I'm in a quandary

[AZMark]

I was under the impression that I could save money by casting bullets. I've been checking prices on casting alloys and it doesn't look like it's any cheaper than just buying bullets. I've asked around in town and nobody wants to let loose of any wheel weights. I guess environmental laws are getting tougher. Are there any low cost sources of lead alloy that I'm not aware of?

[cheese1566]

I only cast because I have been fortunate with a steady supply of wheel weights at a very decent price.

[wallenba]

I am now resorting to buying from Rotometals for my rifle and outdoor shooting. Wheel weights can no longer be had around here. At least by me. Once the last indoor that allows cast around here gets around to banning cast, I will have to use Rainier Leadsafe or learn to copper plate. I've run the math, and if I'm real careful with my brass, it should still be quite a bit cheaper for both cast and Rainier's.
Cheaper that is for rifle, and leadsafe versus jacketed. Leadsafe Rainiers allow me to use the same cast data I use now.

[Any Cal.]

Casting lets you shoot better designs for less money, utilize inexpensive alloy you come across, and be flexible as to how you keep an inventory of bullets for the guns you shoot. Cheap lead helps, but many of the reasons for casting exist even if you have to pay for lead. You may be able to build a load that will make a Mosin Nagant shoot...(or not).

That being said, if you have the time to spend, you may be able to come across some inexpensive lead. Just start asking everywhere if there is lead to be had. Scrapyards sell it, some old plumbers have it, you may find fishing weights at garage sales, pick it up off the ground where people shoot... I just now got 100+ lbs from a guy that had some that was ballast out of a boat. Who knows where it will pop up if you start digging...?

[geargnasher]

Check our swappin/sellin section, people are regularly selling USPS flat rate boxes of wheel weight ingots or nuclear medicine containers for around a buck a pound TYD. That's about a third of what boolit metals are going for from some of the commercial places. Range lead is good for pistol stuff or water-quench for rifle boolits if you add about 1.5% tin to it, lots of people selling range lead too.

Gear

[44man]

I was at the scrap yd to sell cans and seen 3, 55 gal drums of WW's. They were paying a dime a pound at the time. I went to the office to find they don't sell to the public anymore.
I have a friend that picks up scrap metal and when he finds lead he brings it over. He brought me a 75# pure ingot for $15 and about 50# of 50-50 tin, lead for $5. I suppose I have over 1000# of pure and still a lot of WW metal.
I started collecting lead when I was a kid, first for sinkers and not a piece of lead ever got away from me! [smilie=l:
Try scrap yards, many still sell you stuff.
A lot of places you work will have an auto shop, like a truck company. We got a lot from ours at UAL, free.

[ku4hx]

If economics is the only reason you got into casting, then yeah, you're going to face a pretty much increasingly adverse situation.

[crabo]

You need to start looking for local roofers who will save roof jacks for you. One drops off two or three at a time. One dropped off 900 pounds and left it in the drive way. (my wife said he could) He came back for the Ben Franklins.

One friend buys all the solder he can find at garage sales for me. I gave him a 20 for 8 pounds the other day.

I have switched to50/50 WW and pure to make my WWs go farther. I am liking the results.

[Shiloh]

Back when WW were free and plentiful, it was cheap. Combined with reasonably priced primers, inexpensive and available surplus powders, one could shoot a .38 pistol for less money than a .22.

Shiloh

[AZMark]

What is generally the BHN of WW alloy? Is it all over the scale, or is there some kind of industry standard?

[dbarnhart]

+1 on what Gear said. Understand that I cast only for .45acp, I buy most of my lead from ads in the 'Swappin and Sellin' section right here on this forum. Wheel Weights or reclaimed range lead make fine .45acp boolits. The going price is about $1/pound including shipping. For me that works out to about $34 for 1000 boolits.

I'm just about to head out the door for my weekly trip to the pistol range. If I had to buy the 100 rounds I'm going to shoot they would coat me $40-$45. By casting and reloading that same hundred rounds cost me about $7.

[mdi]

Yes, lead is getting harder and more expensive to aquire. As a confirmed caster, my "Lead Magnet" is turned on 90% of the time I'm out and about. From picking up wheel weights on the street, to a little berm mining, to garage sales, and just about anywhere else I go, I have "lead, lead, lead" in the back of my mind. Sometime I score; my dentist saves all his x-ray foils for me (pure lead about 5-6 lbs a month), I met a Stained Glass Artist, who saves her scrap lead/solder for me, and at a junk sale I found some sinkers cheaper than their weight in lead. One good place to aquire lead for me is the Vendor Sponsors right here. I've purchased a couple hunnert pounds from vendors here and get excellent product and service. Yep, the days of cheap lead are gone thanks to our do-gooder politicians and their Chicken Little constituants...

I don't cast to save money, I cast because I like to cast. In my opinion, casting your own bullets is the most satisfying aspect of home made ammo.

[Blammer]

Well I figured some numbers on the "cost" per boolit.

If you buy 60lbs of lead for $100 shipped to you and average a 200gr booilt, it cost you 4.762 cents each.

[DRNurse1]

I bought some Lymans #2 recently to mix with the lead I have available. First purchase in 40 years of castiing. Looks like this is the future of my casting.

[nvbirdman]

I started casting to save money.
I got a melting pot cheap, but had to buy moulds, a lubesizer, more moulds, more sizing dies, and when I was about to break even my melting pot died so I bought an RCBS Pro Melt.
I think I will start saving money about the year 2075.

[AZMark]

Well, I feel better after surveying available metal in the classified section. I'm still going to try to talk some local shops out of some wheel weights.

Can I get some recommendations for molds (or is it moulds) for .44 caliber in the 240 grain neighborhood? I'm thinking something with a wide flat meplat would be good regardless of what I'm aiming at whether it's alive or not.

[blikseme300]

I started casting to save money.
I got a melting pot cheap, but had to buy moulds, a lubesizer, more moulds, more sizing dies, and when I was about to break even my melting pot died so I bought an RCBS Pro Melt.
I think I will start saving money about the year 2075.

Yep, me too. I 'might' save something someday.:castmine:

My opinion: hobbies are an expense, not a savings.

I cast & reload for fun and relaxation. I also make my own sausage for fun and relaxation. The only way to save with shooting is to stop shooting. Not an option, IMHO.

Like fishing. $10,000.00 boat, $30,000.00 pickup. Fuel cost, launching cost, etc. How much is that fish per pound? It is a hobby!

Bliksem

[koehn,jim]

AS far as saving money I load for a 7mm mauser, the boolits cost me about 7 cents to make with a gas check and lube. The cheapest commercial bullets are 24.95 a hundred, thats .25 cents a piece. So I am saving 18 cents a shot. By the time I price out everything it costs me less for the reloaded round than just the bullet would cost. The big problem though is it becomes addicting and you shoot more, and buy more molds. Stick with it and you will have a heck of a lot of fun, it is very satisfing to shoot a good group with boolits you made.

[codeNshoot]

AZ

My best results with an off the shelf mould was the RCBS 250-kt. I can't help but shoot fantastic groups with it.

Miha is in the process of milling a 44 bullet for a group buy that I'm in on, bet if you pm him he'd make you one. Check the active group buy section.

[runfiverun]

i read the headliner to this yesterday and now that i have quit giggling i can respond to the thread.
i just finished smelting the last of my stick on ww's and have 6 more buckets of clip on ww's left to do.
then that's it.
that is most likely the last of the free ww's i'll ever see.
i'll most likely watch lead prices and when i get back to work i will make an order.
and just buy some terracorp magnum alloy and pure and mix it as i need it.
since i mainly use 1/3 and 4/6 and pure as my alloy's,this will work for me.

[thauge]

I was under the impression that I could save money by casting bullets. I've been checking prices on casting alloys and it doesn't look like it's any cheaper than just buying bullets. I've asked around in town and nobody wants to let loose of any wheel weights. I guess environmental laws are getting tougher. Are there any low cost sources of lead alloy that I'm not aware of?

The reason why shops aren't letting go of their WW's is for 2 reasons. Either someone already has claim to them, or they are taking them to a recycler themselves. I'm fortunate that some places around where I live get charged to have their WW's hauled off, so I just take em for free. Most places will let ya buy them for what they would get at a scrap yard. Going rate for unclean lead around my area is $0.08/lb, but fluctuates constantly. Another idea is to buy WW's from the scrap yard, with a small markup fee, but still pretty cheap. Good luck!