Are lead based bullets going extinct?

[breakingcontact]

I'm just trying to figure out the end game. They closed the last smelter down...what does a smelter do? Remove the lead from ore I'd suppose. So the lead for batteries is all going to be imported, then eventually recycled and still turned into boolits?

 

[scap99]

I'm just trying to figure out the end game. They closed the last smelter down...what does a smelter do? Remove the lead from ore I'd suppose. So the lead for batteries is all going to be imported, then eventually recycled and still turned into boolits?

Sounds legit to me.

 

[M. Sage]

I'd the sources for virgin lead go away, the price of recycled will skyrocket....

The sources haven't gone away, they've just moved to China. The primary use of virgin lead is batteries.

This smelter shutdown has actually been a long time coming, and won't affect a damn thing. Chill, ladies. Even Glenn Beck (who's been known to wear a bit of tin foil now and then) has debunked this. Rumor Check: Did Obama Close a Lead Plant in Order to Enact ?Backdoor? Gun Control? | TheBlaze.com

 

[ROGER4314]

I've been using recycled lead shot for shotgun shell reloading for a long time. Some criticize its use because it isn't perfectly round. The truth is that lead shot under acceleration deforms and is never truly round. There are flat places in the shot no matter what you do.

The cushion wad for shot shells has a section that collapses under acceleration and lessens the amount of shot deformation. Larger Buckshot sizes use buffers and even separators for the same reason.

Regarding lead recycling for bullets, we've been doing that for decades. As the material gets more costly, recycling becomes more feasible. Wheel weights, once a favorite source of lead for bullet casting has changed, too. Zinc is commonly used for wheel weights, now and the first step in recycling WW's is to identify and remove the zinc weights.

Yes, things will change and prices will, too but I see no need to panic. The beauty in recycling lead is that you don't need to refine the salvaged lead. You melt it, remove the jackets and dirt, flux it with sawdust or bullet lube to remove impurities and it's ready for casting.

I have lead muffins cast from salvaged lead bullets that have a Brinnell hardness of 12.5 to 17.9. This is damned hard alloy and is ready to cast as is. By comparison, the "go to " lead alloy for many casters is the Lyman #2 which tests 13.4 Brinnell hardness. It's virtually the same as the scrap!

I was buying the scrap alloy at $1/pound two years ago and the last I was offered was cast in muffins weighing a bit over 2 pounds for $3. That was 2 weeks ago.

We can still buy lead from other countries. They pollute THEIR land to mine then refine the lead to sell it to us in ingots. It sounds like a great deal to me! Lead smelting is environmentally nasty. It's hard to get WORSE than lead smelting as far as raping the land to make money. I'm not a tree hugger but I've seen the results of those operations in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Lead refining and smelting is as bad as it gets environmentally.

Summed up........the recycled lead in the ground is ideal for making bullets, requires little or no changes or improvement before it can be used and is plentiful. I guess if you NEED to get upset about the lead "crisis", you can. It's just not necessary.

Flash

 

[ray22]

The sources haven't gone away, they've just moved to China. The primary use of virgin lead is batteries.

This smelter shutdown has actually been a long time coming, and won't affect a damn thing. Chill, ladies. Even Glenn Beck (who's been known to wear a bit of tin foil now and then) has debunked this. Rumor Check: Did Obama Close a Lead Plant in Order to Enact ?Backdoor? Gun Control? | TheBlaze.com

Very true. And it was started by the EPA while Bush was in office. The company in question actually owns another company that deals in recycled lead from battery's. The main reason given for the shut down was more to do with the fee's and taxes the EPA would imposed to bring the plant up to current standards.

 

[Sapper740]

So where does the recycled lead come from? Is lead for bullet production a large amount on an industrial scale?

Batteries, Cable sheathing, and wheel weights. I have a friend who owns a tire store who gave me used wheel weights from which I cast bullets and shot. Wheel weights are (generally) made from 82% Lead, 15% Antimony, and 3% Tin, a "Hard Lead" alloy which is perfect for reloading.