Lead ball source (Where'd that eBay one go?)

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Beagle-zebub

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What are smart places to get lead round balls for percussion revolvers? There was somebody on eBay whom people on here had recommended, and whose listings I'd bookmarked, but he's gone-daddy-gone, best as I can tell.

Where is he now, or who takes his place?
 
Try Midway , or better yet just get a Lee mold and cast some up. I use to buy them, but then I got into casting and never looked back
 
That's an interesting idea, but it leads me to ask two questions:

1. What, or whom, do you use as your source for that kind of soft lead? (As opposed to wheel-weights.)

2. Are cast round balls actually accurate?
 
This small Oshkosh, Wisconsin outfit sells .454 & .457 round balls and also ships by flat rate mail.

http://www.bpstuffllc.com/index.htm

Locating local sources of inexpensive pure lead is one of the challenges of casting.

THR BP forum search for "lead sources":
http://www.thehighroad.org/search.php?searchid=5427517

Well made cast balls can shoot just as good as swagged balls. Some of the most advanced competition shooters do cast their own, but they need to be sorted and weighed to check for consistency and air pockets.
For use in revolvers cast balls should shoot just fine. :)
 
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I found this one guy on E-bay, "Junkateer Jerry". His prices are very good, just over a dollar a pound and his "feedback" is good as well, but understand I just found the listing and he been there for quiet a while, but I haven't bought anything from him. Yawl Give him a look and tell me what yawl think.
 
I found this one guy on E-bay, "Junkateer Jerry". His prices are very good, just over a dollar a pound and his "feedback" is good as well, but understand I just found the listing and he been there for quiet a while, but I haven't bought anything from him. Yawl Give him a look and tell me what yawl think.
 
I saw the guy on E-bay, "Junkateer Jerry" his prices are good. Just over a dollar a pound. He's got good feedback. He's been on E-bay for a while. I've never bought anything from him, but have been thinking about getting into casting and found him while doing research. if any of Yawl give him a try let us know who it goes.
 
A Lee 20 lb bottom pour pot is about $60 and molds for balls, minis, or REALs are about $16 each.....maxi's are more at about $50 I think. I just bought 80 lbs of soft lead for .40 per lb at the local recycling yard, which I think is an average price these days. So depending on how much you shoot and what you're shooting (only cap and ball vs. ML or both) it's not hard to hit the break even point. I'm getting about 45 balls or 20 or so REALs/Mini's per lb of lead. You can cast 100 balls or REALs in no time, Mini's take longer, I don't have any expirence with Maxis.
 
Scrap lead prices are on the low side right now , I bought 150 lbs of good clean plumbers grade scrap for 30 cents a lb ..just a few weeks ago ... check your local metal scrap yards .
 
Adhesive Wheel Weights are 98% Pure Lead & can be had from most any Auto shop that handles tires & tire balances, I get most of my Lead this way from where I work for FREE but on occasion have paid up to $.50 a LB. of it from our supplier.
 
Clip On Wheel Weights are 95% Lead, 2.5% Antimony, 1% Tin & 1.5% Trace Elements & would be pretty hard for Muzzle Loading Ball & Conicals not to mention that the finished projectile would be about .002 avg. larger than stated size on the mold.

Adhesive Wheel Weights are 98% Lead, .75% Tin, .50% Antimony, & .75% Trace Elements & are quite soft enough for Muzzle Loading Ball & Conicals.
I've been using Adhesive W.W. for several years taking several Deer & loads of targets with them, I shoot .457 Ball out of all my C&B Revolvers too using the same Lead & they are as easy to load as Store Bought Hornady .457's.
 
I've bought from Junketeer Jerry, and was very happy with the transaction. He's marked as one of my favorite sellers. He builds a little wooden crate around your lead, so it's well packaged.
That much weight in such a small box doesn't endear you to your mail carrier, though.
 
As far as how common are adhesive wheel weights........I just smelted down two 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights about a month ago, and about 25% were the stick on type.
 
I beg/steal from the plumbers on the job site. Strips of 4- 5# ingots of virgin lead used for caulking bell and spigot ductile iron pipe. See if you got a plumber friend that can "loose" 20# of it. You might want to try getting it from a local plumbing supply house that sells retail. That would be the cheapest route as you wouldn't have to pay shipping and the lead would be market value and as close to certified as you can get without paying for certified lead.
 
i use wheel weights, and i get them for free from discards at wally werld . of course the guy there in the auto shop is a fellow hunter so i get about a 100 to 150 lb big blue
crate full every couple of months..
i m me and ill see what i can do for you ...
 
When the price of lead was down. You used to be able to buy 50-60lbs off of ebay delivered to your house for about .75c a lbs. From there i would just test the hardnest of it and go from there.
 
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