AGM batteries as a source of lead?

[beltfed]

Recently I've had a nearly new Northstar group 31 AGM battery go to sh!t on me not holding a charge.
Absorbent Glass Matt batteries do not use acid like a regular lead acid battery.
The Northstar batteries use very thin sheets of pure lead to form the AGM component, are very heavy weighing in at around 80 lbs, and are almost entirely pure lead.

For all the bullet makers out there, can these be used as a source of lead for bullet making?

 

[jamesharrison]

IF it is pure lead, then it's probably ok, but how do you know it is?
How would you dissolve the fibreglass holding it in place [not sure if they are epoxied in place]?

Even then, if it is pure lead, unless you've got tin &/or antimony, it's going to be way too soft for anything but muzzle-loader balls.

 

[yomomma]

Nothing but nasty chemicals in todays batteries, even the lead acid ones

I would not touch it with a 10 ft pole

 

[lucky07]

Weird, I was actually wondering about this a couple days ago. Coincidence?... cosmic telepathy?

Aaanyways, bunch of videos on youtube. You don't get anywhere near the amount of lead you think you will. Those plates are very thin. Most of the videos I watched were getting around 5-6 lbs of lead per battery (battery size can change that obviously). Doesn't seem like it would be worth the effort for that little lead, and of unknown composition to boot.

 

[beltfed]

Thanks for the feedback. Guess its off to the recycler then.

 

[Al Bear]

Not so fast! 5-6 lbs of free lead is exactly that … free lead. And maybe your battery would yield more. Just because you don’t know how hard it is doesn’t prevent you from finding out. If you can scratch it with a fingernail, it’s pretty close to pure. If you can’t use that lead, someone else may be looking for it..

 

[Denver Steve]

I have a few hundred pounds of old lead wheel weights in buckets I'm sitting on. For use maybe one day...

 

[lucky07]

Not so fast! 5-6 lbs of free lead is exactly that … free lead. And maybe your battery would yield more. Just because you don’t know how hard it is doesn’t prevent you from finding out. If you can scratch it with a fingernail, it’s pretty close to pure. If you can’t use that lead, someone else may be looking for it..

It's not so much just the amount of lead that makes it not really worth it. It's more about the junk in battery lead that makes the smelting process much riskier than melting wheel weights or high purity lead that kind of kills it. What gases off of that during smelting can be extremely toxic, and the thing is, you can't know just how toxic without knowing the leads composition.

 

[Deathrawt]

We use lots of batteries at work to power all the solar systems and go through quite a lot of them during the year
Might have to bust apart one or two and see how much lead is actually in there
Even if it’s soft lead it should work for shotgun slugs and buckshot

 

[boxhitch]

yes, acid is in AGMs too. Batteries are not pure lead, antimony tin copper may be in the alloy with other chemicals
some auto wreckers just go the easy route and take the posts, best return, less work
we busted down a pile of storage batteries and cat batteries but had an outdoor space and a hi pressure hose to wash everything down as it broke up. Melted lead+ in a diy steel 'crucible' with tiger torches and poured it into molds then later it went to large fishing weights

found this, better explaining than I can
medium.com/@rameshnkailad/lead-alloys-unraveled-understanding-the-role-of-alloy-elements-used-in-battery-manufacture
medium.com/@rameshnkailad/difference-between-agm-flooded-vented-type-lead-acid-battery-

 

[Ex3dy]

Clip the terminals off the top and send it for scrap. A non AGM, flooded lead acid battery would be easier to deal with but still not really worth it.

 

[antiqueguy]

If it was my only source I would do it.
I have done it when I was much younger just took a bucket filled it with water and baking soda cracked open the lead acid battery dumping the acid in the bucket.
Washing the plates is ideal as well in a baking soda solution.
In all it took direct contact with a torch to melt the stuff some battery contain cadmium in the alloy that might be the problem.
I have tossed a few in the coals of a bonfire before I was done for the night next day you get clean lead in the bottom of the pit I also do this with my dross.

My new plan is to take a 100lb propane tank cut about 15 inches off the top(water filled first) attached a face made of layered plywood and rubber and fill it through the valve hole with sand. This will make a fine bullet trap and allow recovery of the lead from said trap weather self cast or bought faster stuff will break up inside but this will mainly be used for .22’s.

 

[HeadDamage]

You don't want to breath in Cadmium fumes so melting down a battery that may contain it seems a bit risky.

 

[Butcherbill]

Nothing but nasty chemicals in todays batteries, even the lead acid ones

I would not touch it with a 10 ft pole

Yeah me too and I’ll take lead from almost any source lol. I don’t mess with battery lead.

 

[antiqueguy]

You don't want to breath in Cadmium fumes so melting down a battery that may contain it seems a bit risky.

Think I was about 14 or so when I did it myself. It was melted outside and cast into sinkers cheapest way of doing so when you loose hundreds a year.

 

[Snider shooter]

The old batteries I have used as a source of lead but with the current maintenance free batteries I won’t. Cadmium and other nasty metals are in them and after the last one I said no more. Easier ways to get lead.

 

[Raton57]

I have taken dozens of batteries apart and you really need lead to do it. Of the plates only half give you lead the rest is a brown rusty like crap. Then getting it clean is even more fun. Then you need to dispose of what's left. The poles and tie bars give the most lead and if you ever find old and I mean old they render better. Plus has cost me a couple pair of jeans also.

 

[G_Alan]

Probably better off selling the batteries at the scrap yard and seeing if they'll sell you some lead thats not such a hassle to smelt down.
I got $15 a battery for the standard suv/pickup size. While I was dropping of my Non ferrous a tire shop came in with 20 pails of wheel weights. It was funny because i stopped in once to ask about buying off them and got turned down.