Bad news, Rotometals has discontinued the nuggets

[Lani52]

I just got off the phone with them.  I told them I had to order pure lead because I could not find 40-1 nuggets, I saw pure lead nuggets,  I ordered 1 lb bars as they were cheaper, but no 40-1 except those larger bars.

The gal on the phone said they are discontinuing the nuggets, I told her that was bad news as us ballet casters loved them.

She stated the machine kept breaking down, so no more nuggets of any kind after their stock runs out.

I  understand how that machine broke down after years of beating those dang bars into meltable chunks with a single bladed axe and sledge hammer.


Roachcreek

[triggertreat]

I never tried their nuggets.  I can understand the appeal.  The 5lb 40:1 still works.  I ordered 35 lbs to meet the minimum for free shipping.


I wished I had a video recorder going to capture the USPS delivery. I sure am glad my mailbox held up.  It was a small package,  but 35 lbs.

[Kinetic45^]

Shame, I've mostly ordered the nuggets too.
So nice to top off the pot with.
I have bought the bars before when they were on sale but then using a hand sledge and hatchet to cut them in parts is a pain.

[maraudinglizard]

I never tried their nuggets.  I can understand the appeal.  The 5lb 40:1 still works.  I ordered 35 lbs to meet the minimum for free shipping.


I wished I had a video recorder going to capture the USPS delivery. I sure am glad my mailbox held up.  It was a small package,  but 35 lbs.

My postmaster lets me come behind the counter to pick up my lead purchases anywhere from 25lbs to 45lbs. I had ordered tractor parts a while back and the girl dragged the parts box across the floor then it took 2 of them to pick it up and put it on the counter. I just grabbed it up like it was nothing, it weighed about 38lbs. It was an odd sized package to start with. They just open the door now and let me pick up whatever I have ordered that is to heavy for them, instead of them getting hernias trying pick up my packages.

[rsterne]

Too bad about the nuggets.... was a GREAT idea, especially for topping up the pot....

Bob

[BigBird]

Are these the nuggets?  This was on their website.
https://www.rotometals.com/pure-lead-nuggets-99-9-approximately-1-pound/

[Lani52]

They do still have some pure lead nuggets, but they are .39 a pound more than the pure lead bars.

But I was told when they are gone that’s it.

I ordered the  1 lb pure lead bars because at least I don’t have to beat on they and can add a little tin to them when I need to.



Roachcreek

[Lani52]

Anyway that was what the sales gal told me, their machine that cuts the nuggets kept breaking down. 

Roachcreek

[Wayne52]

I've had my split pig ingot for about a year now and just started on the second half of it.

[sixshootertexan]

I'll just melt the big bars down in my smelting pot and pour them into my Lee ingot mold. Extra step but you do what you have to do.

[Lani52]

I am hoping I misheard the gal on the phone, when I asked her about the 40-1 nuggets she definitely said no more as it broke the machine down.  Whether that was the wire extruded making the wire or the devise chopping it.   My hope is that she did not mean, or misspoke about pure lead nuggets, but for now the pure lead bars and popcorn flakes of tin will have to do.

When I had my 1100 yard range on my old mountain place, I used a lot of alloy for my Borschartv1878 and Shilo Sharps rifles,  those big bars were not a problem.  I had a plumbers propane fired furnace and a pot that held 55 lbs of alloy, I would melt the lead and then add tin, then make the ingots.  My shop , in town, was big enough to park a semi with 40 trailer in and plumbed for propane.  However it was desert country and the heat of 55 lbs of alloy and pouring it into my ingot molds was physically draining.

The plus side was I had a constant supply of alloy the way I wanted it.

Roachcreek

[triggertreat]

I put two of the 5lb ingots in my Lee pot initially, which melted down just fine.  I add other 5lb ingots as needed.  I drained the pot into muffin pans to swap to pure lead.  Now I have smaller ingots to add when needed in addition to rejects being recycled.  The nuggets would be handy for topping off the pot for sure, but I go for the cheapest way out, which is the bigger bars.

[Wayne52]

RC I just ordered a pound of tin flakes from there myself, I see the split pig ingots of pure lead are cheaper now that what I paid about a year ago.

[Lani52]

Now if you don’t wash rhat muffin tin before you make muffins you can save on whiskey, but your children will have two heads when born.

Roachcreek

[Ironman482]

I just ordered 15 lb of pure nuggets, so they still have some . For awhile anyway

[triggertreat]

Now if you don’t wash rhat muffin tin before you make muffins you can save on whiskey, but your children will have two heads when born.

Roachcreek

Only lead muffins for that pan going forward.  It was an old pan that I scarfed from the kitchen ,with wife's approval, this time lol.

[Wayne52]

I used some solid copper shot glasses that I had found soon after I joined this forum with my metal detector and I used them for the first time the other day to get the lead out of my pot that was in there.

[KnifeMaker]

Is the popcorn similar in price too the nuggets? I've only bought 5 lb. bars from them.


Mike

[KnifeMaker]

I got lucky and fund a huge crated full of PD range scrap from steel bullet traps. It was all .9mm and .40 cal Speer gold dot. Man, dead soft, and the plated jackets skim so easy. Wish I could have afforded more than the 200 lbs at the time.


I just bought a second otters trap. Makes recovering my pellets and slugs so easy. No picking thru like the rubber mulch was.


It has the added benefit of the cardbore for the stick on dots gets into the traps in fine little pieces of scrap cardboard. Makes for a free beginning flux for the cleaning. Normally I use cedar shavings.
Mike.

[Wayne52]

Michael you probably go by weight when you add tin to a mix by weight don't you?  like 1 gram to a 100 grams for 1% tin