No more free lead for casting

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solman

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I had gotten into bullet casting for 38/357 and 44 spcl and mag about twenty five years ago. I got a Lee pot and molds and went at it. I always worked in auto shops as a mechanic so I had abundant free lead in the form of the used wheel weights scrap bucket. I would cast lots of bullets using the Lee tumble lube method. I ended up with a lot of leading in the 44 but I had fun for sureThe 38's were not bad at all. I Have been looking to get back to it after shelving it years ago. For a better quality level I realize the wheel weights weren't hard enough for the 44. Also probably needs a proper lube and sizing to be more accurate with less leading.
I thought to buy a Lyman mold and a Lyman sizer lubricator and the necessary small items to get back to it.
I went to our scrap bucket and out of a 5 gallon bucket full, I ended up with just a small handful of lead weights. The rest are all zinc and useless for bullet casting. It seems that the lead weights for wheel balancing are obsolete now.
I figure to forget the whole process if I have to buy the lead as well as needing the gear.
Are there other sources of free/cheap lead?
 
I often buy alloy from RMR for my rifle bullets, it is reasonably cheap. Time permitting I also will go to a nearby outdoor range and sift through the berm to recover bullets. I used to be able to get 100lbs worth of lead in about an hour but now the berms are a little empty due to my sifting and it takes a lot longer.
Wheel weights seem to have really dropped off as a good source. I only got into casting a couple years ago and have never used wheel weights because other methods seem more efficient.
 
When I was in Australia for work in November, my wife texted me. Do you want some lead. At 2 AM I texted back in my groggy state to say sure. When I got back I had over six hundred pounds of the stuff. I checked for zinc and its not there. I put it in storage until the spring when I can process it. Seems a local person who collects bottles and cans and anything else that recycles had it and remembered that I was looking for the stuff. My wife got it from him for a good price, about $130.
 
I thought of raking the berms but nobody will stand by for an hour while you do this. They want to be shooting and the range is always open during daylight hours.
Do you bring a sifter of some sort with you?​
 
solman wrote:
Are there other sources of free/cheap lead?
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There's tons of it in the tailing mounds around Pitcher, Oklahoma. Of course you'll have to do some intermediate processing of it before you can start to cast it.

Seriously, the nation has developed such a phobia about lead in the last few years that about the only place you will find reasonable quantities of near-free lead is going be in the form of scrap, so like dh1633pm, you probably need to put the word out to all your friends and associates - maybe offer to pay a bounty for referrals.
 
I bring buckets, a shovel, and a sifter made out of 2x4s and hardware cloth. In my area the ranges aren't too crowded so I bring some ammo and kill time until I am the only one there and then head out and sift. I have never had to wait more than a half hour, and on weekdays I usually don't have to wait at all.
 
M.R.I. repair techs give it away when repairing machines.
The drywall surrounding an x-ray room are laminated with lead,
Old x-ray vest are another source.
 
solman said:
I ended up with a lot of leading in the 44 but I had fun for sureThe 38's were not bad at all. I Have been looking to get back to it after shelving it years ago. For a better quality level I realize the wheel weights weren't hard enough for the 44. Also probably needs a proper lube and sizing to be more accurate with less leading.
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Old style Wheel Weights (Not pure lead stick ons) are plenty hard enough for .44 Mag. Sizing is/was likely your issue.

Yea, we miss the days of both free and plentiful wheel weights.
 
Thanks Walkalong
I thought straight wheelwrights are about 12 BHN. I read that 18 is needed. Yes indeed the wheelwright bounty is gone.
I will need to ask around. If I can find a good source I will make the investment in tooling to proceed
 
you can still find WWs on ebay for decent prices- s&h isn't bad with USPS flat rate shipping

rotometals has a president's sale currently- 10% off and free s&H
 
Are there other sources of free/cheap lead?]
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Folks who remodel medical offices where they have Xray machines, plumbing companies (roof flashing), outdoor gun clubs if they'll let you sift their berms
 
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Put a want to buy ad in the local paper or on Craigslist. Tell your family, friends, co-workers, ect that you are looking for lead. I recently bought 5600# of lead in a deal and was not really looking for lead. This is some of the clip on weights.

gF9NGHK.jpg
 
Sure there is still free lead to be had but, more states are restricting lead wheel weights. Old roofs with lead flashing are fewer and fewer. Lead plumbing pipe, less common. Lead-sheathed telephone cable, getting harder to find.

Solutions? Maybe put the word out to your buddies at other auto shops that you'll take any lead wheel weights they can toss your way. Ask you roofer friend, plumbing acquaintance and telephone repair buddy that you'll take any lead scraps they remember to hold for you. Hey, you can remember their generosity with a beer or 3! A few pounds of WW here, a lead drain there, it all adds up.

But the truth of the matter is, all the old sources are drying up. Maybe it's time to consider alternate sources that might cost a little bit of cash. Some scrap yards are willing to trade (for other valuable metal scrap) or sell cheap scrap lead.
 
Boat yards ballist from sail boats you can find several hundred pound blocks that lots of places consider it hazardous waste and want it gone most times free or some beer.
Old plumbing is a good source as well.
My local recycler sells it for around a buck a lb but that takes the fun out of it.
 
Tire weights depend on your geography. I’m not having any trouble finding lead weights. Stuff in Texas runs about 60% clip on lead, 10% stick on, 25% steel, 5% zinc.

I put the steel back in a bucket and sell it to the scrap yard, they either don’t notice or care that I sorted it!

I try to get them free or for $20 for a full bucket. If you pay much more all the time smelting will out match the value of them. $1# street value for smelted tire weights. I’ve got my fill so I pass if they cost more. Oneshop calls me every couple months and tells me to come get em or they are going in the dumpster!

Every now and then some whacko comes in and offers big money for them ($80 a bucket is what I hear now and then) they must be cleaning and reselling the weights. It ruins the market because then the tire shop wants that for them and they simply aren’t worth it. Those shops usually end up with one hell of a stash they eventually turn loose of.

When I started casting I went on a business trip to Kansas City. Every tire shop I drove by I hit up. Came home with 5-6 buckets and I think I spent $50 for it all.
 
I used to get free lead from various sources, but I went expensive, since I have a Doe Run secondary smelter in my back yard, almost, and I get certified bullet metal from them, though it can be a bit pricey. However, I am the ultimate low volume caster, (200 in a session is a lot for me, seriously), and 60 pounds lasts me a long time.
 
Free or cheap lead has gotten hard to find, but its still out there. The key to finding lead is to always be on the hunt for it and networking. That big score that I just posted about was mostly an accident. It was not free, we paid 40 cents a pound for wheel weights that were sorted. I was looking to buy a couple of molds and the question of lead came up. Like Sam T. posted, the availability and lead yield from wheel weights varies by location. Some scrap yards will still sell to the public. Some of the members on the CastBoolit site sell lead in their swapping and selling section for reasonable prices. Some casters have the opportunity to mine the berms or bullet traps at their ranges. Ask your shooting buddies. Many of us will help out another shooter. I shared my last score with a few buddies.
 
I go to my gun club pistol berms on holidays when closed to shooting. I pick a 5 quart pail of pistol bullets in 1/2 hour or so. After smelting and fluxing it yealds 23-25 pounds of Lyman ingots. I mix it with wheel weights 50/50 , add a foot or so 95/5 solder . Keep the .45's at about 800 FPS, .38/.357's at 750 or so with very little leading. hdbiker
 
Something else to keep in mind. Fishing supplies are full of lead. Of course sinkers are an obvious place to start. Know of friends who have a lot of fishing gear they don’t use and want to get rid of you might beable to acquire. Jigs have lead heads in them. Hook just floats to the top after melting lead and how many jigs have you seen thrown away? Will probably have to add tin to get strength up but another source to consider anyway. Also old batteries. Takes time and work but in a pinch old car batteries are another source.
 
Alas, we are at the start of the end of an era:
California's Lead in Wheel Weights Restriction. As of January 1, 2010, California law prohibits the manufacture, sale, or installation of wheel weights containing more than 0.1% lead. A person violating this law may be penalized up to $2500 per day per violation.
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Lead wheel weight laws are becoming more common in the United States of America. There are six states inside the United States with lead laws currently on their books (California, Illinois, Maine, New York, Washington & Vermont). There are other governmental organizations and independent fleets all over the country that have also instituted policies to remove the use of lead wheel weights.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently has a regulatory investigation ongoing to research and better understand the effects of lead wheel weights and determine if a national ban should be enforced. Shown below are the facts concerning USA lead wheel weight laws, and their penalties for violating the law, as of July 2, 2012.
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The days of lead wheel weights are rapidly diminishing as the reloader's source of lead. As a kid growing up in the 50s and 60s and working in gas stations I removed and hammered on my share of wheel weights in the quest to balance a wheel. Those days are rapidly coming to an end. Many indoor ranges now prohibit the use of cast lead bullets because of the exposed lead. Pumping leaded gasoline was my paycheck during those early days and now the wheel weights are joining that gasoline and the dinosaurs who made the gasoline possible in the first place.

Ron
 
lightman said:
Put a want to buy ad in the local paper or on Craigslist. Tell your family, friends, co-workers, ect that you are looking for lead. I recently bought 5600# of lead in a deal and was not really looking for lead. This is some of the clip on weights.

View attachment 778471
Click to expand...

I had a contest going on over on the Castboolit site with that picture and did not want to give away the answer, but there are 2970 ingots in that pile. That was one friends cut. A couple more of us accounted for about 2K more, not pictured. All of them together would have made a good picture but a couple of the guys got away before we thought of it. There were 628# of clips after it was all said and done!
 
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