All the coffee cans have cast boolits of different sorts in them ...
on he left is soda/iced tea that I trade for the lead at tire shops.
All the coffee cans have cast boolits of different sorts in them ...
on he left is soda/iced tea that I trade for the lead at tire shops.
It is much easier to fool people ,
than to convince them they have been fooled !
If you can read this , thank a teacher ...
If you can read this in English , .. thank a Vet !
A buddy here showed me his casting shed: it's tilting from all the lead he has stashed on the downhill side but he knows what everything is, where it is in the shed and how much he's got.
Right now most of my alloys are in ~3 pound mini loaf ingots that are marked with a Sharpie for weight and type. These are stacked in my basement between the studs over the foundation, segregated by type, with an inventory sheet over each pile. Eventually I plan on stamping content or type on each ingot. That's practically speaking as precise as I need to be.
I am running out of space between the studs (I live in earthquake country, and don't fancy stacking all that metal too high) and plan on laying some concrete pavers over a gravel and sand base next to the concrete foundation beams to give me more dry storage area.
Box made out of scrap 4x4
There is a reason I had them pour a 6" slab when I built my garage! Besides lead I want to put in a lift down the road...
Wow, I'm amazed at some of the methods outlined here. Cast Boolit folks are really smart! I'm taking notes...
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
I keep my bulk storage in the field under a tree in the form of #25 bricks. It is easy to count up that way. I use the smaller 3X5 bread pans to make casting alloy ingots. Just put 2 pounds or so in each that way it fits easily into the casting pot. A full 3X5 will make about 10 pound bars.
Melting Stuff is FUN!Sent from my PC with a keyboard and camera on it with internet too.
Shooting stuff is even funner
L W Knight
Thanks for the replys everyone. Lots of good ideas here. For now I'm probably going to stick with the plastic milk crates with tags attached to them. I have started stamping the ingots but I doubt I'll ever go back and stamp the older ones. There is a material handling place near me that sells used industrial shelving and I may try to buy a set of pallet racks that are 12 inches deep. I feel fortunate to have a shop that is roomy enough to keep my stash indoors and under lock and key!
Well, I hate to say that my lead is strewn around my shop in wooden ammo crates, metal ammo cans, and a few plastic milk cartons. When I "inventory" them I'm afraid it's a bit like a Newfie counting fish ... "One ingot" ... "Two ingots" ... "Three ingots" ... "Nother ingot" ... "Nother ingot" ... "Nother ingot" ...
I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't reached my "Expiry" date!
Inventory?? Why I am not a business. I get low as I go along I will obtain more and usually get more when it comes along. It is not a fetish or lifestyle some make it. I get it mould it shoot it get more start over.
I want all my Lead to be in the same inventory I want for all my reloading stuff, powder, brass bullets etc. along with casting notes for each alloy. I want this in an app that saves the data. This app also needs to have load info.
All of my lead is from range lead from one range. Mostly lead shooters were at that range at the time. I cast the lead into "fish" and "corn" from the cast iron molds on hand at the range. I threw them all into a wooden box on a dolly. When I moved the movers couldn't move it so I unloaded it and when I put it back in the box I counted all the fish and corn. Took 10 of each and weighed it and found out fish weighed 1.6 pounds and corn was 1.1. Set up a spread sheet and ended up with just over 3000 pounds. When I cast bullets I simply count how many of each I use and keep a running total of pounds remaining. Still have enough to last my shooting lifetime. I think.
That range was so full of lead one time I loaded 6 5 gallon buckets about 1/2 to 3/4 full (all I could lift then) of screened lead in about 30 minutes. Almost no jacketed bullets. Those were the days.
I used to belong to a range where Bullseye was still a big thing and it had a lot of older shooters. They were old enough that their bullets were often cast with Lino or Lyman #2. Like you, I could pick up several gallons of lead swc's in a few minutes. It made for a sweet alloy!
Last edited by lightman; 12-14-2017 at 08:10 AM.
55 gallon drums with the lids. Each drum is tagged. A drum will only contain one alloy type and each ingot is marked with a Sharpie. All are cast in muffin tins. Each drum holds about 2400lbs of ingots. Drums are set on scrap or reclaimed 4x4's spaced to allow air to circulate and slow rusting.
Between 38 and 45 I shot an 8lb jug of Promo which is about 50grs of Pb to each grain of powder. That's not the only guns I shot this past year. My search for scrap lead has slowed down from what I used to find. Glad I was able to stash what I could since I like to shoot.
I have mine all coasted in lee ingots and separated in ccow boxes set in totes on gladiator shelves.
My problem is... there is more to be had, but the money could be spent on so many other things, and I have a fair amount already stashed. Not in the jsizemore range but then I don't shoot as much as he does either. I'm not sure if I have a lifetime supply, or merely enough to annoy the wife for at least the next decade. After 1 ton I sort of slowed down but I'm seeing some "keeper" COWW's of late and.... Arrrgh!
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
Inventory? Are you kidding? I'm retired, I don't work for nobody, no not even myself.
I have 5 gallon buckets of lead in at least 3 different locations. 150 lbs of COWW in ingots in one pile. Various other stuff in other locations.
Come spring yes I plan on a smelting day, going to make up some stuff. Might even weight the range scrap and COWW so I can figure how much pewter I want to add, but then again I may not, might just wing it, live dangerously. Potential for mishaps and mayhem is sweet anticipation! Grin
Inventory. LOL.
Say you would not be interested in a nice 2 lane one owner bridge would you?
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |