Found Lead!

[newton]

Well, after doing some digging and research I found somewhere to go get some lead. I called and asked if they had some lead for sale, he said "soft lead?", I said yes. Then he says, "yea, we got a little here". So I figure I better go check it out fast before someone beats me to it.

I get there and they take me to the back. And we walk up to this huge tub that is filled with old shower pan liners and roofing lead. Were talking soft lead here. Then they show me a bin with big bars of it, and on the floor I see a big block(8"x8"x12"?)on a dolly. Lead is coming out their ears.

I dug for some strips of lead that were cut from flashing or the pans, and it turns out all lead is $.50 a pound.

I figure its a pretty decent deal. I am thinking I should go ahead and get what I can of the soft stuff so that when ww come in I can mix it and such. Seems pure lead is the hardest to come by or is it just me?

Main thing I am trying to get to is a good hardness for my 45 colt. The boolits I cast from just straight ww seem like they might be too hard. I am thinking a 50/50 mix should work, is this right?

I am also thinking about buying more than I need and smelting down into ingots to sell to others. Not looking to make a huge profit, heck if it pays for my gas and such for going to get it I would be fine with that. I just figure its better for us casters to have it than it go to the lead grave yard forever.

Think that is a good idea? Or would I be wasting my money? I guess you couldn't call it a waste, after all, I would eventually use it. Haha.

[jkpq45]

I've gotta say, I'm intrigued. No input--just happy for your find!

[Ole]

I use 50% WW and 50% soft lead for at least 90% of my casting.

You could make something simlar with soft lead and either linotype or Rotometals super hard alloy.

Figure a 15/1 mix of PB and Superhard should add 2% antimony to your lead, which should be plenty hard either air cooled or water dropped.

[leadbutt]

I feel .50$ is pretty good from a scrap yard. You wouldnt make a ton of money melting and sellin but it would def open up more lead on the forums which is never bad. Just remember youll have to add shipping in there somewhere. I guess with them having that much lead you wont have to worry bout your supply drying up anytime soon. Good find.

L. Bottoms

[hemiallen]

Sounds like a good stash for local delivery.

USPS Flat rate boxes are your friend for inexpensive shipping, but I put $1 of fiberglass and clear tape on the boxes in case they get wet or tore up.


Good find, now you need some Lynotype to harden it for bullets...


Allen

[PanaDP]

That's awesome. I'm finding that soft lead is tougher to find than hardened lead. I'm most interested in paper patched bullets around 40:1 hardness and I have way more hardening material than I have pure or nearly pure lead.

[fredj338]

Inexpensive lead of any kind is getting more diff to find everyday. Buy it, stack it deep, it likely isn't getting cheaper going forward. In the coming Myan:dung_hits_fan:, it would be worth more than gold to most.

[newton]

Well I melted it this evening. Thought I was in trouble there for a little bit. It started to form a blue/purple film on the top. Come to find out its just what pure lead does when too hot. I am smiling right now, but on the inside trying to figure out if I need to go to the bank an get a loan...

After I melted the little I got, melted some ww. The pure lead ingots are really shinny and the ww are a beautiful dull grey. Quite interesting. Put 4 pounds each into the mini mag and casted up some .45's. They look alright, but can see how the added stuff in ww's helps to fill things out. The boolits are a lot softer than the precious batch I made.

All in all in all I am happy.

Not sure if I'll get into selling it, but I still might. I wish it was cheaper, but I think those days are gone.

[SlowSmokeN]

See if you can by a ton for .35 a pound. They may take the money and run.

[newton]

See if you can by a ton for .35 a pound. They may take the money and run.

I might. I don't have the money at the moment, but I am thinking about something like that. Next year when there is some free money floating around I will try to make a deal.

They may or may not though. Its a tuff call. If they know what they got, then they have no reason to make deals. But if they could care less and just want to make some money, then it sounds reasonable.

2000 pounds would probably last me a lifetime.

Now you done it...make me start drooling again...

[WVHunter129]

What a find and I would be willing to buy some from you cause I can't find anyone with lead to give away or even sell. I have had to buy my ww off the internet.

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[Stick_man]

At .50 per pound, you might want to pick up as much as you can and resell it here as is. Figure it costs about .17 per pound to ship in a medium flat rate box plus your time and packaging materials. Sell it for .90 to $1 per pound shipped and you will likely have buyers for all you care to get rid of. You won't make much, but .10-.15 per pound will help defray some of your costs of shooting. You could look at each MFRB as a 1/4 pound of your favorite powder or 2-300 primers.

[newton]

At .50 per pound, you might want to pick up as much as you can and resell it here as is. Figure it costs about .17 per pound to ship in a medium flat rate box plus your time and packaging materials. Sell it for .90 to $1 per pound shipped and you will likely have buyers for all you care to get rid of. You won't make much, but .10-.15 per pound will help defray some of your costs of shooting. You could look at each MFRB as a 1/4 pound of your favorite powder or 2-300 primers.

I guess I could do that. I just figured I would need to smelt it first before selling, but it does not take much to just cut up the flashing and put it into a box. I don't mind helping people out with getting lead, that was my main thoughts behind it. I just don't want to see it disappear to China or somewhere like that in the form of a battery.

How many pounds fits into a MFRB? 35 or so isn't it?

[newton]

I would like to see it at least cover my gas for going to pick the stuff up. It costs about $26-$30 for gas round trip. Lets say I go ahead and get 500 pounds. $30\500=$.06 a pound. Then if I did MFRB at $12 a box for 35 pounds that is $12\39=$.31 a pound. So I guess your about right on with your figures. At a $1 a pound shipped I would make $.13 a pound. At 500 pounds I would make right at $65.

I'll still have to contemplate it. That's a lot of work boxing up that much lead. That would be around 13 boxes. Thats $5 a box.

I am seeing smelted range lead on the swappin page go for a little more. So maybe it would be beneficial to smelt it down and sell as ingots. I dunno. Talkin out loud here, haha.

[bumpo628]

I would like to see it at least cover my gas for going to pick the stuff up. It costs about $26-$30 for gas round trip. Lets say I go ahead and get 500 pounds. $30\500=$.06 a pound. Then if I did MFRB at $12 a box for 35 pounds that is $12\39=$.31 a pound. So I guess your about right on with your figures. At a $1 a pound shipped I would make $.13 a pound. At 500 pounds I would make right at $65.

I'll still have to contemplate it. That's a lot of work boxing up that much lead. That would be around 13 boxes. Thats $5 a box.

I am seeing smelted range lead on the swappin page go for a little more. So maybe it would be beneficial to smelt it down and sell as ingots. I dunno. Talkin out loud here, haha.

You can fit up to 70 lbs in a medium flat rate box. Most people ship either 50 to 65 lbs so that the post office doesn't reject it.

[Stick_man]

Like Bumpo said, you can ship up to 70 lbs in a FRB. You can fit 70 lbs of lead in the medium box but make sure you have the box reinforced pretty well. Pack it right so that there is no shifting inside the box during transit and you shouldn't have issues.

As Bumpo also said, it is a good idea to max it out at about 65 lbs or so to keep the PO happy. My local PO will let me get away with as much as 68 lbs but warned me that other *** have heartburn at anything over 65 lbs.

[runfiverun]

i'd just as soon get it in chunks and strips rather than ingots myself.

[Springfield]

If you do your postage online then a MFRB is 10.85, with Delivery confirmation for free. I just paid .80/lb for 950 lbs of soft sheet just like this. Melted it all down on Tuesday.

[gbrown]

Anybody know any roofers? In SE TX, we have shingled roofs--asphalt shingles. I called my roofer (3 roofs in 35 years) today on a hunch and asked if he had any old lead laying around. He said he would call me, he had some. Later, he called and asked for my address. He delivered 60# + of old vent caps and a 15# chunk of smelted lead. Nice. Lead is out there, you just have to be creative. Not only vent caps, but valley lead (rolled lead), also. That was what I was originally looking for. Can't complain, though.

[mold maker]

Finding lead in any form is getting harder every month. Soon cheap lead will be a thing of the past. Get all you can, and hold on to it like gold.
I remember when you could buy all the gold you wanted at $35. a troy oz. Today it was about $1635.00. Lead wont increase that much, but it's a sure thing, with interest rates at near zip..
I'd rather have lead than money, cause ithe dolllar's worth less every day.

[thegreatdane]

I found some too. On my 5 mi run today, my path crossed a wheel weight. It was meant to be.

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[Ole]

I passed a free WW on my bike ride home today. I had to leave it there because it was out in traffic. :(