Do You Have a Lifetime Supply?

[kevin c]

Make that yourself, Petander?

BTW, at the moment I'm closer to you than I'll likely ever be again (Alta, Norway) unless I come back to Scandinavia.

[Doubles Shooter]

I definitely need more. I just got back into casting a month or so ago. Just did 20 pounds of .45 boolits. Today I melted all the odds and ends of lead I managed to scrounge up. I only got 22# of 14 BHN ingots. I've got 30+ pounds of pipe lead I'm saving for sinkers. Other than that, that's it. Sad. Got to get busy hunting more.

[dverna]

My chances for a lifetime alloy supply just multiplied:



Much easier than mining the berm.

Built a bullet trap last year for the same reason. I have about 2500-3000 lbs of alloy and did not want to buy more.

[RoGrrr]

Not sure but for what I do have I need roughly 82lbs of powder and 140,000 primers. This is what I need to work on for now. Sorry I worked that out, ha ha

So, do you have a MAGMA Bulletmaster to load all that with ?
I picked up one last year to go with my stash of about a ton of spent slugs from the range I work at, part time.

[RogerDat]

I'm not sure of lifetime supply, depends. With my personality it is sort of amazing I'm still around as it is. I'm almost done with casting almost all of my lead into Castboolit / Redneck Gold ingots and while I'm at it making up big batches of desired alloys and weighing so I can have an inventory.

I was pretty sure I had a ton, I don't, it turns out I have two. Now I may need to slow down my acquisition rate a bit but my motto is dying with supplies left shows good planning, didn't ever run out.

Bullet trap would be nice, at least one suitable for pistols and revolvers.

[Shawlerbrook]

My fear is that the leftist idiots will ban all uses of lead bullets.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

YEP! I worked for the phone company for 37 years. I could still get lead for free but I have no place to put it and it is just too heavy to sell on line.

[RogerDat]

YEP! I worked for the phone company for 37 years. I could still get lead for free but I have no place to put it and it is just too heavy to sell on line.

US Postal Flat Rate boxes. It fits it ships up to 70 pounds. Over in swapping and selling there is a regular business in 60 pound plus MFRB (Medium Flat Rate Box) They ship for around $13 and plain lead, berm mining, or COWW's go for around $1 a pound. Give or take. Plus the shipping.

With tight fitting ingots such as the Cast Boolit or Redneck Gold ones Lakehouse is selling can get close to 30 lbs. in a SFRB (Small Flat Rate Box) shipping on those is just under $8 and people buy those at $1 a pound plus shipping. Especially the plain soft lead that is ideal for muzzle loaders, and commonly used in lead cable sheathing.

I'm just thinking it is a shame to send any lead to the scrap yard if it can end up here in the hands of a bullet caster. I will say the smaller FRB's are more often used for premium alloys like linotype that sells for more and is used in smaller quantities.

I can pretty easily cast 100 lbs. into ingots in about 3 hrs counting the time it takes for the lead to melt when I'm generally doing something else nearby. So you could be making $100 for 3 hrs work if the materials are free. Not bad at all and providing a service to your fellow casters in the bargain. I'm paying about $1 a pound when I find lead, sometimes get that down around 75 cents but given a choice between $25 profit for 3 hours work or another hundred pounds in the stash I choose what every other addict does, more stash.

Not everyone has the free time or the place to process and store larger amounts. And packaging and hauling in on a dolly/cart to the post office is work so I get why some decide not to go that route. I still like to encourage it. I'll generally only sell premium alloys. Same amount of work or less for a higher sale and some room to sell it for more than I bought it for so there is a profit.

Not in it for mad loot but do like making the cost of a new mold or some gizmo or supply item I desire out of the work.

[MGySgt]

Cleaning up behind my Casting Shed (Yes I had a 8X10 shed that is for casting only) and I had stored lead behind it when we moved here 8 years ago. Well long story short - There was a ton of lead on the ground behind the shed, in 4 pound ingot's. I pulled them all (518) out and stacked it on a platform next to shed. I was curious as to how much I had in the shed. Close as I can guess there is 3,000 pounds in the shed plus 1,000 pounds of pure lead.
BTW all the ingots are WW.

That is 2.5 ton's of cleaned WW in 4 pound ingots.

I am 69 so I guess I have a life time supply.

[Digger]

With all this time on my hands lately .....no

[Scrounge]

This is exactly what I "try" to do. I probably loose a few but not many. As far as a "lifetime" supply, well I'm 65 so quite possibly what I currently have loaded in my guns could be enough ..heck, I don't even make dinner reservations anymore..

I'm with you there. I didn't expect to make it to 30. A while back, I started outprocessing to retire from the USAF with 24 years of service. Realized I was 43. What happened to not making it to 30? I'll be 65 if I make it just past the middle of next month. I can't count on making it to the point of posting this reply, but I might be good for another 30 or 40 years. How's a guy supposed to plan? Besides that, I don't think I have even a hundred pounds of lead on hand, all alloys combined. Only thing I can see to to do is keep scrounging, and keep shooting.

[psychbiker]

Hard to accumulate here in northern California bay area. I've got a good amount (1,200lbs I think) and a source locally. I do look for deals for fishing weights and garbage lead that needs to be smelted. Problem is by me everyone thinks trash wheels weights and random lead is $2/lb. No reason to spend over $1/lb when I can buy it here shipped and it's ready to go in my pot.

[Win94ae]

Yes, I collect my lead from the dirt backstops, that I shoot into religiously.

[kevin c]

My fear is that the leftist idiots will ban all uses of lead bullets.

Be glad you don't live in California.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

If AB 3071 comes out of committee and onto the Senate floor, one bullet will pretty well cover the life time supply question in Commiefornia.

[kevin c]

Yeah, in which case I will have several orders of magnitude more than a lifetime's supply.

[fredj338]

I'm just thinking it is a shame to send any lead to the scrap yard if it can end up here in the hands of a bullet caster. I will say the smaller FRB's are more often used for premium alloys like linotype that sells for more and is used in smaller quantities.
.

Sending good alloy or reloadable brass cases to the scrap yard should become a capital offense. There are too many of us that cast & reload.

[skeettx]

OK, got a question,

What would you do with 100 pounds of 9mm brass
if you already have enough to load for a lifetime.
No one around here will BUY 9mm brass.
Mike

[Rapidrob]

Retiring after 30 years as an X-Ray engineer, I salvaged several tons of lead. 90% of it was cast as a counter weights for equipment and is very hard alloy lead.
I sold a ton of the lead just to make room in my shop for more casting equipment.
I know I have two tons of ingots that will outlast me for sure, and a pile of several inch thick lead sections that are at least another two tons.

[kevin c]

OK, got a question,

What would you do with 100 pounds of 9mm brass
if you already have enough to load for a lifetime.
No one around here will BUY 9mm brass.
Mike

I guess my area still has demand (or at least there was interest before we got shut down by the shelter in place order in California).

I still see ads in the S&S. Your brass should move if it's priced right.

Back on topic. I did have more than I can use, and recently sold large amounts (all to boolit casters).

Still have more than I will likely ever use, but I'm not sure I'm willing to sell off more, and I'm also not sure I won't buy more.