View Full Version : Visit to the Recyclers
Two days ago I made a lunch time run to two different tire shops and picked up 30-35lbs of WW's for free and two full (to the brim) 5gal buckets of WW's for $25 each. This afternoon I made a stop at the local recyclers and looked in there lead bin. It looks like they have (just guessing here) 150+ pounds of mostly soft lead (thin flat sheets and the like).
I can get it for 10cents a pound. I'll probably pick it up later this week. Though I'm not sure what I'll do with it. All of my casting up till now has been straight WW's and I don't shoot a ML. I suppose I could mix it in with my WW's when casting for my pistols and so make my WW's last longer (December 2009 is the cut off date for WW's here in Komifornia). Other then then that it might just become trade goods.
Two things here, 1) I'm just trying to let some folk know that lead and WW's are still out there if you look. 2) Who mixes soft lead with there WW's ? Why and how much?
Thanks
Ted
fishhawk
10-29-2008, 04:28 PM
one to one WW and pure works fine for most handgun loads for me
Heavy lead
10-29-2008, 04:31 PM
Call me crazy, but some of my loads are 2 pure to 1 part ww. seems to work fine for me.
DragoonDrake
10-29-2008, 04:52 PM
I use 2 part WW to 1 part lead for my CAS 45LC loads, and 50/50 when making shot.
DLCTEX
10-29-2008, 07:11 PM
50/50- ww/lead works fine for 45 ACP and 38 Spec. IME. DALE
At $0.10/pound I would never have walked away without it ! :) :)
Jerry
At $0.10/pound I would never have walked away without it ! :) :)
Jerry
Ran out of time during lunch. I'll have to crawl into the bin and sort out the wheat from the chaff as it were. Probably go back tomorrow and and get it.
Ted
montana_charlie
10-30-2008, 02:46 PM
How much do they want for chaff?
CM
Beau Cassidy
10-30-2008, 03:02 PM
To give you an idea how much lead has gone up around here about a year and a half ago it was 25 cents/lb. 9 months later it was 80. I haven't checked lately.
pdawg_shooter
10-30-2008, 03:30 PM
Pure lead (with a little tin added) works great if you size to bore dia. and paper patch back up. You can load jacketed bullet loads and the performance on game is unbelievable!
Just got back from picking up the "lead".
On the scales it was 366 pounds call it 5 or 6 pounds less because of the plastic buckets and the plastic crate they let me use to load it in. So around 360 pounds.
Now for the good part. Underneath the 100-150 pounds of thin sheets of dead soft lead were lots of small thin bits of "Lead" with letters on the top. I'll have to separate this from the soft lead and the rest of the scrap lead and melt 3 different batches out of this.
All for $36.6
Some days I'd rather be lucky then good. :-D
Ted
looseprojectile
10-30-2008, 07:14 PM
after my own heart. I love it when a plan comes together.
You got linotype for ten cents a pound.
What a guy. The price on lead is great also.
Life is good
HamGunner
10-30-2008, 08:22 PM
If those little bits of lead are about an inch or so long and only have single letters, I think they are probably monotype. If so, they are really hard. (Lots of antimony) Would be good to mix with the soft lead. I don't know what ratio, but if you have a lot of it, you really got your moneys worth.
If those little bits of lead are about an inch or so long and only have single letters, I think they are probably monotype. If so, they are really hard. (Lots of antimony) Would be good to mix with the soft lead. I don't know what ratio, but if you have a lot of it, you really got your moneys worth.
Some of each actually, I have not separated out what I got today. However there was probably well over a hundred pounds of dead soft sheet lead, probably the same amount of unknown scrap (I do need to get a lead hardness tester) and 50 pounds or so of "*Type". Quite a bit of it is about 1/8" (est) x 1.25 High x 3-4" long. I'm guessing that that is "Linotype". Probably an equal amount is individual letters of type so that is probably "Monotype".
After getting it home and while stashing it under a tarp in the back yard (it started to rain this evening) I looked at at and now I'm thinking 4 different melts. Soft lead, random scrap that I don't have a clue what it is other then it is lead based, linotype and monotype. Not as much of the last two as the first two but it will be good for alloying.
I'll check back at the recyclers in a month or so and see if any more has shown up.
All in all this week I probably got 550-575 lbs of "Lead".
Ted
Boerrancher
10-31-2008, 08:07 AM
Darn it Ted.... I was trying to avoid thinking about lead when I head to the recyclers with my aluminum and copper. I think I am going to have to sort through the lead bin now when I go in next time. I also need to head south in a week or so to my favorite tire shop and pick up another 5 gal bucket of WW's. I get all my tire work done there and he gives me a 5 gal bucket full of ww's every couple of months.
Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,
Joe
cajun shooter
10-31-2008, 08:28 AM
Linotype is very thin and bendable. The large block letters are monotype and alot harder. What a great find The same as always for me a day late and a dollar short!!
Tom Herman
10-31-2008, 11:47 AM
Call me crazy, but some of my loads are 2 pure to 1 part ww. seems to work fine for me.
Right now, I'm using 50/50 with 2% Tin thrown in for flowability and mold fillout.
Reading a LOTof postings, it probably doesn't make much difference if you run 1:1 or 2:1 lead to wheel weights.
I don't push my rounds too fast, just enjoyable midrange stuff.
With WW becoming scarcer, it makes sense to stretch the WW as far as possible.
And I would have delayed my lunch hour and at least put a deposit on the stuff so it wouldn't have wandered away...
Happy Shootin'! -Tom
Heavy lead
10-31-2008, 12:15 PM
Right now, I'm using 50/50 with 2% Tin thrown in for flowability and mold fillout.
Reading a LOTof postings, it probably doesn't make much difference if you run 1:1 or 2:1 lead to wheel weights.
I don't push my rounds too fast, just enjoyable midrange stuff.
With WW becoming scarcer, it makes sense to stretch the WW as far as possible.
And I would have delayed my lunch hour and at least put a deposit on the stuff so it wouldn't have wandered away...
Happy Shootin'! -Tom
I think you are right on Tom, I think we will view WW as we do Linotype now in the future. I do not push anything overly fast, 1200 very maximum, and I use good lube and size correctly, and honestly I do not have leading issues. I have one load that is gas checked that I run at 1750 (rifle not handgun) and no leading issues and accurate. It is relatively easy for me to get almost pure lead, I have a good contact at a local scrap yard, WW's I think will get trickier.
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