gojuice101
Member
I haven't been able to find free lead around here. I just buy it. I can usually find it at about $1.00/lb. At that price, or even double, I could still make bullets dirt cheap, so I really don't mind.
I get mine from a dentist in my rotary club, an uncle-in-law who is a dentist and my own dentist. It's easier to make ingots out of wheel weights but the lead backing on the x-ray films will do when WW are hard to come by.
Networking is the key to finding free or cheap lead. Ask you friends, family and coworkers. A true caster is always on the lookout for lead. Ask when you get a tire repaired or buy new tires. Or when you get your car serviced. Small Mom and Pop shops seem to be better. Plumbers and roofers sometime have lead. Some scrap yards will still sell to the public. Check out the backstop where you shoot. Radiator shops will often have solder drippings. Its nasty stuff but is a good source for tin.
If you know anybody at a hospital that works with nuclear medicine, the vials that the radioactive medicines-isotopes are shipped/stored in is a good source of lead alloy. The jars are a pretty good alloy as-is, lots of tin and some antimony.