Back in the day, when I was a Splicer's Helper for NJ Bell Telephone Co., cable sheaths were made of lead, especially underground telephone cables. Anytime it was neccessary to open a cable for repairs or maintenance, the lead covering would have to be cut off to get to the wires inside. Some of these cables were very large. When the repairs or splice was finished, a new lead sleeve would have to be fashioned to replace the originally removed lead sheath. Some of these 1/4" thick sleeves measured 6"-8" in diameter. The stripped lead usually went into a scrap bin, but many NJB employees who were fishermen, or hunters, would use the lead to melt for various size sinker molds, or bullets. Frequently, local cops and state troopers would pull up on our jobs and asked if we had any lead scrap that we were getting rid of. They used up lots of ammunition on the firing ranges.