Do You Have a Lifetime Supply?

[Chris C]

Here's what I scoop out of the tires. As you can tell, I shoot very little jacketed rounds. This stuff melts fast.

[Drm50]

When cool weather comes back, I'm going to do a major smelt and reduce a lot more metal into
bullet alloy ingots. I have way to much common lead, and get more all the time. I also have many
hundred lbs. of lead of unknown alloys. I use pencils and think test for my target WC for pistols.
At 700-800 fps they don't have to be real hard just uniform. For my big bore and small bore rifles
which are relatively low velocity I use known metal for my mix. For all these guns I concentrate more on Uniformity of metal than hardness. After 50+ years of casting you should be able to
make a bullet to match your gun. It doesn't hurt to have metal testing equipment, but experience
helps.

[mold maker]

I'm looking forward to one more, cooler weather pour. mostly WWs and range scrap, but enough pure for the mix.
At my age enough is subjective. With the tonnage I have already in ingots, my dependents may have lifetime supplies also. They don't shoot like I used to.

[yenningComity]

No lifetime supply for me, but I bought 200+ lbs of sorted coww. Need to get a pan and dipper so I can do my first smelt on a hot plate. Hoping the weather starts cooling off soon, because hours of standing over a hot pot in 100 degrees does not appeal.

[Walter Laich]

I'll never have enough, so I'll keep looking.

amen to that

[edwardware]

I'm that guy mining the pistol berm when no one else is on the range. . . I figure I'm working on ~700#, so I should be set for a few years. . .

and adding 200-300# per year.

[Old Ironsights]

The sad thing is... I have sold/given away more than I have been able to move cross country - and I still have 1k of ww/ingots, 300lb of pure and 8 buckets of raw...

[6622729]

I spent the morning consolidating a lot of my lead stash. I guess it's easy to loose track of what one has. Turns out I am beyond 1500lbs. I absolutely don't need more but I can't seem to stop. I have another 50lbs of super clean COWW coming from one of my favorite sources. I sort of organized it so that I'll use the smaller quantities from various sources first. Then I have over 500lbs of antimony lead ingots from industrial battery intercell connector links and I have two eBay sources that do a fantastic job on cleaning up COWW. They'll be used in order then finally I have a little over 450lbs of incredibly clean isotope lead that I'll probably never get to. Gorgeous, gorgeous metal. This does not include a couple hundred pounds of 60/40, 50/50 and wiping solder, or the pewter and 96% tin. It also does not include a couple hundred pounds of lino and monotype either. It's crazy that I even find myself buying fmj projectiles at all but I buy them too! I'm as addicted as anyone here. Lol.

[Retumbo]

I have about 500lbs of ingots under my work bench. 2/3s of a 55 gallon barrel of clip on wheel weights and probably another few hundred pounds in odds and ends behind the shed.

Probably 2 to three times what I will use in a life time, but better to have it than to try to find it. As far as Im concerned its money in the bank.

[DerekP Houston]

I have about 500lbs of ingots under my work bench. 2/3s of a 55 gallon barrel of clip on wheel weights and probably another few hundred pounds in odds and ends behind the shed.

Probably 2 to three times what I will use in a life time, but better to have it than to try to find it. As far as Im concerned its money in the bank.

Kinda my opinion of my collection of equipment and supplies. Ain't like they are going down in price or eating up anything other than space. If I change my mind later I can always sell it off for cash and be right back where I started. Only downside is when I have to try and move it all.

[smalltownguy]

just buy it when I see it and stack it deep

[Blackhawk357]

I am ate up with it also, I have collected 500 lbs of range scrap from my gun range bullet stop. Inherited 200 lbs of ingots. Picked up 300 lbs dead soft lead from connections and I am currently looking for WW to sort and smelt. Not to mention 10 lbs of bees wax and believe me 10 lbs is a bunch of wax. I just cannot get enough at least right now.


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[Oklahoma Rebel]

well, most of you guys should consider yourselves lucky. I have about 400lbs. but I am 30 and have a lot of shooting left to do, and we are at the end of the "lead era" it seems, or almost there.so.... if you would like to donate to my cause just pm me and I would be glad to give you my address and a picture of a shooter you have helped!

[RoGrrr]

I shoot into my boolit trap when I punch paper. Only when I shoot combat targets do I lose lead into my dirt backstop which hasn't collected enough that I can easily mine it, but I'll be buying a piece of steel 5' X 10' for a new trap so I'll be able to save all of it, then. However, what I mined from pistol ranges has made up for that so I should be good for a while. Mom and Dad died when they were 99 and 96 and I'm 68. Run the numbers. I should be around for quite a while and I'll be mining until I'm unable.
FWIW, I buy primers by the tens of thousands and powder by the 4 and 8 pound jugs. And that's not just when I'm running low, either.

[imashooter2]

well, most of you guys should consider yourselves lucky.

Luck my eye! Most of the guys here with big stashes spent years of dedicated scrounging to do it.

[Texas by God]

My grand father had an enormous old garden tiller with enormous wheel weights. 2" thick and 14" diameter of a mystery alloy that tests a tad softer than Lyman #2. My brothers and I used up the first one on bowling pins and targets and such. I keep the remaining "cheese wheel" as backup while I use WW and range scrap from my own backstops. I still pick up every old weight I see and sinkers and plumb bobs etc. Best, Thomas.

[lightman]

Luck my eye! Most of the guys here with big stashes spent years of dedicated scrounging to do it.

Thats right! Every once in a while someone makes a post with a gigantic score, like a sailboat keel or something, but most of us acluminated our lead stash over time. Always be looking. And asking. Networking works. The more eyes you have looking and the more people you have hunting, the more chance you have at making a score. Leads getting harder to find and free lead is even harder than that to find, but its out there.

[popper]

Don't know if me or 100# will last longer.

[rancher1913]

thought I had a huge supply of soft, then started down the path of making slugs for 12guage, the supply is shrinking quickly. its amazing how many 1 pound ingots a person can go through in an afternoon. the same goes for coww and making shot, the ingots disappear quick.

[commando223]

Not at all I really need to find a source for pure lead.