Casting once the free lead is gone.

[357mag357]

I love to shoot, I love to reload, and then I discovered casting. I am not sure what it is but I find it very relaxing and rewarding. Right now I have about 400 pounds of used WW. Once this is gone most of my supplies have dried up. I looked online at a place called www.rotometals.com They want 2.34 a pound for Hard Ball lead. If I did my math correctly it would cost about 8 cents to cast a 240 grain bullet. I can buy those same bullets already made for 8 cents. So if I can’t get the lead for free why cast? Would anyone pay for lead? I really do love to cast but paying for it seems crazy.

 

[~z]

keep scrounging and once you find some dont tell anyone (except me) where it came from. There are always deals to be had, one mans junk is another mans treasure. Lead prices are dropping and it wont be long till free or atleast cheap supplies are available again.
~z

 

[jcwit]

Does the range you shoot at allow you to get lead. If a club range, how about a clean up, and get the lead? Check out ALL the scrap yards in your area. Boston? Sailing boat ballast?

 

[Walkalong]

At our range there are a ton of bullets waiting to be scrounged from the backstops. The rain washes the dirt and they just stand up and say "take me home, please".

I am sure it is the same other places.

 

[bedwards1]

There are still tire dealers who will sale and some give you the lead weights. Like getting married, just ask for the order!


be

 

[MissouriBullet]

357mag357, we have ready-to-go foundry alloy for sale on our website. Others do too, of course, but ours is a bit less than you'll see around.

Anyhow, if you're interested drop me a private message and we'll get you hooked up.

Brad

 

[.38 Special]

The free lead dried up around my neck of the woods years ago. I have been happy to pay $1/pound for smelted wheel weight. This is very easy to find. My last few hundred pounds came from members of this website, in point of fact. It is also commonly available through Ebay, often for 75 cents or so per pound.

 

[RugerBob]

If your sitting on 400 pounds and your casting 240 grain pieces and there are 7000 grains in a pound...I'd say your sitting pertty. Other then that, being near the water should give you some options as old sail boats had lead keels, ebay is on average a buck a pound, scrap yards, berm surfin at ranges.

 

[sqlbullet]

I hear you. I got the news from my source (radio pharmacy) about two weeks ago that they are moving away from lead core shields, which weigh 31.5 lbs, to uranium shields that they will re-use. I will get one more batch of the old cores.

Luckily I have about 3,500 lbs in the garage, plus the 500-800 lbs I will get from the last batch. Still, I now have a finite supply, where before it seemed infinite.

Of course, that is still enough lead to cast 140,000 200 gr bullets for my 10mm. Works out to 26 years of 100 rounds a week.

 

[357mag357]

I saw an old ballast from a small sailboat about a year ago at a flea market. I wish I bought then. Is the lead from a ballast pure lead or a blend like wheel weights?

 

[RustyFN]

If you have a scrap metal dealer near by check with them. Most scrap places sell WW's for 50 to 75 cents a pound.

Rusty

 

[coloradokevin]

Luckily I have about 3,500 lbs in the garage, plus the 500-800 lbs I will get from the last batch. Still, I now have a finite supply, where before it seemed infinite

Far be it from me to judge another person's ammunition needs, but it sure seems like you are sitting pretty to me!

By my math you will have about 4,150 lbs of lead. If you were to shoot 230 grain bullets, that lead would provide you with 126,304 bullets (with 100% yield). I don't know a great deal about casting, but you would still have over 88K bullets if you only had a 70% yield!

In short, I envy your setup as is!

 

[Slyhuntr]

My neighbor told me the other day he has a almost endless supply of free WWs. Guess I better tell him to sling some my way.

 

[FROGO207]

I am also a part time plumber. Taking out the old cast iron and lead bends from houses and replacing with PVC yields lots of soft lead. Ask to buy from your local plumber. Almost nobody wipes lead joints anymore there are lots of safer options now.

 

[moooose102]

If your sitting on 400 pounds and your casting 240 grain pieces and there are 7000 grains in a pound...I'd say your sitting pertty

+1 on that. that should make you roughly 12,000 rounds! just keep scrounging and try to not use up all of your stockpile. if i were you, i would set a minimum "reserve" level. say maybe 1/4 of what you have. do not use any of that unless there is absoloutly no lead to be had anywhere unless it is at rediculous prices. you have to have a safety net! if you can buy lead @ $1.00 a pound, (smelted into ingots) use that instead of your reserve. but at this point, unless you shoot 1k rounds a week, you are doing just fine.