Help! I want to learn to cast!

[cahey]

Ok, so I live in California and it’s very hard for me to get lead WW’s. I’m on a super tight budget and would love to reload brass I have saved. My Grandpa kicked me down all his old casting equipment and I use a .270 cal bolt action rifle, I know the round isn’t that hard to find but I really want to learn how to do this. I have called and checked pretty much everywhere in my surrounding area for 20 miles and they all said the same thing, “it’s been 2 years we have used lead.” Does anyone know where else I can look for free lead. I would love to start casting and reloading but it’s getting to be a real pain here. And are there any other means to casting as an alternative, ie different metals or should I just start shipping lead bricks to my house from Amazon? I’m super new to all this, all I know is that everything I have seen and read on the internet that’s easy, isn’t here. Please any and all advice is welcome. Thanks guys!

[pdawg_shooter]

Free lead ??? What the heck is that ?

[ell198679]

Free doesn't really exist anymore bro... Be glad air is free.

[pdawg_shooter]

Pulled into a stop and steal to air up a low tire awhile back. Had to put a quarter in a box to get air out.

[waksupi]

Lead ain't free. But, keep an eye on the selling section, and the vendor area.

[prs]

Now, now; boys. Depends on who he knows. The house keeping/maintenance supervisor at our local hospitals regarding that pesky lead X-Ray room sheet he has to pay the hazmat folks to haul off. The lead foil pouches that are clogging his waste bins from nuke meds. The dentist may have lead foil film pouches in storage. The carpenter or roofer may have some scrap. The old plumber may have a shed full of old pipe. If you don't ask, you won't know. Tin is more difficult to wrangle. Magnum shot shell shot is good for antimony and arsenic adjuncts. Takes eggs to make an omlet.

prs

[FLHTC]

If you were given any moulds that you're sure you won't use, try to trade them here for lead.. You might be surprised what you'll get. Research the value of your moulds, that is if you want to part with them and research what lead is going for. You might find someone that will mail you a couple pounds of lead if you send them some of the bullets from perhaps an obsolete mould. Plenty of possibilities. You have to be creative.
You don't need 25 lbs of lead to start casting either. Buy in small quantities if you're on a tight budget.

[dbosman]

In my experience, phoning will get you very little for free. Stopping by yourself, might.
Particularly if you're looking for lead to cast some fishing sinkers. Hey, if you drill a hole through a boolit, it's a sinker.

In the mean time, scrap yards or metal recycling facilities that sell lead, generally don't care how much you purchase. If you show up. Ask around your friends and acquaintances. Someone may know someone.

And, as FLHTC said, listing your old molds - for trade - here, could bring you more value in lead than you'd get cash for. Some old molds are classics, and worth a premium.

[Marlin Junky]

Ok, so I live in California and it’s very hard for me to get lead WW’s. I’m on a super tight budget and would love to reload brass I have saved. My Grandpa kicked me down all his old casting equipment and I use a .270 cal bolt action rifle, I know the round isn’t that hard to find but I really want to learn how to do this. I have called and checked pretty much everywhere in my surrounding area for 20 miles and they all said the same thing, “it’s been 2 years we have used lead.” Does anyone know where else I can look for free lead. I would love to start casting and reloading but it’s getting to be a real pain here. And are there any other means to casting as an alternative, ie different metals or should I just start shipping lead bricks to my house from Amazon? I’m super new to all this, all I know is that everything I have seen and read on the internet that’s easy, isn’t here. Please any and all advice is welcome. Thanks guys!

Living in coastal Kalifornistan means boats abound... hang out at the docks and ask around for ballast. Are you a skin diver? I would say just about the only place where you can find free Pb in Kalifornistan is under water... might have a problem getting it Topside though. There might be some under ground still. Do you know any plumbers, electricians, or telelphone company people that work in the field? I know of an old telephone pole monkey that told me once the telephone company lost a big spool of lead cable down the side of an embankment in the San Berdo Mtns and left it there because it was too difficult to retrieve. Moral of story, be a detective.

MJ

[cahey]

Ya, I seemed to get a better response out of folks when I told them is was for casting sinkers. =)

[cahey]

Thanks for all the info! I won't give up just yet. As long as I know there is hope for me in somewhere out there, I will continue to look. Thanks again!

[dbosman]

Ya, I seemed to get a better response out of folks when I told them is was for casting sinkers. =)

I have scores of pounds of sinkers from a couple of decades ago. Sorted in to nice packages. I give those to friendly people to encourage the donation of lead. The other thing, if one needs a clearer conscious is to make sure you have some kind of a sinker mold on hand. Make sinkers out of their lead. You can always melt them again. ;-)

[dverna]

If you belong to a range you may be albe to get lead from the berms. Most ranges will not charge you. Some indoor ranges will love you for cleaning out their back-stops.

Range lead may be too soft if you intend to push the .270 bullets but it will be find if you keep velocities on the lower end.

Don Verna

[Marlin Junky]

Range lead may be too soft if you intend to push the .270 bullets but it will be find if you keep velocities on the lower end.

Don Verna

Never too soft if you collect it from center fire berms. In fact it might end up too hard.

Root around the berms muzzle loaders frequent. Depending on the shooting range, one can pick up a few pounds of soft Pb in a short period of time. Cut that with a few commercial hard cast and either age harden or heat treat, or water drop your boolits and you've got a fine alloy for your .270. Get a hardness tester and shoot for air cooled alloy in the BHN 12-15 range. You can always make it harder by water dropping or heat treating but it's more difficult to make it softer given the scarcity of Pb in CA.

MJ

[45 Shooter]

Good luck on your search. I too am a new guy just getting into casting and i'm seeing first hand how hard lead is to come by. I stopped at a mom & pop tire store yesturday and asked if they've got any scrap WW to sell. It sounded as if they'd sell me some untill I made the mistake in telling them I was making boolits with them. All of a sudden the conversation went from plesant to nearly, GTF outa my store! At leist that's how I precived it. From now on i'll be looking for fishing sinker lead.

[SciFiJim]

cahey, where in California are you?

Lead wheel weights are still available if you can just find the shops to part with them.

There are still quite a few cars remaining with lead WWs that get changed when they eventually come in for a tire change.

I still get about a bucket a month from two different shops. The "take" is about half lead WWs. Every little bit helps.

[blackthorn]

Do a little research and then haunt old industrial scrap/used parts yards. What you look for is old Babbit bearings. Babbit is HARD and it is great for adding to soft(er) alloys.

[shadowcaster]

Taking along a sample of your work is helpful in dealing with people. A clean 2 pound ingot, a few boolits/sinkers, and the gas checks I make, I find that most people are intrigued with it. Use words like recycle, repurpose, and clean, new product. They get to handle a finished recycled product so even the greenies or anti-gun people are are a lot more willing to deal with me.

Shad

[MrWolf]

I started asking around for lead and when asked why I need it my reply is I am getting into casting and plan on making sinkers :grin: There is a bad stigma associated with casting and guns :( so as posted above, I am making sinkers.

[zidave]

I get free lead often. Just gotta pick it up from the ground myself.

Mine the berm at my local outdoor range often.

[462]

When I first started casting boolits and looking for wheel weights, I didn't lie, when asked what I was going to do with them. The two tire stores that have given me, literally, more than a ton of free weights are owned or managed by shooters.

Honesty has its rewards.

[Harter66]

I've never asked at a tire shop beyond the 1 at work......untill I was laid off,then my 1-20 source wemt away too. Half of my lead is recovered from backstops. With basic sorting I get 4 ''grades'' of metal, pure,8-10BHN that will water drop to 12-14 BHN, ww, and lino-like.
Find an abandoned range I spent a few hours on 1 and filled a 20mm ammo can.