X-Ray Room Lead

[Michael Bodner]

In general, does anyone know if X-Ray Room lead is 100% pure and soft, or is it an alloy that is hard?

Thanks

-Mike

[Paul Lampman 263V]

It is generally soft but can have solder joints.

[RaiderANV]

It's pure lead. Installed in many doctors offices in years gome by and never made a solder joint. The lead is on the back of the sheetrock where you can't get to after banging to solder seams if you wanted to.

[macvcallsign]

In general, does anyone know if X-Ray Room lead is 100% pure and soft, or is it an alloy that is hard?

Thanks

-Mike

Mike,

It is as pure as you will find. I buy all I can find. I have never found any with solder joints. This is sheet lead, usually 1/8th to 1/4", that is glued and taped to the back of sheetrock. It can be cut easily but melt it outdoors since the glue that is used will smoke and smell. Scrape it off the top of the pot and you have some of the purest lead you will ever find.

This has been my experience over the last 40 plus years of casting bullets.

Dennis Schuler, Cmdr.
4th Kentucky Cavalry, CSA
1561V

[Eggman]

It's pure lead. Installed in many doctors offices in years gome by and never made a solder joint. The lead is on the back of the sheetrock where you can't get to after banging to solder seams if you wanted to.

Yeah the sheetrock sure sticks when you melt it with the lead.

[Michael Bodner]

Thanks everyone!!

-Mike

[brimorse]

Believe it or not, they still install the stuff. At least in the hospital where I work they do. It makes cutting in a receptacle box a real treat!

I have been told that there is radiation trapped in the lead, and melting it will free it. I don't know how true this is, but food for thought...

Bri

[Paul Lampman 263V]

I acquired a large amount of it a number of years ago from a hospital I worked at and YES it had soldered seams. It was also a royal pain and mess to clean off the sheetrock but it was free.

[Lou Lou Lou]

It is safe. Radiation does not stick nor penetrate it. Get all you can

[Maillemaker]

I have been told that there is radiation trapped in the lead, and melting it will free it. I don't know how true this is, but food for thought...

http://www.quora.com/How-do-substances-that-are-not-normally-radioactive-such-as-soil-metal-structures-water-vapor-become-radioactive-when-exposed-to-a-reactor-accident-or-atomic-explosion

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/questions/question/2490/

Generally speaking, radiation does not cause things to become radioactive. Neutron bombardment can cause things to become radioactive, but photonic radiation, like X-rays, do not.

An X-ray photon does not become "trapped" in the lead. Rather it imparts its energy to the lead as heat.

Steve

[efritz]

They're constructing a minute clinic in my building with an x-ray room. I'm licking my chops waiting for the scraps.

[FirinFlatTop]

most rooms done with lead lined wallboard is cut at factory to fit when room is ready, kind of hard to cut the wall board that is lined with lead. it's when a x-ray room is removed when you get the lead.

[efritz]

Oh contrare. Another building I worked at, they did glue it on after the drywall was up. I got that scrap too. Probably over 100#.

[jonk]

I've used my share of X-ray room lead.

My thoughts are, yeah, it's dead soft; but it's a lot of pain to work with.

The glued on leftover crap is bad enough, but it burns off easy enough.

The big problem is, usually you get it folded over. Let's just say it's a real PITA to unfold 100 pound sheets of lead and try to cut it up with a set of tin snips.

Another approach is to take the big folded sheet and simply take a weed burner to it. Problem with that is, the layers of paper, when under molten lead, act as insulation and the lower layers don't want to burn.

Finally my approach became to leave it folded about 2 to 3 times and take an axe to it, to get it down into chunks small enough to deal with. Lots of sweat and effort.

All in all, if I can't have pre-made ingots, I'd rather have one large pig of lead to work with. Set the pig on top of some muffin tins, and weed burner it into ingots.

That said, all things are relative, and if the lead sheet is cheap enough, I'm willing to go through the hassle. Let's put it this way. I can get lead ingots at no more than $1.60 per pound, sometimes cheaper. If I could get the sheet lead for $1 per pound, I'd be willing to mess with it. Otherwise, not so much.

[brimorse]

Steve, thank you for dispelling the myth! I only repeated what I was told.

That being said I've moulded lots of bullets that have been exposed, and I'm still normal. At least I think I am ;-)



http://www.quora.com/How-do-substances-that-are-not-normally-radioactive-such-as-soil-metal-structures-water-vapor-become-radioactive-when-exposed-to-a-reactor-accident-or-atomic-explosion

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/questions/question/2490/

Generally speaking, radiation does not cause things to become radioactive. Neutron bombardment can cause things to become radioactive, but photonic radiation, like X-rays, do not.

An X-ray photon does not become "trapped" in the lead. Rather it imparts its energy to the lead as heat.

Steve

[Timmeu]

I am continually amazed at things I learn while reading posts on this board. I never even thought about lead and radioactivity before. Messed up my youth with wine women and song.......

[MR. GADGET]

I think everyone jumped to think it is the sheet rock lead....

there is other x-ray room lead.
it is the lead used in the films.
I was.getting gallon bags of.it everytime I went to the dentist.
He peel it off the back of the films before they developed them and threw them in the trash... That was before told them I can use It to make bullets to shoot and hunt with....

The gallon bags started showing up and it works great... along with the lead blankets they use and have an exp date.....

[gemmer]

I'm in a construction related business and latched on to some lead lined sheetrock that was demo'd. I assumed the lead was pure and after stripping and cleaning it, I cast some minies for my rifled '42. The first shot fired with them produced a less than normal felt recoil and a flyer. Subsequent reloads were hard to ram home. Bottom line, poor expansion of the minie, hard fouling and leading ahead of the breech. My next batch of castings were with purchased pure lead and fouling free accuracy returned. I now use that lead for round balls only. I later acquired some solid lead "bricks" used to surround a high tech radiology therapy room. My cabine tree tester says it's pure but I haven't tried it yet.

Duane

[Maillemaker]

Man I envy you guys with these awesome finds. I'm stuck with Rotometals ingots at $2.70 a pound.

At least it's 99.9% pure and it goes straight in the bullet pot, I guess.

Steve

[RaiderANV]

QUOTE=Maillemaker;44486]Man I envy you guys with these awesome finds. I'm stuck with Rotometals ingots at $2.70 a pound.

At least it's 99.9% pure and it goes straight in the bullet pot, I guess.

Steve[/QUOTE]


Need to look harder.......I searched Craigslist.com for you state and found quite a few listing. All under a buck fifty a pound. One guy has lead he's triple fluxed in ingots for 1.25 a pound and discounts for large purchases. Here one link:


http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/spo/4856606605.html

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/spo/4857811047.html

[Maillemaker]

I'm always skeptical of buying "pure lead" from sites like that.

Steve

[RaiderANV]

Its not sites like that.......I've sold lead on there myself. 1000's of pounds in fact. Invest in a lead hardness tester. I use my thumb nail and never had a problem. Plenty of ads for other types of lead you can hse for smoothie or carbine.

[jonk]

QUOTE=Maillemaker;44486]Man I envy you guys with these awesome finds. I'm stuck with Rotometals ingots at $2.70 a pound.

At least it's 99.9% pure and it goes straight in the bullet pot, I guess.

Steve


Need to look harder.......I searched Craigslist.com for you state and found quite a few listing. All under a buck fifty a pound. One guy has lead he's triple fluxed in ingots for 1.25 a pound and discounts for large purchases. Here one link:


http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/spo/4856606605.html

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/spo/4857811047.html[/QUOTE]

Zipmetals has lead at $1.60 per pound plus freight... minimum order of 400 pounds, but I'd go through that in 2, maybe 3 seasons. Not as good as Fred or a few other reputable skirmishers, but if you don't go to nationals, or live in their area, it could be a good option.

[Jim Barber]

There's a guy from NJ outfit-- Brian Ostner, I think?-- who has a ton of that lead sheet. Probably several tons, actually, and it was great stuff to work with, and definitely pure. It had a little residue here and there from the drywall, but minimal. Was easy to keep the pot at steady temp. You could cut strips of it with snips, then toss them in the pot as you cast. Since they were thin pieces, they'd melt quickly. I wish I could get more of it, but it was a hassle for him trailering it to Nationals. If some of you East Coasters tracked him down, he'd probably bring some to a local skirmish for ya...

Otherwise Fred's Lead (Mr. Herlinger) is always genuine virgin lead, if you are at Nationals or in his region (also out East someplace as I recall).

At The Great Flood-- er, Nationals-- last spring I got a bunch of lead from another fella who posted on the board, ingots cast from old cable sheathing. It turned out to be good stuff as well. Can't recall his name to save my life... my CRS must be setting in.

Mail order wise, I've had very poor results (ebay, craigslist, etc.) Lots and lots of hard lead good for carbine, all of it promised "100% pure! Cast from virgin government lead certified 110%! Comes with LEE stamped into it to show authenticity!" But with USPS "it fits, it ships" pricing, it was all still a pretty good deal, even if it wasn't actually pure/good lead.

Skirmisher Cabin Fever has officially set in-- we're debating the radioactivity of x-rayed lead. Next will be the bear-tallow-vs.-Mobile One-lube recipe debate!

Cheers!
Jim B.
Grove City OH

[Lou Lou Lou]

Brian and Fred are both great guys to deal with.

[Maillemaker]

I checked Craig's list in my area (Huntsville) and found no lead other than "lead sinkers" of unknown alloy.

I don't go to the Nationals so that's not an option either.

Checked out Zip metals but they have a 400 pound minimum order, plus you have to have a way to unload it off a Semi. Too rich for my blood.

Rotometals sells a 500 pound pallet for $775 plus $196 freight for $971 total, or $1.94 per pound delivered.
Zip sells 500 pounds for $785 plus $315 freight for $1100 total, or $2.20 per pound delivered.

So it looks like Rotometals is a bit cheaper, but I can't afford to buy lead in those quantities.

I usually buy lead $100 at a time - just enough to get the free shipping.

Steve

[K. Herrick]

You can purchase lead thru Rotometals at $2.03 per pound shipping included. Just purchase their lead pig cut in half total cost $109.00 includes shipping each pig weighs 52-55 lbs.

Kevin

[Maillemaker]

You are right Kevin! The pig is the way to go. I had seen it before but had discounted it for some reason. Maybe now it is cut in half I don't remember if it was before.

Steve

[David Disher 12143]

In general, does anyone know if X-Ray Room lead is 100% pure and soft, or is it an alloy that is hard?

Thanks

-Mike


Ok, so after reading this thread, and the many replies, I decided to make a few phone calls. Got in touch with a local recycling/junk/salvage yard downtown, and sure enough, they had some x-ray room lead in rolled bundles. Went to check it out, and it was so soft and pliable, about 1/16" thick, with no solder joints. Got it for .80 per pound, about 200lbs total. I'm a believer.

D

[Fred Jr]

I have been supplying pure virgin lead for skirmishers for the past 25 years. I post on our BB about a month before each Nationals. I used to deliver it to your site but due to some health problems you now have to pick it up from my site. I will also bring down a load at most of the skirmishes held at the Fort. The price does vary but it is usually less than the large companies sell it for. I don't get any discount for buying a ton and I can only bring about 2500lbs each trip.

This IS PURE VIRGIN lead! Will post in early April.

Thanks,

Fred Herlinger, Jr 1097V
12TH PA