my lead supplies are drying up

[supertodd]

my lead is supply drying up and where I use to get it does not have any more, I'm to close to california(Im in Southern OR) and all the tire shops have gone to zinc.

I have maybe 20 lbs left- that is for both fishing sinkers and bullets.

[Marlin Hunter]

Buy a mask and snorkel and scrounge the local fishing streams, or go to a large city that has a public hospital and ask the doctors if you have have the bullets removed from drug dealers who were shot. :kidding:

[mrbill2]

Sell the Boat:kidding:

[Terrier]

After 5 years working in a major ER I have not accumulated enough lead to cast one .22 boolit. The pesky prosecutors and police want all of the lead for their cases.
Terrier

[Kskybroom]

You need to think outside the box... Where can i find lead??

[SCHUETZENBOOMER]

Those mail-order Christmas fruitcakes are about 40% lead. Cheaper after the Holidays.

[lwknight]

Its an epidemic. I have less than 300 pounds total and just lost 7 pounds in the dirt at the range today.
At this rate, its going to start costing a lot more to shoot in the future.

[captain-03]

Its an epidemic. I have less than 300 pounds total and just lost 7 pounds in the dirt at the range today.
At this rate, its going to start costing a lot more to shoot in the future.

... and now we all know where 7 pounds can be found - at your range!! Go and get it back ... seriously, I usually bring back home more lead than I leave at the range .... especially after a good rain!

[randyrat]

my lead is supply drying up and where I use to get it does not have any more, I'm to close to california(Im in Southern OR) and all the tire shops have gone to zinc.

I have maybe 20 lbs left- that is for both fishing sinkers and bullets. Just ask and you can find someone around here that will ship you WWs, soft, range lead or whatever you need for about a $1/lb.

[randyrat]

Go to "swapin and sellin" and click on "Want to buy" and ask...there is always someone willing to help a silver stream brother out. Prices may very on markets that change constantly.

[Nora]

There are always the large malls with plenty of lead in the parking lot.

Shhhhh you didn't here me say that. :oops:

Nora

[lwknight]

There used to be a steel plate trap house behing the falling plates and I mined a couple hundred pounds there. The took the trap doen and put a hill of dirt behind it. Well.... as would be my luck, its chunky clay. Very hard to get lead out. I liked the old range site. The burm was sand. Tou could take a screen and in 10 minutes have 50 pounds of lead.

[imashooter2]

The zinc works fine for fishing weights. No sense in throwing your lead into a lake.

[geargnasher]

Leadandbrass.com has plenty for sale.

So does The Captain, (vendor sponsor) I've done business with both, excellent service from both.

Of course it is only a matter of time until it becomes illegal for private parties to purchase lead in California or ship it across the state line. I'm sure there will be special work gangs of the convicted offenders picking up the lead wheel weights (hundreds of thousands of tons of, according to the EPA estimate, the same outfit that predicted your fuel milage!) that have been thrown from vehicles along the California highways.

Heck, I need to make a trip out there with a 80,000lb tractor-trailer and clean house! Y'all want some cheap lead?

Gear

[randyrat]

Go to "swapin and sellin" and click on "Want to buy" and ask...there is always someone willing to help a silver stream brother out. Prices may very on markets that change constantly.
Yeah, what was i thinkin....Just above Swappin an sellin there is a Vendor sponsor section. If you haven't been there you should. Lots of stuff for sale including LEAD.

[JSnover]

There's plenty of lead to be had, it will just cost more than it used to. Try Leadandbrass.com or Rotometals (sponsor; scroll up for a link) if you wind up buying new lead. Scrap yards or recyclers in your area should be able to help if you decide to buy it locally.

[Nate1778]

Call a couple residential roofers and ask them to save old plumbing vent flashing they tear off. Offer them some cash per flashing. I have been collecting them at my shop and over time have acquired a small pile in the neighborhood of about 600lbs and growing.

[blikseme300]

I recently gave up on WW's and switched to buying alloy from Rotometals and Missouri Bullet Company. Now that I don't need to clean WW's I am going to use the time saved to build a boolit trap. (This will be for handguns only). There are many examples of traps on the 'net. Just do some searching.

Bliksem

[parson48]

Chinese toys from Walmart! They should be having post-Christmas sales soon.

[35 Whelen]

my lead is supply drying up and where I use to get it does not have any more, I'm to close to california(Im in Southern OR) and all the tire shops have gone to zinc.

I have maybe 20 lbs left- that is for both fishing sinkers and bullets.

I'm telling you guys...look DOWN!! I recently brought my find of WW's home from work and I had picked up 15 lbs. in a couple months time. This is the norm for me. When I roll up to an intersection be it a red light or a stop sign, I glance at the pavement around me. I keep a 32 oz. cup in the cupholder of my work truck and toss the weights into it.
WW's really can be found anywhere on major roads, but the best places are intersections at the end of exit ramps that leave high speed highways. Also the driveways to busy businesses. A few weeks ago I pulled off the road into the driveway of a WalMart so I could answer a phone call. I glanced down and there were several WW's laying there. I've found lots of them around the entrances to malls. Anyplace that cars tend to hit curbs. And don't just look for WW's laying out in the open on the pavement.
On concrete surfaces, the lead tends to get smashed flat from being run over time and again. When this occurs, the lead looks more like globs of tar than lead. These pieces will usually easily pull up with the blade of a pocketknife. If there are large cracks and crevices in the pavement the WW's will fall into these.
On asphalt, the WW's tend to get mashed into the surface especially in hotter climes such as here in Texas. In warm weather, this is not a problem as they can easily be popped out with a screwdriver. When it's cold, they can be near impossible to get out.
A few months back I took the wifes car in to get the tires rotated and balanced. While waiting, I was walking around in front of the bays (I asked...they wouldn't let me have any WW's) and noticed WW's laying in the parking lot, evidently thrown there by the techs. I picked them up then expanded my search to the shrubbery that was planted between the work bays and the street. Bingo. Next, the driveways entering the business. Bingo again. By time they were finished with the car, my pockets were literally sagging with WW's. My point in this is be opportunistic. Look everywhere...think outside the box. If you're going to buy new tires or have yours balanced, take the weights off prior to taking the car in. My co-workers know my appetite for WW's so they too pick them up. If you walk for exercise, walk around busy streets and comb the intersections and driveways.
Several years ago I called every print shop in town and ask about linotype and lead type. I was rewarded with 200-300 lbs. of type. At a local range they have a 50 yd. pistol range for competition and police qualifying/training/practice. The backstop is the sandstone and dry clay mix typical of this area. I've picked up lots of lead there just laying on the surface.
And don't turn your nose up at that little 1 oz. WW laying in the gutter. That 1 oz. WW will make two 200 gr. bullets.
35W

[geargnasher]

35Whelen, I thought the same thing about battery terminals that most people do about stray WW, "I just won't get very many". Well, in a year's time I have a half-bucket full of heavy broken/corroded battery cable ends collected from my shop and two others. I am a runner, and often pick up stray weights. And I occasionally shoot at a local club range and recoup my $7.50 fee by scrounging for brass and boolits. Once I was lucky enough to visit after some "Rambos" had been there and left me about 6lbs of shotgun slugs. All this supports my plinking ammo habits while I purchase professional alloys for serious work, takes one of the unknown variables out of load development.

Gear

[Bucks Owin]

I checked out the price of scrap lead at a recycler the other day, they wanted 90 cents a pound. Enough for about 28 .45 Colt boolits as I figure. Under 4 cents apiece ain't so bad, especially since I capture 75% of them for my own "recycling" :wink:....FWIW, Dennis

[Greg in Malad]

Two years ago I ran out of lead and the tire shops wouldnt sell any. So I talked one of the employees into shooting cast in his 30/30. Now he trades me WW's for bullets. That was 1000 lbs ago and I still get a couple buckets a year.

[quasi]

at a lot of auctions old forklifts go very cheap. All forklifts have very heavy counter weights on them, some are iron some cement, and some are LEAD!

[supertodd]

thx's guys

[vegplot]

... and now we all know where 7 pounds can be found - at your range!! Go and get it back ... seriously, I usually bring back home more lead than I leave at the range .... especially after a good rain!

Second that. You can extend your shooting considerably by reusing shot bullets. In this age of rapidly dwindling resources it's something we'll all have to get used to sooner or later.