When I clean lead or start with dirty lead I use The charcoal that you can get at the pet store for fish filters. Pour it on top let it sit for about a half hour to get all the moisture out then stir in. It pulls all kinds of crap out. Then just scrape it off the sides and top.

40 Rod

If doing a lot get one of the big plumbers pots. Can be rented.  While I don't alloy for bullets we do get couple of guys together and work up scrap lead for fishing sinkers.  Deep trolling sinkers are a pound each.  Lot of volume pot capacity helps considerably

Boats

I agree with using something like charcoal to reduce oxidation and clean up scrap lead when alloying.  I use scrap lead for some bullets (mark the ingots to keep them separate from known alloy).  I have a plumbers furnace and a pot that holds about 70 lbs.  I throw the dirty scrap in, melt it, and skim off the big chunks of debris.  Then, throw a few handfulls of sawdust on top, let it smoke off to charcoal, then stir it in and scrape the sides of the pot and the bottom to get the impurities to float up.  Skim again, and then ladle out into ingot molds.

I then check the hardness, and decide how much tin to add.  To get a uniform mix, I start with about 200 pounds in ingots.  Since that is 3 lots of scrap, I pile the 3 lots separately, and take one ingot from each pile at a time so that I end up with a uniform mix.  Add the tin, and flux, stir and skim.  Then, ladle out into ingots again.  When i get done I have a couple of hundred pounds of alloy that is uniform.  I shoot out the whole lot before doing another batch.  If I have a few odd lot bars left, I put them in with the next batch of alloy, again putting in a uniform # per each batch to keep the final alloy the same.  I use a stamp and stamp each ingot with an "S" for scrap.  Alloy that I know what it is I stamp "20" or similar # for the lead/tin ratio.

dave

I just checked Midway USA and 2/6/92 lead is about $4.15/lb in 6 lb bars not including shipping and tax.   Probably would pay to shop around and buy in larger quantities.   

By brother-in-law once worked at a machine shop that for some reason made lead hammers.  I remember seeing 75 lb ingots stacked up like firewood beside the side door.

Missouri has the largest lead deposits in the world.  You'd think it'd be everywhere. 

I just checked the Missouri Bullet company web site and they have 66lb ingots for $132.62 or $2.07/lb. Not including shipping.  But they have big notice that they are running 5-6 weeks behind.   Continues by saying they are hiring more people and running second shift and looking at expanding.  

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There was an article in our local paper about USGS making soil surveys in the lead mining are to determine lead contamination levels. They are assessing impact on song birds. They intend to find and fine the offending parties with moneys going to song bird habitat.   Our "spotted owl"?

I can remember back in the Carter era they tried to outlaw lead. 

They find there ways to get what the want. We can't use any bullets containing lead in our coastal mountain range as they? determined it was detrimental to the California condor. The ranchers in this area are infested with ground squirrels and so they can't use a 22 rim fire to keep them clear of their houses and out buildings let alone the surrounding property. It won't be long before they do the same for the Sierras as well. In other words outlawed all together for hunting purposes.

I'd say I'm pretty well fixed for life with the lead, bullets and loaded ammo.  But I still pick up a wheel weight when I see one. 

Besides other sources, many years ago my brother-in-law and I got to the gun club at the crack of dawn and mined out a tub and several buckets of range lead. (Right or wrong we had put a lot of that lead there and returned a lot that we took home.)  Anyway, we smelled it all down in a big pot outside and cast it into ingots.  I still have a couple hundred pounds of that haul.