin would even ask the question, forty two, 47, the second door, and how many blonde lawyers does it take to change a lightbulb.

I think you won't want to go through what it will take to get your 7.62 to drive tacks with lead. For the cost, I think you will be FAR better off in both money and TIME by buying jacketed slugs. For $13/100 or $355/3,000 go here:

Pistol ammo is much more cost effective. If you only want 9mm, I'll cast them for you...we could trade for apples.

Id cast you some if you would like. Ive got the molds already. Im in the process of setting up to melt down about a ton of wheelweights that Ive got stockpiled..so it will be a month or so before I can get any bullets turned out. Casting/smelting when its 107F out..is not as much fun as it used to be.

Though casting and sizing 500 bullets might take me even longer when Im already low on the stuff I normally use.

I can probably send you a hundred or two though.

Gunner

Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli

There are better prices out there. Particularly if one can use 149gr slugs

Anyone got a "user" Garand they dont need anymore that I could swap for machinery or Stuff?

Sold my last one a couple years ago when the economy went into the toilet after the surgery..and Im missing not having one around.

Gunner

Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli

...

This sounds like one heck on an idea to me. Email sent.

karl