Just picked up 3-40 pound ingots of smelted (processed) range scrap for $1 per pound. Seller said came from a pistol range, no jacketed allowed.
One happy camper.
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Just picked up 3-40 pound ingots of smelted (processed) range scrap for $1 per pound. Seller said came from a pistol range, no jacketed allowed.
One happy camper.
Nice Score! Just shows that lead is still out there if you keep looking for it.
Keep looking and you'll find sources at half that.Originally Posted by Wooserco
For already rendered down into ingots, $1 per pound is about the going rate here too, but I agree, always keep your eyes peeled for it and you'll be surprised how much can be had for free or very cheap.
Still, not a bad deal at all, and if that guy is a regular source and will have more, you should maintain a relationship and possible offer him less per pound if you buy a large quantity next time. I know 120 pounds seems like a large amount, but it goes fast, especially if you're an avid pistol shooter.
What keywords are you using to search? The only stuff I seem to find is Linotype for $3 per pound.
Haven't seen a lot of lead on facebook market place, did see a guy from Texas trying to sell range salvage ingots for $5 a pound plus shipping, messaged him and asked if it was magic lead or something.
I have bought some neat reloading stuff in the way of tools off of it, a near new MEC 16 gauge loader plus a bunch of components and odds and ends, plus just recently bought a vintage Pacific press and a few dies from a lady trying to find a good home for her dad's stuff.
I'm sure if you entered "lead" in the search, that works on Craigslist too.
Test the hardness on that lead, use pencils if needed. If it has a high percentage of commercial cast, you can blend it with pure and stretch it quite a bit further.
A quick search of marketplace for lead revealed a lot of people selling it, but none local. Ebay would be better if I had to have it shipped. Just for curiosity, I checked Craigslist too, something I used to do pretty regularly. Nobody local, but a guy is selling it in KC for $1.25 a pound and says he has over 1000 lbs. I don't need it, and would have to need it to drive two hours and pay that much, but, if I were younger and didn't have a reliable source of lead, and knew I was going to be in this hobby for life, I'd likely bite the bullet and try to buy all of it, hopefully being able to make a deal for less per pound since I was gonna buy it all.
Like anything else, just depends on how bad you need or want it.
I dont get why people process their alloy in such large ingots. Really, what do you do with a 20# plus ingot??? Best bet for alloy is here in the vendors section. I doubt most ebay sellers even know what they are selling.
EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol
I wondered about that as well, other than it was mined from a very active range and probably most cost effective for the folks rendering it. He is/was a stock car racer and it was advertised as lead for balancing such. We corresponded quite a bit before it came out that it was range lead.
There is lead closer, from an indoor shooting range. It is primarily a junior shooting program but it's priced $0.50 per lb. more. Proceeds go toward the junior shooting program, so I may get some of that as well.
My plan is to render down the 3-40 pound ingots and combine equal amounts of each into smaller ingots. One of each into the pot to render homogenous ingots. I'll measure hardness then.
I'm just getting back into casting and shooting after a 20 year hiatus. Took me that long after a divorce to get to this point.
Last edited by Wooserco; 12-22-2020 at 06:24 PM.
I cast 10# ingots of raw scrap lead and 2 1/2# ingots of casting alloy, the latter made as needed from the former after batching and melting the scrap for clean up and analysis to see what I will need to add to reach the desired mix.
Ingots four times the size mean less work ingotting, stamping and stacking. Yeah, they won't fit in my casting pot, but the alloy isn't meant for it. The next round I make alloy in smaller ingots for the pot.
ETA: I cast in volume, so this makes sense for my needs.
When I search CL I use several key works one at a time. Sinkers, reloading, fishing, hunting, solder, shooting, pewter, lead (but this gets you more leaded crystal glass than anything else.) Lead ingots run $2-$4 lb or more on CL here. But I did find a Lyman dipping pot with 20lbs 95/5 for $40 once, listed as pewter & cast into gears for an art project.
CL and MP are sometimes quite amazing in what you find via keywords. Often, it depends on the keywords the originator type in or described it. I've found some amazing deals on CL and met some great people. Once met a seller in a Police Dept parking lot. Seemed like a safe place. Great guy and so was his son. Most of the time I've met people at their homes, knocked on the door, disturbed the dogs and annoyed the neighbors. Great fun. I've either been blessed or fortunate in my CL or FB dealings. I go into the deal trusting that others are honest like me. If I do get a bad vibe: I never, ever enter the deal. After all, I don't want to shoot someone over a few dollars...-
Tried it yesterday and all the results were thousands of miles away despite my setting of a 30 mile radius OR the ad was for glass.
Ebay has a decent amount of lead for sale(ie wheel weights) seem to average a $1.00 a pound.
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