No lead :(

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Reefinmike

Reefinmike

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I go to my local tire store the last monday of each month and they usually have about 2/3 of a 5 gallon bucket for me each month, this keeps up with my monthly shooting and enough to set a couple hundred bullets aside. I went today and they only had 15-20 pounds :uhoh: this will probably only clean up to 10 pounds. I went to 4 other places, two said no, they send em off to make batteries, one already had a caster taking them and the other only had a handfull. I have ~3800 38 special loaded up so im good on that for a good 8 months. I just started loading 45 and only have~900 rounds and that wont last me long!

What do you guys do for lead. Im going to have to *cringe* buy *cringe* lead from a scrap yard. What do I ask for, how do I know what is good, how do I guesstimate the hardness and what is a fair price to pay?
 
Here in El Paso it is about $50 a 5 gallon bucket. Last time I went to a shop they said the current price of scrap wheel weights was 50 cents a pound. They actually got the scale out of the break room, put a bucket on top of it and filled it. Came out costing me like $54. That's the only time that has happened.

I would expect more from a scrap yard because they have to turn a profit. Odds are good they will quote you a price and not vice versa. Scrap metal is their job, not a by-product of their job like a tire shop. For what you want, I would start by asking them for wheel weights and see if they give it to you. That is going to sell less to them so theoretically it should sell less to you.
 
It's gonna be harder and harder to find. Maybe the best place to buy it is ranges, when they clean out their traps.
 
Let all your friends know you're looking for lead. Even the non-shooting ones (if you have any. I don't). Just tell them you're casting fishing weights if they don't shoot. You'd be surprised the amount of lead I've gotten this way. I've even had clerks in stores call me and tell me about someone trying to get rid of some lead.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I've also had better luck when I say they will be for fishing weights. I've had people freak out when I said it was for bullets. Idiots.

I don't pay more than $20 per 5 gallon bucket if I can't get it for free.
 
well, the walmart I went to today said they send em back, NTB said no, they have to pay a epa certified company to take em away, a Grismer tire said someone already gets em for "fishing weights". I chuckled and said hes probably casting bullets, the guy said "ooh yeah, he mentioned that too". They were nice and I told them i completely understand that they are giving them to a good customer and not me. the last place ive gotten some from but they hardly had anything worth bringing my bucket in for.

I guess Ive gotta fill my wallet with tens and 20's and make a day of visiting every tire shop in the area. Not wanting to hoard, but it would be nice to have an extra hundred or so pounds of ingots on hands for months that I cant get many ww's. I couldnt see myself paying .50/lb for mixed ww's, at that price it would just be cheaper to work an extra hour and buy cast bullets. If it comes down to it, what kind of lead is good to buy from a scrap yard and what is bad?
 
Reefinmike said:
well, the walmart I went to today said they send em back, NTB said no, they have to pay a epa certified company to take em away, a Grismer tire said someone already gets em for "fishing weights". I chuckled and said hes probably casting bullets, the guy said "ooh yeah, he mentioned that too". They were nice and I told them i completely understand that they are giving them to a good customer and not me. the last place ive gotten some from but they hardly had anything worth bringing my bucket in for.

I guess Ive gotta fill my wallet with tens and 20's and make a day of visiting every tire shop in the area. Not wanting to hoard, but it would be nice to have an extra hundred or so pounds of ingots on hands for months that I cant get many ww's. I couldnt see myself paying .50/lb for mixed ww's, at that price it would just be cheaper to work an extra hour and buy cast bullets. If it comes down to it, what kind of lead is good to buy from a scrap yard and what is bad?
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With as scarce as lead is getting and if you consider your time, buying cast bullets is looking more attractive. With all the new EPA regs lead bullets may be a thing of the past in a few years.
 
If you do the math, increasing the cost of lead still makes almost no difference in the price of 1000 reloads compared to buying bullets that someone else made. $9 extra per 1000 for 200gr bullets, $5 per 1000 for 125gr bullets. People make way too big of a deal on getting an excellent price on lead.
 
I found local recycling stations always have wheel weights on hand, and sell them for about $0.30/lb. That's around here, anyways. I try and get only wheel weights from my local recycling station. They usually have a variety of lead, everything from burlap sacks full of range lead straight out of the hillside, to full linotype pigs on occasion. Lead right now is at $1+ per lb, so for me I'll pick up the wheel weights at $0.30/lb because its usually about the only lead there that I can buy knowing its 100% zinc free
 
I haven't done it yet, but if/when my lead ever dries up, I'll likely just go to eBay. For usually a little over $1 delivered, you can get ingot-ized wheelweights. Sounds like a lot of money, but since someone's already smelted them, there's no waste. Even at that price, a box of 500 148 gr. WC's only cost about $12 or so, 500 ea. 200 gr. SWC's $17 gove or take. Purty cheap shooting...
 
I don't know what State you are in but here in Florida, Lead is a Haz Mat material and only licensed folks can pick it up. It's what has kept me from casting. Even roofing companies due to construction shut down have no lead.No free lead=no casting. Scrap yards here will buy but not sell any scrap metal.
I ain't gonna mine the beams in 95 degree heat and humidity.
 
If you do the math, increasing the cost of lead still makes almost no difference in the price of 1000 reloads
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I disagree. Free lead makes a huge difference if you're shooting pistol. I buy my lead. I have pistol molds, but I'm still using commercial cast bullets for all my handguns.

But even if you buy lead, you can save a boatload on cast rifle bullets!

I suggest you start shooting cast rifle. You'll save on a lot on bullets AND get a bonus considerable savings on powder.
 
I have a ton and then some and I see how it's getting tight and now I've been getting soft lead at 30 cents a # and w/w filtering through free from truck and tire shops just to hold a stockpile, casting is getting big just like reloading, so
you see what the market is primers were 12.00$ when I started reloading so if your on the outside 1.00 # might not be bad now!
 
500 200 grain 45 boolits run about 14.3 pounds of lead. clean ingot price per 500 would be about $15. scrap lead of unknown origin/ww's with a nice mix of steel and zinc, you would probably expect the same. I bought a box of 500 200gr 45's this weekend for $40 just to be able to beef up my stock of loaded ammo before I found out my normal ww guys were real low. If it came down to paying $1lb(~$15) and casting them myself vs paying $40/500 for already casted, lubed and sized boolits that arent coated in sticky alox- heck yeah I'd buy them.

If only I had the property, Id have a nice steel trap to shoot into. That way a couple hundred pounds of lead would last me a lifetime as I can just melt it back down after I shoot it. If only I could get all the lead from the rubber mulch traps at the range I shoot at. I bet they clean out ten thousand pounds of lead every 6 months...
 
$14 per 1000 bullets at my price. Show me where you can buy 1k 200gr SWCs for $14.
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I should have said free OR CHEAP lead. So where are you buying lead for less than $0.50/lb?

I'll likely just go to eBay. For usually a little over $1 delivered
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Even the scavenged soft "range lead" sold in 50+ lb quantities is closer to $1.50, delivered. At least since I've been in the casting game. Maybe the prices are historically lower. I've only started a few months ago. My 10-20 lb lots of Ebay lead have cost me around 1.70/lb. This is great for my rifle bullets. Not worth the savings on my pistol bullets. The thing is there's no MBC for rifle bullets. Seemingly, the only commercial guy with reasonable prices on cast rifle bullet sells only for an hour every other week, while I'm still asleep.
 
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I should have said free OR CHEAP lead. So where are you buying lead for less than $0.50/lb?
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I don't buy lead. I get it free from a couple of tire shops. Go to the small mom and pop type shops. I have around 1,600 pounds on hand.
 
So where are you buying lead for less than $0.50/lb?
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I pay about 50 cents a pound for WWs. I get about 3500 bullets from a full to the brim 5 gallon bucket of them, that works out to about $14 per 1000.
 
Over the last 3 days, I've cast roughly 8,000 handgun bullets. In looking at a commercial bullet caster's price sheet, that's $520.00 worth of the bullets, plus freight. The lead was all scrounged for just the labor. Tomorrow, I'll cast another couple thousand, which should last me for a few of months. Then I'll do it again.

I've paid for my casting equipment many times over, and will continue to do so as needed.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I work at the largest auto dealer int he state.
I asked my boss if I could take wheel weights since they don't even scrap them for money, they just discard.
He said fine.

Last time I brought 75 lbs to my friends house who casts for me.(I live in an apartment)
 
You have lived too long. Live long enough things that were once familiar disappear and are gone forever.

Wish I had collected tons of lynotype before that technology disappeared.

Now we have bookless libraries, http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...uthorizes-bookless-library-system-4196889.php, newspapers going out of print, remember public telephones?.

And kids today can't tell time on an analog clock.

Go to the scrap yard and see if they have lead. My local scrap yard is virtually empty because China is buying all the lead.

That's because American manufacturing is gone.
 
jack44 said:
I scrub the barrels with shooter choise lead remover let a good amount sit in your barrel for 10 min. and clean with the proper size jag.
Click to expand...

Had to quote since this thread isn't about lead removal :)

Going rate is around $1.15 per pound shipped for clean wheel weight ingots. This is assuming you know where to look, which isn't eBay. I personally won't buy ingots because you never know what you're really getting. Rotometals prices are very good and you're getting a certified alloy. If you order enough, which I think is 1k pounds, they will make an alloy for you. Granted, you're paying thousands up front. But of you want an alloy of 96/2/2 for hunting all you will have to do is drop it in the pot.


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Knowing about other forms of lead (and what alloy it consists of), is just as important as knowing where to look. Lead is not scarce - it is out there. If you are just looking for wheel weights, then of course you will have trouble finding lead. Scrap yards are probably the best place to be looking. Creating your own alloy from various sources of lead you find is not rocket science.

Don
 
Roofing lead is pretty much pure, and it will be around for a while still.
You can find plenty of linotype on Ebay still
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Linotype-Le...292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2fb00204
....be prepared to pay $1-$2 per lb though.
Tin soldering bars are plentiful

buy a couple hundred lbs of lino, or monotype and some tin,
Look for construction/demolition companies and ask them if they want to sell their roof flashing,
OR
medical lab xray shielding...I've gotten lucky and gotten some of that before, xray rooms have lead shielding in the walls.

And you'll be set for the duration.

If you have a good backstop you can dig your lead out of, it lasts longer too as you recycle it.
 
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