is lead from reciaimed .22 LR suitable for CF recasting?

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Racer X

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My sportsmans' club has a 50' indoor rimfire range, and periodically the bullet traps get emptied, and the lead smelted down for us. We get it back in 10# ingots I believe. They keep some to cover their costs, but this is literally a multi-generational deal with a small business.

Anyway, is the likely hardness appropriate for casting 9mm, .40 and 10mm cast bullets? I know not to push cast too fast.

Completely new to reloading, and am gathering info. I know I am about 10 months too late to get primers reasonable priced. I'm thinking long term.

My brother-in-law just bought a place that is likely a mostly finished prepper compound. 50 yard range behind the barn, and less than a quarter mile from both a National Forrest and DNR lands. Both you can shoot on if you follow the rules.
 
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The Brinell Hardness of 22 LR lead is likely 8 or below. Not ideal for the calibers you mention. You would just need to buy some type of hardening alloy. Rotometals.com is a great source, and they have just about everything you could want. I just add some foundry alloy to my pure lead. Can get just about any Brinell number you want.
 
22's are rather soft but will work well for revolvers if you coat the bullets and may be suitable for semi-auto's if coater .
For all practical purposes 22 bullet alloy can be considered soft lead .

If you plan to lubricate the bullets with conventional bullet lubricant,
obtain some tin and mix:
1 part tin to 20 parts 22 lead for revolver bullets - standard loads
1 part tin to 15 parts 22 lead for revolver - heavy and magnum loads
1 part tin to 10 parts 22 lead for auto-pistol loads.
The above info is from Elmer Keith's Reloading Book .
Gary
 
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I cast pure lead for everything and shoot nothing faster than 1400 fps in rifle and 750 in revolvers. Never had a speck of lead in the barrel of either. I do coat everything except round ball with Alox, but with hardness of 8 and shooting at reasonable speeds you should be fine.
 
It may work as is; I'd try it that way first, then modify if necessary for your needs.
 
I shoot mostly pistol and I throw lots of stuff in the pot. When I get 12 pounds I throw it in the pot and if it floats dip it out. Then I add a little bees wax and mix it up with a pound of linotype. I use a soft lube and no lead problems. Some people make casting a good boolit way too hard.
 

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4barrel said:
I shoot mostly pistol and I throw lots of stuff in the pot. When I get 12 pounds I throw it in the pot and if it floats dip it out. Then I add a little bees wax and mix it up with a pound of linotype. I use a soft lube and no lead problems. Some people make casting a good boolit way too hard.
Click to expand...

Good advice.
 
4barrel said:
I shoot mostly pistol and I throw lots of stuff in the pot. When I get 12 pounds I throw it in the pot and if it floats dip it out. Then I add a little bees wax and mix it up with a pound of linotype. I use a soft lube and no lead problems. Some people make casting a good boolit way too hard.
Click to expand...

Nice corn cob ingot mold!
 
4barrel said:
I shoot mostly pistol and I throw lots of stuff in the pot. When I get 12 pounds I throw it in the pot and if it floats dip it out. Then I add a little bees wax and mix it up with a pound of linotype. I use a soft lube and no lead problems. Some people make casting a good boolit way too hard.
Click to expand...
Way , way , way too hard ... it ain't rocket science .
The only thing you need to watch for now days are zinc wheel weights . Zinc melts easily and will ruin a pot of metal .
I take a side cutter to every wheel weight to test hardness now .
Zinc wont be cut , lead will easily cut.
Wheel weight and range scrap(reclaimed bullet trap ) 50-50 is nice blend for just about all bullets .
Gary
 
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Reclaimed .22 bullet lead works fine so long as you keep the velocity down to minimize bore leading. Depends a lot on your gun what that velocity is. Some bores lead easily, others not at all.
 
I ain't much on ordering stuff. My cousin gave me a large spool of lead free solder, which was 95% Tin. I unrolled a fair amount and weighed it in various lengths. IIRC about 20" equals an ounce. But don't quote me, do your own weighing. I then coiled up 1 ounce lengths to use in a 20x1 alloy. Cousin also gave me a few large sheets of x-ray wall lead which is super pure. Also weighed it out. Made a good alloy.
 
I am in the camp of not overthinking this. For me, there are so many variables of metal content unless you plan to buy from one of the metal companies. I divided my lead, as best I can into three categories - COWW/hard, range from my local indoor range, and soft from sources like flashing/soft stick on WW etc. I flux it all at least twice and when I pour I mix APPROXIMATELY 2 COWW to Range lead to one soft lead and sometimes more of the soft. I am guessing my range is 10-12 but as others have said and it is true for me - I don't have leading problems in any of my reloads. I do powder coat which I think is very helpful and I do not push things to break new speed records.

My humble and very unscientific advise is to harden the 22 ammo a bit and go with it. You will be fine either way. Enjoy
 
If it works OK at 22LR HV velocity,,it'll work at that velocity in other calibers as well as long as you lube the bullets with something.

When I did cast , many years ago, most all the lead I got was from our indoor range and the vast amt was .22LR.
 
Unless you are shooting competition casting for CF pistols & revolvers is not that technical. I have never bought any metal. If you have access to range 22s and think they are to soft throw hand full of Wheel Weights into pot.
I focus more on uniform alloy than the finer points of bullet casting. I think some guys shoot so they can cast. I cast so I can shoot. I’m not in any games than require hundreds of rounds per week either.
 
Keeping things Simple

Cast Bullet Forum will give you a doctorate in bullet casting. OR

Buy Lyman (it will last forever) 4 cavity mold or a Lee (much cheaper and casts faster than you can shoot) 6-cavity mold. Melt your assorted bullet scrap into a bottom pour pot and start casting. Lee pots are cheaper, replacements are 50% of current retail price when you wear it out or buy Lyman or RCBS melting pot that will last forever.

If you don't drive pistol bullets 1,300 fps or rifle bullets at 1,900 fps you will not have problems. Bullet lube or powder coating is important. In my opinion powder coating is a lot of fiddle work, bullet lubing with a lubriszier is simple and easy. I own a lifetime's worth of bullet lube. Dextron3 transmission fluid is the magic ingredient for any bullet lube. A dab will do you with ZERO leading.

Look at the bottom of this thread and you will have sufficient information to start casting from the other listed threads. Don't make bullet casting difficult. Long sleeve cotton shirt and leather work cloves are a good idea, eye protection is a must have!
 
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A new Lyman 4 cavity mold is now up to $145 without handles. Check out NOE, Accurate molds or Arsenal molds for quality molds.
 
When I first started casting I mined the bullet traps at our city police range using an old Army entrenching tool and a box with hardware cloth (heavy screen material) to sift out the spent bullets. Picked up a cast iron pot at Goodwill and used that on the Coleman stove outdoors to melt, flux, and cast ingots from (my ingot mold is an aluminum muffin pan). Used that same method for used auto wheel weights and salvaged type metal.

For those willing to do the work this will always be a good source of lead for casting. It is tedious and dirty work, but back in those days I had a lot more time than money to spend.

I eventually moved on to a commercial foundry as my source. Purchased pure lead, lead-tin, and linotype for years. Like most commodities the prices are directly related to quantities purchased, and individual bullet casters will be paying considerably more than commercial users. Even at that, very few cast bullets will take more than a few cents worth of metal, and the convenience makes that worth the price for lots of us.

Several years ago while moving from our long-term home I found two 5-gallon buckets of used wheel weights and about 80 lbs. of foundry linotype metal that I had forgotten I had. Probably about 10,000 to 12,000 cast bullets will come from those. At today's bullet prices that is equal to about a thousand bucks or so (compared to commercially cast bullets).
 
.22LR bullets are shot at 1250fps or a little more without leading the bbl of rifles and handguns.Its lead will certainly be ok for 9mm bullets pushed at around 1000fps if:
A)the bullets are the right size(I like .357'' for my 9mms)
B)the right lube is used
While I'm a little more at ease with lead at around 10-12BHN for my rifles(1350 to 1450fps no gc no leading),I think that generally guys use an higher than necessary BHN and an harder than necessary bullet lube.I've solved a few problems and got more accuracy going softer.
I know that the trend for hard lead started with men like Elmer Keith stating that one must use hard lead in magnum handguns but his hard lead then was more like Lyman no 2 formula which is not that hard by today's standards.
 
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