I Am Hard Pressed To Believe This

[Hamish]

I had an interesting pm conversation yesterday. I have seen the guy's here on CB buy a steady stream of clean, smelted, ingotized lead at $1.00 a pound since I came onboard here.

I have been led to believe that in the last couple of years there have been thousands of pounds of raw dirt, trash, WW, spit, and razor blades bought by CB members to be sorted, cleaned, and smelted by themselves, to the tune of .80 cents a pound for final product after *they* pour it.

I am hard pressed to believe this, but maybe I don't know a good deal when I see it?

[lwknight]

What is hard to believe about it? Scrap ( many of them anyway ) yards pay between diddly and squat for lead scrap. If I could buy scrap at 30 cents per pound and process it to sell at 80 cents or a dollar a pound I would be all over it .

Anything you can do at home to make extra money is way better than working for the man downtown.

[frankenfab]

I think what Hamish is trying to point out is that alot of people pay 80 cents per # doing it themselves, when they could forgo the work, propane cost, etc.

I got alot of my lead for 35 cents a pound myself, but that has definitely changed. Shhhh. don't let Kathy or any of the other vendors see this thread!

[btroj]

I can get lead for 40 to 50 cents a pound around here. I have no problem melting it myself, propane isn't that expensive.

I currently use lots of range scrap.

I don't buy, or sell, any here.

I am not really sure what the OPs point was.

[Hamish]

That's what I'm saying, are guy's doing it themselves to save .20 cents a pound and dealing with bubba's chaw and razor blades?

[btroj]

Some most likely are. Saving 20 cents a pound over the course of 500 pounds adds up.
Some do it forthw shear joy of doing it the self.
Some do it to save some money.
some have more time than money.
Some get WW for far less than 80 cents a pound.
Some don't trust anyone else to say it is all good lead.

I feel it is up to each of us to decide what is best for ourself. I have sources that let me save money and not buy for 1.00 a pound.

To each there own. Not for me to question I suppose. If a guy wants to pay 2.00 a pound for wheel weights locally and smelt them down, who am I to say no?

Is it false economy for some? Probably. Free markets are like that.

[geargnasher]

On the few occasions that I've bought or traded for raw WW here, it was for a lot less than 80 cents a pound and it was sorted.

Gear

[Springfield]

500 lbs at .80/lb is 400 bucks. 500 lbs bought here at 1.10/lb(shipping added) is 550 bucks. I can do a bit of smelting for 150 bucks. I find 500 lbs and above more often than you would think, just got to look around and get the word out. When you add in that I will probably have to melt it all down to get the alloy I want anyway it comes out even better, just smelt and mix at the same time. Makes for large consistant batches. Depends on how much lead you use and if you have more time than money or vice versa.

[RP]

Well I mine a range near me with some help we get about a ton on each trip with is about half a day of work. After smelting it with wood I get free off the job site I sell the jackets that is where the money is for me. The lead I sell after I have a enough I think to last me a few life times. But the PITA is shipping the lead tracking and taking it to the PO. Yes I know they will pick it up at my house but the mail lady just is not able to do that and her car would not hold the weight. So for some smelting is not a big deal if they are set up to do it.

[sqlbullet]

500 lbs at .80/lb is 400 bucks. 500 lbs bought here at 1.10/lb(shipping added) is 550 bucks. I can do a bit of smelting for 150 bucks.

Not picking on you specifically Springfield, but using your post to illustrate.

This misses the OP's post.

You pay .80/lb, but to end up with 500 lbs of cleaned alloy, you would have to buy 625 lbs. This is based on the common report here of an average of 20% loss to trash, zinc, clips, chaw, razor blades, etc. And you will have to buy $6.00 of propane to refine the lead based on my own use and I refine 5-6 tons each year.

If you are paying $0.80 / lb for raw used WW, your effective cost per finished pound is going to be $1.01. Still a savings of $44 versus $1.10 /lb shipped.

But if you find a guy selling for $1.00/lb shipped, then you are now paying $12/K for the privilege of sweating over the pot for 8-10 hours.

And that is the OP's point. If you are paying $0.80 /lb for scrap WW + debris, you are probably spending more money than you would at $1.00 /lb shipped for cleaned ready to cast WW.

Now, for other lead sources it may not be this bad. I only see about 2% loss from isotope lead. And, I don't pay anywhere near $0.80 / lb for it. At $0.80/lb for isotope lead you would be saving $136 on 500 lbs of refined lead.

[btroj]

It isn't always about the money. For many it is the satisfaction of doing it for them self.
I also woder how many are really paying 80 cents a pound for wheel weights.

Like I said before, we all need to decide what is right for each of us. I do what fits my time, money, and needs. I feel no need to justify it for anyone else.

Great example is gas check makers. My FIL is retired. He makes many of his own checks, he has plenty of free time. I work and have a kid at home. My free time is reduced so I buy checks. We each do what fts our own needs. No right or wrong answer, different needs. Fair enough?

[209jones]

At one time I was shooting 50rds a day min for practice, didn't want to spend time scrounging scrap and melting it, and only needed a 1/20 to 1/30 blend, so I bought 35lb ingots and 1 lb tin sticks. Price was something that made sense to me. Saved a lot of time and energy for that purpose. For hunting bullets, I went and got wheelweights, cost me zip, except sorting and melting time.
Each has its tradeoffs.

[paul h]

I can't see paying over $.50/lb for ww's when I factor in the value of my time.

In the good old days I could get a heaping 5 gal bucket of ww's for $20 which would yield over 100#'s of ingots. Unfortunately all my sources of ww's dried up.

[nwellons]

I'm retired and enjoy my wheel weight runs. My cost is from free to .50/lb, depending on the shop. I always feel like I am on a treasure hunt.

Yes, I enjoy smelting too. It is my kind of fun to turn nasty wheel weights into beautiful ingots of lead.

[Sonnypie]

First time I smelted down WW, I got done and had my shiny ingots of metal.
I stamped it "WW", my code for wheel weight metal.
Then I got to thinking.... So what is it?

It sure isn't my Certified Lyman #2 from Rotometals... (Rifle alloy)
It isn't my Shop Alloy (SA) of melted down Magnum Shot alloy, with a taste of tin added... (Pistol alloy)
Nope, it's Wheel Weight metals of fairly unknown quality.

I have guns I take pride in. I go to great lengths to carefully reload for them.
Do I want a bullet of unknown alloy and caricature scraping down my bore?
I think not.

I think I'll get a Lee buckshot mold, and a good wrist rocket.
YMMV

[ilcop22]

I get all my lead through members here on CB simply to support the membership. I could drive around, looking for junkyards, make a bunch of phone calls, etc. just to save some money... But I'd rather support my fellow shooters.

[Balduran]

I just paid 45 bucks for four 5 gal buckets of wheel weights. melted them down and got 316 lbs of ingots. So say .15 per lb? lot of time sorting compared to the range scrap and i didnt factor in the stick on WW yet as i havent melted them down.
if it was too much of a hassle i would just buy factory. I like doing it myself.

Jody

[Scott_In_OKC]

I bought 172 lbs of WW yesterday for $0.40/lb. Just glancing through the bucket, there appears to be very few steel/zinc. The guy said he'd call me when his bucket was full again. I'll take that deal all day long.

Now, if we'd just get out of the triple digits here in OK, I could get some smelting done.

[sundog]

Sonnypie, send all the "WW" stamped ingots to me. I will let them scrape down my bore! Nothing at all wrong with "CERTIFIED WHEEL WEIGHT" metal.

[Freightman]

Sonnypie, send all the "WW" stamped ingots to me. I will let them scrape down my bore! Nothing at all wrong with "CERTIFIED WHEEL WEIGHT" metal.

Right-on I have put 1000's # of WW down my barrel's and they still looks new.