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stumbled on some good lead i think?

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stumbled on some good lead i think?

Old 05-27-2013, 06:34 AM
  #1  
Typical Buck
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Default stumbled on some good lead i think?

I am a lineman for a small municipality and the town is getting all new water mains put in. The construction crew just started and they have already gave me about 150lbs of lead pipe out of the old trench. Is this pure lead? If it is what brand of round ball mold should I buy lol. Im sure I will end up with a lifetime supply of lead by the end of the project. I have been melting it into ingots and it does seem softer than the wheel weight ingots I use for fishing lures.
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Old 05-27-2013, 07:48 AM
  #2  
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Generally old lead water pipe is pure lead. You're in good shape for a lot of shooting.
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Old 05-27-2013, 11:10 AM
  #3  
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Yes, normally water lead pipe is pure lead. I have some and have cast a lot of roundball and conical bullets out of it. As for what mold to get, will be determined by the rifle you shoot, or want to shoot. I see from your list you have a Lyman Great Plains Rifle in .54 caliber. So I would get a LEE .530 or .535 double cavity roundball mold. My GPR shoots both of them very well. So you would be set. Get as much of that lead as they will give you. It will surprise you how fast it disappears.
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Old 05-27-2013, 11:19 AM
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Good deal...personally I like the Lee brand moulds. IMO they leave less of a spue on the ball than other models.
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Old 05-27-2013, 08:24 PM
  #5  
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lee it is, I paid $20 bucks for the last box of hornady balls, that's about the same price as a lee mold so this should work out good. thanks guys!!
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Old 05-28-2013, 04:40 AM
  #6  
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If you can score it easily with your thumbnail, it's definitely soft enough for ML projectiles.

BPS
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Old 05-28-2013, 09:19 AM
  #7  
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The lead pipe I have smelted into ingots has been very soft, very close to pure lead. I wish I had a bunch of it, Congrats.
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