that was probably me that wrote than. I tried to get some lead acetate but I gather it is on a controlled list and not available to the public. My source for using it was twofold; one is a friend in Switzerland who used to shoot matchlocks a lot (author of the web page on the hand gonne) and another friend in England who tested both it and potassium nitrate and found the acetate much superior. You presumably can make lead acetate from acetic acid and lead but I would think it would be a very slow process and probably the best source of lead would be very small birdshot.
It can possibly also be made using acetic acid on litharge which is lead oxide and used in some paints (for art work) and also in gold and silver smelting. There is some listed on Ebay but there also a bunch of hits on compounds which do not appear to be litharge and may be borax. (some of the hits were listed as being lead free)
cheers mooncoon
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