Price Check for Indoor Range Lead?

[hcpookie]

I have a potential source who has already given me a couple of buckets, and I want to work a deal with him to remove his range lead on a regular basis. It will be a sweet deal if it works out! :) I was thinking that with the current rate, $20-30 per bucket would be a fair offer... ? The buckets are probably around 120 lbs, because the flattened lead slugs pack much more tightly than wheel weights.

[imashooter2]

Last stuff I got was for the same price as the scrap yard offered... 14 cents a pound. That was in February.

[randyrat]

Also you can sell your copper after the smelting is over, if there are J-bullets in the mix. I can't say if the deal is sweet or not. $20/120lbs of lead ain't bad at all though. Remember the ball is in your hand, lead prices dropped. Do your homework and check the local scrap yards and see what they are buying for.

[targetshootr]

From what you see in different threads, range lead take a lot longer to melt than ww meaning more fuel. I have a bunch on hand but haven't smelted any as yet.

[KYCaster]

Keep in mind when you figure your cost that range lead is normally about 30% garbage.

Like Randyrat said, you should be able to sell the jackets to a scrap dealer.

Jerry

[imashooter2]

Check on that jacket thing before you add it to the equation. I've read of others selling them for good price, but the yards around here weren't interested in them.

[mike in co]

since i am in the brass/indoor range lead business....let me tell you where i am at. my scrap dealer has been paying me 30 cents a lb for indoor range scrap, but has said it is going down.
i sell the same at 40 cents a lb.
the split on lead and scrap is correcct at about 70/30.

lead sticks to the (copper)jackets, rcbs makes brass jackets. it is impossible to seperate it all at a reasonable cost. my dealer will only pay range lead prices for the jackets. what this means is that you do not "loose" money on the jackets, but you dont "make" either. ohh and for those who do not know there are some jackets which are copper plated STEEL!

all prices are regional...one must consider shiiping costs of the dealers.

mike in co
THE COLORADO BRASS COMPANY

[mike in co]

I have a potential source who has already given me a couple of buckets, and I want to work a deal with him to remove his range lead on a regular basis. It will be a sweet deal if it works out! :) I was thinking that with the current rate, $20-30 per bucket would be a fair offer... ? The buckets are probably around 120 lbs, because the flattened lead slugs pack much more tightly than wheel weights.


ask your local yards what they pay for "range scrap"....not what they pay for lead....take a little off cause you are doing the hauling.
what has he been doing up till now with the scrap ?

mike in co

[hcpookie]

Thanks for the input! I never considered that jackets were that plentiful - I had estimated 10% :)

As for what they do with them now, I have seen the lead in 5 gallon buckets which are always out back under a tarp (really secure!) and have HAZMAT stickers on the side. I had always assumed that they have a scrap collector they pay to pick it up.

Now the younger fella who I have never seen before yesterday told me that they have "some guys" who repair their backstop in exchange for lead. Not sure I believe him, since the last time I was there, they were actually going to give me the jumpsuit and respirator and have ME go behind the backstop to shovel out all the lead! I perceived the guy that normally does that job wanted to get out of some work that day :) I suppose for free lead, I'd shovel it into the buckets! ;)

I didn't get any yesterday - the guy who was working the counter was acting really annoyed by my even asking about it. He strikes me as "that guy" at the range who is doing people a favor by being there. I gave up when I asked his name - said HE was Harold the range owner... well, the other guy (who looks like Santa Claus with glasses) has always introduced himself as Harold the range owner... so I think this younger guy was politely telling me to go away!

I didn't make a big fuss, because Harold (Santa) and I have a mutual friend who is retired LEO and brings them a bunch of business... I suppose it is a small gripe, becauce everyone else there is really friendly. When I talk to the owner again I intend to make an actual bid on the lead so I don't have to deal with "that guy" again.


I am not sure I know of a scrap yard around here - north of Norfolk, VA, and there isn't much on the peninsula. I may have to drive up to Richmond to find a scrap yard. I haven't looked them up in the book yet - are they under "recycling" or "scrap"?

I have went to every car dealership in the area and they all said they have an old guy they have been giving lead to for years and none want to discuss lead at all. I'm about to give up on wheel weights... the local dealership gives it to me since I'm a member of the Jeep club, but it is a small shop and I barely get a handful a month, if that much.

You guys that actually go hunting for wheel weights, do you just go walking down a main road with a bucket? I don't want to be standing there with all the crazy drivers around here. I'm wondering where those street sweepers dump out their tanks? That is obviously the place where all the lost WW end up... things that make you go HRM...

[testhop]

I have a potential source who has already given me a couple of buckets, and I want to work a deal with him to remove his range lead on a regular basis. It will be a sweet deal if it works out! :) I was thinking that with the current rate, $20-30 per bucket would be a fair offer... ? The buckets are probably around 120 lbs, because the flattened lead slugs pack much more tightly than wheel weights.

if you do the cleaning of the rangethe price should be lower than just pickup
i make it out at $20.00 for 120lbs @18cents a lbsyou might try to get him take less for thefree clean up

[dwtim]

I'm curious as to why some folks have trouble melting shot or range scrap. Shot and range lead are my two main sources of boolit alloy, and both melt in about 20 minutes, exactly as stated in the instructions for my Lee pot.

The only thing that's a pain is splitting the jackets on TMJs so the metal could pour out. I added some tin and have ingots around 12 BHN. By the size and weight of the bullets I cast, the tin was probably wasted, but my logic at the time was that this batch was mostly condom bullets possibly without tin in the core.

[RP]

I mine my range lead only thing I have to do it put the dirt back on the berm and I get it free. Lots of lead to get first time I went I just raked it up and put in buckets no dirt shifting. I smelt in a large pot and it takes alot longer to melt but I keep around 100lbs in the pot and that speeds up the next batch. I also add transmission fluid to the pot for fluxing and light it the added heat to the jackets gets the lead out and then I have a big spoon about 6 inchs round I scoop the jackets up with and give them a good shake. A 5 gal bucket I may have 2 oz of lead left in the jackets. I sell my jackets to the scrape yard as Brass not copper last I sold was 120 a lb I make more off jackets then the lead if you figure time into it. So far in 3 trips I have mined 3000lbs and my last trip I got 14 buckets in around 2 hrs have not figured that in yet. I would check and see if your yard will buy jackets and what they are paying you may make money on getting the lead.

[mike in co]

ricky p...
.your getting a much better deal than me....
when i took mine in they sent the manager out to decide what to call it. he said range lead...after all the work i did to get the lead amount down, so it was over 90% copper. i get paid for scrap. they have no "catagory " they could/would mix the jackets into.

maybe a should try another yard.
these guys have been good to me..i was doing about 1400/2000 lbs of scrap brass a month with them.

18 cents a lb for indoor range scrap is a little on the cheap side.....if you want a continuous deal offer him a realistic price. remember you have to look the guy in the face...do you want to buy from him, or steal from him( no there is nothing wrong with a "good" deal, but if you go low, some one else may buy it out from under you) .

mike in co

[mike in co]

another thing to consider is what is the alloy of the lead. sinc ethe range i get the lead from does not allow exposed lead bullets, essentially it is all jacket bullet core....pretty soft stuff...ask anyone that bought from me. it was great as soft lead, or could be alloyed up to as hard as you wanted.
if your range is allowing relaods, or commercial lead bullets, your lead will probably be a bit harder and no way of the mix being consistant batch to batch. you will have to tune it or shoot it as is.

mike in co

[OeldeWolf]

The local scrap dalers here will not touch the leftover jackets, say the lead poisons the recycling process.

A friend took several boxes of them to the household free hazardous waste disposal facility, and they alled him a terrorist and all sorts of things, and had to call in an administrator from th state capitol. Who said "I have no idea why they did not just take this and deal with it, as it is on the list of things we can handle."

But then again, look where I live... (shakes his head at the stupidity rampant where he is)

[TAWILDCATT]

interesting what scrap yard pays and what some of the tire places ask. I just had them ask $100 a bucket I guess they were playing with me as the owner charged $12 the last time.and had 15 buckets.:coffee:

[truckjohn]

The common complaint is for re-smelting outdoor Clay+Rocks backstop range lead. If you are not extremely careful with your picking trash out operation.... you end up with about 30% wood, rocks, range trash, and sand. Add another 30% jackets and dross...... and the remaining 40% "Lead" way down in the bottom of the pot takes an entire 20-lb propane can to separate out.....

I would happily deal with indoor lead. Sure, give me a call..... I will even shovel it out if I can keep it.

Thanks

John

[RP]

I have one fellow that runs a range that wants me to buy the boolits and mined them to as long as i can get them free iam not messing with him. But to get the dirt out after i have got the easy lead right of the top. I took my cement mixer removed the barrel ( it was a steel mixer) the bottom with the gear stays on the machine I replaced it with a 55 gal drum cut down to size and drill it full of holes. Now i rake up the boolits and shovel them into the mixer with it running the dirt falls out and all I have left is the wads sticks rocks and boolits.
When I smelt it the wood and wads burn the rocks and jackets float. My range lead has alot of jackets so I get about 3/4 bucket of jackets back and a 1/2 bucket of lead out of 10 buckets I get a bucket of dirt. The pay off is good for me the jackets are a bonus and I make shot out of the lead and sell. I think of it this way the jackets pay me for the mining and I get the lead for free. Which I do not use propane to smelt with I use gasoline that I have used to rinse my shot off with because I use transmission fluid to cool with. It take alot more to smelt range lead then WWs but Iam having to buy my WWs so I still save $$$$

[kingstrider]

I usually go to my outdoor range a day or two after it has rained and find what I'm looking for right on top. This saves digging and excluding the odd pebble or two, 99% of it is usable material. I try to go early and spend an hour or two until it starts getting hot. Once home I'll give it a wash to get the dirt off and then sort it. I haven't found much difference in melting time vs. that of wheel weights but I do that in a small dutch oven atop a camp stove. Other than time and fuel this is a free source of metal but if I could hook up with some indoor lead I'd jump at the chance.

[quasi]

I once showed up early to a local indoor range, one of the employee's was cleaning the backstop of lead , putting it in buckets. He was wearing disposable coveralls, booties, head covering and full Scott pack breating apparatus. He claimed it was a health and safety mandated requirement due to the lead dust in the backstop wells.

[imashooter2]

I'm certain the industrial requirements for employee safety while cleaning the backstop are stringent.

One of the private ranges where I've managed to get a bucket or two oils down the backstop well to keep the lead dust down when they clean. The oil takes forever to burn off when smelting...

[mtgrs737]

I have smelted a bucket of range scrap, I found that it took longer than I would of thought. I also didn't like the jacket scrap, I'll stick to WW's they work better for me.