Looking for lead ingots

[LeadHeads]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy ingots, preferably under $1 per lb shipped. I manufacture fishing weights and get most of my lead from scrapyards. I'm starting to travel about a hr away now for my supply and I would like to stay in business for as long as possible. I go through about 2,000 lbs a month, but since fishing season has started everywhere, I get a lot more demand right now.

Also, if anyone knows of any production bottom pour pots that are out there that can do more than 25lbs, let me know. I've been looking for something since I pour about 70lbs a day on average and I'd like to stop using 3 pots at a time haha.

Thanks for any advice and help.

[6622729]

If I had a lead source that charged less than $1 a pound I sure wouldn't give them up to a guy using 2000lbs a month! Lol. As for traveling to get lead from scrapyards, that's probably as good as it gets. Where are you located?

[lightman]

Check out the swapping and selling section, both the individual's and the venders. There are several members that sell lead. Also, check out Magma Engineering, that make a nice bottom pour 40# pot.

[paraord]

a buck a pound is what a few local yards near me are charging. Maybe if you are buying 2k lbs you can get a bulk discount? Maybe Im wrong but shipping is going to be your biggest deterrent on large quantities. What Ive heard around the forum and elsewhere is that sail boat keels are lead. If you are running through this much lead you can score a junker boat from a salvage yard or craigslist (if you are near some body of water) on the cheap and score very large pieces. Just a thought if you are using that much.

[Greg S]

Sounds as if you started your business but due to price, have customers coming outta the wood work at your price point. If you are going to continue to expand or keep up this consumption rate you need to secure a continually reliable source of raw materials. You need to figure out how much time your spending scrapping as compared with production and see if it is feasable. I'd take it by your approach here that you have done the math and now are looking for someone else to do your scrapping, smelting and cleaning for you.

At your production rate I feel you need to secure another source other than here as some months are good and others slim.

Check out Rotometals for a 1000 lb pallet at $1.60 per lb delivered.

[AbluquerqueBullet,LLC]

Your best bet is the reclaimed lead shot on rotometals 1.24 shipped. The time you will save driving and buying little by little will make up to cost difference.

[jmort]

I agree, reclaimed lead shot can be a decent deal.

[runfiverun]

for that much lead I'd go straight to a foundry and buy in bulk.
it used to be 4500 lbs or more to get the best discount and you had to pick it up.

go to Magma Engineering for the pot you seek I use one of their 40 lb pots to bottom pour with as does anybody that needs to do volume runs.
you can step up to their 90 lb pot if you really wanna wear yourself out in a days time.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

2K pounds a month...that's a lot of fishin' weights.

Are you gettin' any push back about using Lead ?
the State of Minnesota has been on the nontoxic push for a decade or so already.

https://www.pca.state.mn.us/living-green/nontoxic-tackle-lets-get-lead-out

[quilbilly]

Boy you are asking a lot. I have been in the lead jighead making business for 37 years (saltwater and freshwater) and what you are asking may have happened only once. Nowadays I hit the scrapyards all winter collecting lead (usually roofing) a hundred pounds or so at a time and then on nicer days turn it into ingots myself. I set the good boolit-making lead aside so it won't get wasted by anglers, of course. It is all about planning six to eight months ahead if you want to survive in this industry. By the first week of April the goal is to have a three week supply of merchandise done and in inventory then just fill in holes afterwards. I quit doing sinkers years ago (not enough margin for the hand pouring labor) except specialties but the above still applies other than when your busy seasons starts.
BTW - Hope you are paying your federal excise tax on fishing sinkers. The IRS has been on the hunt lately around here. Also, you will find that by doing your own ingots from scrap yards, you can control the quality of your lead and your furnace will last much longer. I had to relearn that lesson again this spring when I was offered 200# of already made lead ingots supposedly fine for jigheads. I bit at 80 cents a pound and should not have, just said no thanks.

[Hardcast416taylor]

An old deceased friend of mine used to put old metal bed springs on the bottom of the Detroit river to snag sinkers fishermen used to walleye fish. He was a diver as well and checked his snares about once a month in warmer weather. You`d be surprised at the shapes and weights of some of the homemade sinkers people made. The last box of lead he gave me about 5 years back weighed on/or about 100 lbs.Robert

[fredj338]

JMO, using good lead alloy to make fishing sinkers is blasphemy to a bullet caster, especially going forward. Zinc makes a perfectly good fishing sinker & almost useless for bullets.
Yep, the Magma bottom pour or the one from Ballisti-cast if you need 70#+.

[MarkP]

I got a quote from Doe Run; Pure was $0.92/ lb....... 92-6-2 was $1.25 / lb min order was a stack which is either 35 - 60 lb ingots or 25 - 100 lb ingots or a 2,000 lb pig. She said the stack could vary in wt by +/- 200 lbs or so. Shipping quote using a preferred carrier with my company discount was $276 for a 470 mi trip (one-way) Planning to ship to my employer so I could load in my truck or trailer.

[Ural Driver]

Sorry dude, if your using 2000 lbs. a month to make sinkers I will be keeping my source to myself.....:holysheep.

Like the man said, them zinc wheel weights are pretty much useless to a bullet caster, but if you figured out how to make em into fishing weights I would steer you to every one I could find......:idea:

[country gent]

Look at Wage pots they have some bigger electrics also and they are a industrial grade pot available in several heat ranges. I vae cast sinkers and jigs from zink and mish metals having had a source for those also for awhile. they make a good hard sinker or jig head that can take a beating. More heat is needed to melt and cast the zink around 1000* for zinc and around 1200-1400 for the mish metals. It might pay to get started with the zinc ahead of the curve ( before laws are passed in you state area). Another way to go instead of 3 pots is 2 pots. One 20-25lb to cast from one 100 lb -150 lb to melt in and fill other with a ladle. A custom ladle could be made to hold 20-25lbs with space left for saftey. a long handle so both hands can be used. This big pot can be gas fired and set there running while your casting.

[LeadHeads]

Thanks everyone for the advice! We have all of our i's dotted and t's crossed, so no worries about laws and all that right now. I'm moving into retail items as well as sinkers, so once lead gets banned in the waters, we have a backup plan. We've actually exceeded 2,000 lbs so far this month, so business is booming. I prefer soft lead over wheel weights, but when we come across a shortage, a man has to do what a man has to do.

I'll check out those businesses you guys said to about lead, the only one I knew of is in St. Louis and $1.44 + gotta pick it up, just isn't really an option at our price point. I wish I could keep an inventory, but with almost 100 lbs of orders a day, it's kind of hard to do so. I also didn't know that ships even used lead in them, so that is great! I live in Iowa, so not too many of those around here. Again, thanks for all the advice on this, I really do appreciate it and it is gonna help a lot!

The Magma pot is exactly what I need. I wish I would have found it before I bought all the pots I have now haha. Better late than never though.

[LeadHeads]

Sorry dude, if your using 2000 lbs. a month to make sinkers I will be keeping my source to myself.....:holysheep.

Like the man said, them zinc wheel weights are pretty much useless to a bullet caster, but if you figured out how to make em into fishing weights I would steer you to every one I could find......:idea:

I'll look into casting with zinc. I actually got a brick of zinc from the local scrapyard last year and almost ruined one of my lee pots with it. For some reason I had the bright idea of taking a torch to the brick to melt it down because I thought the pot was worn out a bit. Luckily I got it all out, definitely learned my mistake though!

[LeadHeads]

An old deceased friend of mine used to put old metal bed springs on the bottom of the Detroit river to snag sinkers fishermen used to walleye fish. He was a diver as well and checked his snares about once a month in warmer weather. You`d be surprised at the shapes and weights of some of the homemade sinkers people made. The last box of lead he gave me about 5 years back weighed on/or about 100 lbs.Robert

That man was a genius haha

[LeadHeads]

Boy you are asking a lot. I have been in the lead jighead making business for 37 years (saltwater and freshwater) and what you are asking may have happened only once. Nowadays I hit the scrapyards all winter collecting lead (usually roofing) a hundred pounds or so at a time and then on nicer days turn it into ingots myself. I set the good boolit-making lead aside so it won't get wasted by anglers, of course. It is all about planning six to eight months ahead if you want to survive in this industry. By the first week of April the goal is to have a three week supply of merchandise done and in inventory then just fill in holes afterwards. I quit doing sinkers years ago (not enough margin for the hand pouring labor) except specialties but the above still applies other than when your busy seasons starts.
BTW - Hope you are paying your federal excise tax on fishing sinkers. The IRS has been on the hunt lately around here. Also, you will find that by doing your own ingots from scrap yards, you can control the quality of your lead and your furnace will last much longer. I had to relearn that lesson again this spring when I was offered 200# of already made lead ingots supposedly fine for jigheads. I bit at 80 cents a pound and should not have, just said no thanks.

I actually have a guy working for me that melts the scrapyard lead down into ingots for me. I pay him .10 a lb and it translates to about $20 a hr. Saves me time and makes it so neighbors aren't complaining haha.

[6622729]

An old deceased friend of mine used to put old metal bed springs on the bottom of the Detroit river to snag sinkers fishermen used to walleye fish. He was a diver as well and checked his snares about once a month in warmer weather. You`d be surprised at the shapes and weights of some of the homemade sinkers people made. The last box of lead he gave me about 5 years back weighed on/or about 100 lbs.Robert

That IS genius!

[Lloyd Smale]

yup most salvage yards will charge you a buck a lb. then you have to smelt it and make ingots and then pay shipping. Good luck finding it ready to go for a buck a lb to your door.
a buck a pound is what a few local yards near me are charging. Maybe if you are buying 2k lbs you can get a bulk discount? Maybe Im wrong but shipping is going to be your biggest deterrent on large quantities. What Ive heard around the forum and elsewhere is that sail boat keels are lead. If you are running through this much lead you can score a junker boat from a salvage yard or craigslist (if you are near some body of water) on the cheap and score very large pieces. Just a thought if you are using that much.