Current Lead Price

[jonp]

I went to a local scrap yard and asked about lead yesterday. They told me it was .65/lb. The guy then showed me to to barrels. One had lead pipe, sinkers, lead from windows etc and the other was Wheel Weights. I asked about the wheelweights and he said didn't matter, .65/lb for either ww or soft pipe.

So....which would you guys go for? The lead sheet or the WW for that price. I'd have to sort out the WW from the zinc and lead but the first few I got I only had one steel in the bunch. The soft lead bucket did have some bullets on the bottom probably from a range or something. They don't care if I dump the barrel to get them as long as I pick the stuff up afterwards.

[CastingFool]

IMO, for that price, I would jump on it. Soft lead you can resell to guys that use muzzleloaders. The scrap yard where I sell my scrap metal won't sell me lead of any kind, although they will buy it.

[jmort]

I would happily get both. Best deal I can get here in So Cal is $1 a pound for reclaimed shot, which is not too terrible.

[Bonz]

I'm just getting into swaging with the notorious BTSniping swaging dies so I would definitely go with the pure lead

[triggerhappy243]

market price is near.95 per pound. you better be all over that lead like icing on a birthday cake...............and hop to it now.

[jonp]

I'm rolling down there on Black Friday and since the wife is working I'm going to pick through the barrel for a few hours and relieve them of the COWW. I'll also get the soft stuff they have. I bought 40lbs yesterday since that was all of the money that I had and when I smelted it down today I had 42lbs. 2 free pounds!

[RogerDat]

Pretty good deal if you ask me. I would make that place a regular stop. Never know what will show up in the lead bin, old bar solder, dental foil or even Babbitt. And don't neglect the cast metal bin. Most of the time it is just junk like faucets and such but ever once in awhile pewter or EPBM will show up there.

Might be worth bringing donuts by one morning. The guys appreciate it, as in set aside three boxes of lasercast .38 specials for you. 1200 pre-cast still in the box for showing a little appreciation.

[bangerjim]

Pick thru the WW's if possible. Remember you are still paying $0.65 a pound for steel clips also!!!!! And you do NOT want Zn or Fe. Take a good strong magnet with you for Fe!

Both are good to get.

banger

[nrdewalt]

There was some places around me a few years ago that was selling it for .60 cents a pound. We figured that the waste was somewhere around 10-15 percent plus it was a ton of work. Sounds like a good price to me.

[Alexn20]

I find lead around from time to time. Sometimes I can find a small amount like 1-25 lbs for free. Lately it has been a lot harder and more expensive to get. My latest purchase was $50 for an almost full bucket of wheel weights. I would guess around 100lbs to start. I was happy with the find at the time.

It would have been a great deal however the bottom of the bucket was full of concrete. After sorting out the zinc and smelting it down I ended up just shy of 50lbs. so I paid $1 per lb unfortunately. If you buy a bucket of wheel weights you might want to dump it out and verify you are actually getting what you pay for. Due to garbage and zinc in wheel weights I would purchase the pure lead over the wheel weights.
just my 2 cents.

[jonp]

Geez, a bucket with concrete on the bottom sucks big time. I'm going to sort the wheelweights into my own bucket myself so I'll get pretty much all lead. The soft stuff like pipe and flashing I'll just take as is.

[RogerDat]

I see a lot more soft lead or "general" lead at the scrap yard than anything else. The "dirty" lead bin with WW's is almost empty and tends to stay that way. Makes me think I should start investigating the price of purchasing super hard antimonial lead alloy from rotometals with some scrap pewter. Using the alloy calculator (great tool) roughly works out to $57 for 51 lbs. using 5# super hard, 1# scrap pewter, 45# plain lead @ $.70/lb. yields 1.8% tin 3.5% antimony. Close to 12 BHN. Nice alloy for pretty close to the price of purchased WW ingots, but without arsenic from WW's don't think it would heat treat.

Anyway just a thought on what you might do with the soft lead you are getting from the scrap yard. WW's from there are probably a better deal depending on your available time to sort before purchase.

[Echo]

I've got enough type metal (mono-, foundry) and solder, so what I would pick up would be the pure lead for alloying.

[jsizemore]

Get all the lead your budget can handle. You may not use an alloy right now but you might in the future or use it for trade. Clearly mark everything and separate if possible.

[RogerDat]

Geez, a bucket with concrete on the bottom sucks big time. I'm going to sort the wheelweights into my own bucket myself so I'll get pretty much all lead. The soft stuff like pipe and flashing I'll just take as is.

Don't forget a large WW has pretty much the same size steel clip as a small one. Start your sorting process with the bigger WW's I use some extra long handled diagonal cutters, if it nips the WW then that one is lead. Don't know about your back but mine appreciates a box lid tray in my lap so I don't have to bend for each WW and can sort sitting down (not lazy, just efficient in how I use my energy)

And with scrap lead +1 on what jsizemore said, if they will gun it so you know what it is and can mark it OR it is a known form of lead such as flashing, pipe, x-ray room wall liner etc. both of these options beat purchasing "mystery ingots" that they won't gun. Or that 14# lead peace sign that looked like it was cast in beach sand... doubt even the hippies that made it know what that lead is.

[jonp]

Picked up an 82lb chunk of lead yesterday and 40lbs of wheel weights. The lead chunk was used to anchor a fan or something. Dead soft stuff. Picked through the wheelweight buck and after melting them down today after 40lbs of them I had 2 iron ones and 2 zinc ones. Did pretty good for $81

[daniel lawecki]

Buy all you can it's money in the bank. Remember the price of jacket bullets you don't want to go back to those ever.

[badbob454]

clip on wheel weights ( coww's ) are a thing soon to be in the past they are all going to zinc and steel , buy all you can ...it is a cheap source of hard lead ....

[9w1911]

I would have done my best to buy both, and now i am working more I will go get some!!

[Alexn20]

Nice! I say you did good!