Another new guy who is going to start casting.

[Down South]

I’ve been reloading for 37 years now but I’ve never cast a boolit as you say it. In the past couple years I’ve increased my pistol and revolver collection. I like to shoot a lot and today’s prices of bullets have gone completely through the roof. I’ve been interested in making my own boolits for several years now and since the price of bullets has risen so much it looks like a great time to get started.
I’ve been here as a visitor reading for a couple weeks now. I’ve already found a lot of the information that I’ll need to get started. First, I’m going to have to acquire more lead. This is something that I should have been doing for a long time now. As I’ve recently found out, lead is not as easy to come by as it was just a few years ago. I used to get all the WW that I wanted. I tried a couple of my old sources a few weeks ago and come to find out that they have made (deals) with other folks to get the lead. Well, I still have a lot of other places to look I guess.
I’m sure that I’ll have a number of questions later on. For the time being I’m digging through the archives and just reading. I just wanted to say hello since I’ve just joined the forum. There is a lot of good information here and a lot of nice folks. :drinks:

[joejr]

down south ,welcome aboard ,for me ,every gun is a challenge to get an accurate load bullet combo,then you have to get another gun,good luck.

[Buckshot]

................Down South, welcome to the board. You say you're from Bemidji, MN eh? :-) I agree, that this is a great site, and it's chock full of great guys. A pretty handy bunch to have around I'd say.

...............Buckshot

[VTDW]

Down South,

A big welcome to you from Okieland.:drinks: And ditto what Buckshot said.

I live in a bedroom community outside of Oklahoma City and WW are near impossible to come by and it is getting harder. Even the smaller independent tire shops won't sell them as they are reusing the old WW they pull off of their customer's vehicles. Work hard and try to be resourceful to get your stock built up. There is a vehicle auction place fairly close to me with hundreds of vehicles just sitting out there in the huge field. I am thinking about how to approach them to see how much they would charge me if they let me go thru their entire inventory of wrecked and disabled vehicles and pull all the WW I can find out there.

Dave

[Down South]

I am thinking about how to approach them to see how much they would charge me if they let me go thru their entire inventory of wrecked and disabled vehicles and pull all the WW I can find out there.

Dave

That's a good idea. I may be able to get my hands on some old lead water pipe. I don't know how soft or hard this pipe is. It seems that WW work pretty well just as they are or making them a little harder by water dropping.

BTW, I'm from Louisiana.

[Swamprat1052]

Welcome Down South, you came to the right place to get info. These guys have got it. Where are you in La. I was born and raised there, got transplanted in my early 20's. Thats good country, I get back everytime I can.

Swamprat

[Down South]

I live about half way between Jena and Jonesville. It's what a lot of folks would call the sticks. The good part of it is if I want to shoot then I can do it in my yard without having to worry about it. I do have my own range on the far end of one of my pastures. I was able to take advantage of some old pecan trees to sit my shooting bench under with a large hill for a backstop.

[Powderpacker]

Down South -
When I started looking for lead a few years back I spent some time searching on the internet . I found several business in the Louisiana area that cast custom lead ballast for sailboats. Some said they cast entire keels of lead - I'd like to see how that's done . Anyway, I found several sources for lead in your area at reasonable prices but the cost of shipping to Indiana would have been more than the cost of the lead.
Good luck - and welcome !

[shooter575]

DS,One rotted out sailboat keel could just keep ya in boolets for a long time.Anyone neer water should check out.Remember they drug all them tall ships on the beach and burned em for the copper and iron a century + ago.

[jjamna]

My $.o2 worth is I would rather have the pipe lead if it was any cleaner than wheel weights. Welcome Down South.

[mainiac]

DS,One rotted out sailboat keel could just keep ya in boolets for a long time.Anyone neer water should check out.Remember they drug all them tall ships on the beach and burned em for the copper and iron a century + ago.

Now why did you have to put that in my head?! I get down on the maine coast in the summer,and have seen lots of wrecked boats. Now im scheming a way i can take a winter site-seeing trip, without the wife rolling her eyes at me!!!!!!!!! Somebody has started collecting all ww in my area. Cant find out whos doing it,but i dont have much luck anymore getting them!

[Down South]

I just called a buddy of mine who lives here on the coast. He is going to do some checking around for me for the sailboat stuff. He told me that he has another buddy that works in a shipyard here. He is going to check with him too.
As far as the pipe lead goes, it’s usually pretty dirty both inside and out. Have you ever looked inside a water pipe that has been in service for a couple decades? Plus it is usually been buried in the ground so it will have a nice crust of dirt on it. I got some years back and it was OK. (I make 1 Lb sinkers to fish with too) Is battery lead worth fooling with? I know that I have a number of old car and tractor batteries lying around.
I work about 135 miles away from home and I’ll be heading there tomorrow. I think that I’ll stop at a few tire stores on the way home to see if I can scrounge any WW from them.
Thanks for all of the good ideas.

[MtGun44]

Run from batteries, lead is alloyed with calcium (I think) and really not
good, plus the acid is a total disaster on everything.

Welcome to the asylum! :-D

Bill

[Down South]

Thanks for the info on batteries. I knew there had to be something wrong about it since I never read about anybody using them.
I made a good run coming home today. The first tire place that I stopped at, a small tire shop in a very small town netted me a 5-gallon bucket running over with WW. I stopped at a few other tire places and got about another ½ 5-gallon bucket full of WW. One place told me that someone had just in the past couple days got their WW but they said they already had a few more. The few more was almost a ¼ bucket full.

[WHITETAIL]

Down South, Welcome to the forum!:drinks:
This is a welcome from the north east. It is a wopping 15 degrees here.:holysheep