1 year later

[starbits]

One year ago today I collected my first wheel weights. I had both knees replaced in January so that slowed me down a bit, but as of yesterday I had accumulated about 3950 lbs of lead, a hair under 2 tons - wheel weights (1600lbs) babbit/solder (1100lbs) isotope (500) and mystery metal (750).

Do I really need more lead? I can honestly say no. But I am an addict so the pile will grow. Worse, I like a good deal and lead for 20-30 cents/lb when I know spot is over a dollar and likely headed higher makes it hard to slow down let alone stop.

My 12 step program is a walk out to the target line. But beyond is range lead beckoning. Water reminds me I have yet to talk to a plumber, or a roofer. I only hope I don't have to move soon, or maybe moving sooner would be better than later :mrgreen:

Warm regards to my fellow addicts

Starbits

[Hickory]

Send me the stick you've been beatin' the bushes with, I want to use it.

[Jal5]

that is an incredible stash in just one year's time!
way to go.

Joe

[sargenv]

Nice stash.. and when you feel your addiction needs to start paying rent, I'm sure there are a few of us that would happily purchase said lead from you :)

[bobthenailer]

thats alot off alloy to collect in 1 year !
im 62 now and still a shoot alot, and i dont know how much i will need ? after 40 + years of shooting & casting i also have almost 2 tons of various alloys in ingots not counting over 20,000 bullets already lubed & sized on the shelf . and i just bought 220 lbs of ww last friday . id rather have to much than to little . its a lead alloy savings account and im the bank.
one thing for sure its worth alot more than i paid for it

[2wheelDuke]

I wish I could say I've collected anywhere near that much. If I was scoring lead for free and smelting, I'd probably have a good bit more. For now, I've had to buy most of my stash, either isotope lead or WW from members here.

I do have a small part of my stash that's from locally obtained WW's, but it's not much. That reminds me, I should swing by the tire place today and see if my coffee can's worth picking up.

[Ole]

A guy could probably mine 50lbs worth of the stuff spending a day hunting the berms at an outdoor shooting range.

But then you'd have to shoot up some when the range was hot. :mrgreen:

[mtgrs737]

I figure that the lead I've hoarded will never be worth less than what I have in it. At least that is my hope. I have accumlated at least two tons in the last couple of years and am not slowing down any. I even had a special fittling and hose made up so that I don't have to pay the high prices charged here to refill my 100 lb. propane bottle. Now I can refill it from my 500 gallon bulk tank. I like to have my lead in ingot form as it helps with storage space and gets rid of the steel clips and other ww lead yuck. I figure I will be real gald I have the lead when the epa goons ban lead WW's and other forms of lead in my state. Addicted but happy in OZ!

[starbits]

It didn't take long to become a labor of obsession. First I made a spread sheet listing the address of every tire store and radiator shop I could find in the yellow pages or by googling. Then I pulled out a city map and using 3mm red stick on dots I plotted and marked each store. Any time I ran into town I checked the map for the best route to hit the most shops. If I got lead or even a possible I recorded the name of the guy I talked to so I could go back a month or two later and say "Fred said he would keep ww for me. Do you have any?"

I found one source of lead (not ww) that had the potential of a couple hundred pounds a month. However he wanted to see a state certification that I could recycle lead. A couple hours of googling lead to nothing. After delaying for a day or two not sure I wanted the EPA to know I was playing with lead I decided what the heck and called the state Dir of Environmental Quality, which directed me elsewhere, which directed me elsewhere, which directed me back to the state Dir of Environmental Quality. Bottom line nobody had heard of any such certification. Well krapp! After scratching my head for a day or two I realized the salvage yard must have such a certificate so maybe they could point me in the right direction. They used a private environmental company to deal with all their environmental stuff. So I called the private company. No such certification. He said it is not a hazardous material just recyclable metal for which there are no requirements. He recommended I send the state an email and get a reply in writing. A couple weeks later I had a reply. Took it to the guy showed him my email and the state's email and he said it looked good to him. [smilie=w: But no lead on hand he would call me. Six weeks later still no call so I called him. Supposedly he had lost my phone number. Still no lead. Two weeks ago I finally scored 488 lbs of clean lead at $0.30/lb. That was nearly 4 months after my first contact. I got the faucet turned on, now I just need to keep it flowing.

I haven't done anything special, but I have been persistent.

Starbits

[DeadHandRed]

Thats very impressive!!

[camaro1st]

starbits, i am interested in your little lead mine that could produce that much lead. i would like to find something like it around home.

[Markbo]

That is over 138,000 200gr bullets. Just how much do you shoot? ;)

[bbs70]

Once a month they have cowboy shoots at the local range.
Low velocity hand gun rounds at the steel targets.
I go there after the shoot is over and pick up the lead.
You'de be supprised how much lead they leave behind.

[starbits]

That is over 138,000 200gr bullets. Just how much do you shoot? ;)

:Fire: :mrgreen:

Starbits