last night i finally cleaned the lead out of my pellet trap. that sucker was getting really heavy too. i bet it weighed at least 10#. looked like some pretty nice lead in there . does anyone have any idea what kind of bullets as far as hardness this might make??


sometimes you are the bug ...... sometimes you are the windshield..........

Pellet lead feels pretty soft to me. I guess you could cast some balls or conicals for your muzzle loader maybe.

H. C.

I'd agree with pellets being darn near pure lead, and hence dead soft.

You could mix it with wheelweights and some tin to make a fine bullet alloy.

how about a linotype 1to 1 mix? that was what i was thinkin of...........

Heard that some pellet lead is actually bismuth. Not really lead.
Has anyone tried to melt .22 rimfire lead? Think it might be the same stuff.....it floats forever. Sure wished I had not picked all of those little .22's.

UUUHHH...... what is bismuth an how would i know the difference??????????

Some 22 "lead" is actually zinc. You absolutely don't want zinc in your casting pot. It increases the surface tension of the melt (causes droplets to ball up instead of spread out), and the melted metal won't fill your mould out very well.

Bismuth is a heavy metallic element used in lead free bird shot. It is one of those rare substances (like water) that expands as it freezes. These guys say it will ruin a pot of casting lead: http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

I'll look around a bit to see in there is a published Brinell Hardness Number (BHN) for bismuth. If the number is anything above 10, those pellets wouldn't feel all soft and squishy. Also, the manufacturer would probably point out that they are non-toxic lead free pellets.

Okay, here it is: www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Bi

The Brinell Hardness number of bismuth is 94.2. That is one very hard pellet. You could break a tooth trying to dent one of those. I suspect a pure bismuth air rifle pellet would have a plastic skirt or waistband to engage the rifling.

H. C.

Yes, it is true. Some pellets have bismuth, but not anywhere 100 percent. The pellets I have experience with are the RWS brand or an european equivalent of some sort. When added to a lead mix known to be average, range lead plus wheel weights for example, the boolits come out SIGNIFICANLTY heavier, like adding a couple of grains to 225646. ... felix

thanks henry & felix....i called out to beeman an they said their pellets are all lead...i'll make some more calls to find out more before i try to cast this pellet lead.....


thanks again guys.........

Save your self the headache and use it for fishing sinkers. If you mix the wrong stuff in with your bullet lead you can end up with a lot of crap in a hurry that sometimes is difficult to get out of the melting pot it just aint worth it.

I have used salvaged pellets for minnie balls for my musket. They are pure lead as far as I could see. They worked great for that. I also believe .22 rimfire bullets are pure lead as well, as it works great for same application. Need lots of heat to fill out mould well..near 1000 deg F.