pure lead

[bigted]

where do you all purchase your pure lead? :?:

what is pure lead going for generally?

runnin low and want to replenish my supply but yee gads I seem reluctant to pay around 2 dollars per pound...is this really what lead is going for now???

[Bent Ramrod]

Roof flashing, old pipe, cable shrouding, rifled shotgun slugs, and commercial muzzle loader boolits are close enough to pure lead for my modest requirements. I've bought them all from the local junkyard for 50-75 cents a pound.

I still have some "chemical lead" from when I worked at a place that made acid resistant tanks out of the stuff and allowed me to buy the scraps. That stuff had to be pure, because any alloying elements would cause unwanted reactivity with the tank contents. The casting, density, oxidation and other characteristics of the chemical lead are too close to the above stuff for me to think there is any real difference for shooting purposes.

[bangerjim]

Here in AZ you can buy it for $1 a pound till the cows come home. Tons of it available.....roofing, pipe, stained glass leading, range junk, old fishing sinkers, and everything in between.

$.50/pound is very rare in my area. They pay $.40!

That $1 also gets you COWW, lino, hard lead, as well as soft stuff. I even picked up ten 2# ingots of pure tin in that! They did not know it was tin.

bangerjim

[Hardcast416taylor]

I stumbled onto a scrap yard with a bunch of rolled up trimmings of pure lead for .80/lb. last week.Robert

[Dean D.]

I just picked up 177 lbs of various soft lead @ $.70 per lb. at the scrap yard. Mainly cable sheathing, fishing weights and stained glass window kame.

[bigted]

so ... how reliable is the fingernail test? if I can scratch a line in the metal with my fingernail ... is this any sign of soft enough lead for muzzle loader boolits? if so then I still have a bunch to go but if not then I really do need to replenish my supply.

[idahoron]

The ol thumb nail scratch is about as accurate as having your mother in law rebuild you truck engine. I can scratch lead that is 18 BHN. Is 2.00 a pound worth it? In my opinion yes. Most people here know I paper patch bullets. I do this for hunting and my hunting is for mostly trophy mule deer, antelope, and elk. My loads are super accurate in my opinion. My rifles shoot sub 2" groups at 100 yards. The only way I can guarantee that my bullets are exactly the same every time is with virgin lead. Some might think that is too much to pay I personally don't want to pay too much for something but the price for virgin lead is what it is. All the other " pure" lead out there is just a guess if you don't have a hardness tester. I will but lead ingots only if I am allowed to test them. If I can't test them they are not worth squat to me. Ron

[Mike 56]

I use Dental lead for fishing sinkers and muzzle loaders its not pure but i get it for free and it nice clean lead. Any dentist that still has a old style x ray machine has it. The film comes with a thin piece of lead on it. They have to pay high dollar to dispose of it so if you can find a dentist that will give it to you before all his friends will be sanding you their lead as well. Pure lead that i use for cap and ball revolvers i buy from ebay.

[idahoron]

Dental lead is just as hard as wheel weight. Ron

[Sergeant Earthworm]

Sometimes it comes down to a question of how much time and effort you want to expend to avoid paying a couple bucks a pound. One thing I have done successfully is to tell just about everyone I know that I am looking for lead. The downside is that it takes a lot of patience.

Careful with scrap plumbers lead. Sometimes the fittings retain little drops of water you can't see but can make a mess of your melt.

[idahoron]

And the joints will make the overall melt harder than most people like. Ron

[mdevlin53]

Scrap yard down the street from me has 3 or 4 cut open 275gal oil tanks full of the stuff. old plumbers pipe, cable sheathing plumbers ingots and odd chunks. Last time out I even got a 26 pound lead brick. I have bought lead from him twice in the last year. 80 cents a pound a while back and 90 cents the last time a couple weeks back. Sometimes they have solder bars and pewter plates in the drums at the same price. This fellow lets me pick and choose and take whatever I want from the bin. Last time I even traded the scrap brass I had toward the bill.

[bigted]

yepper ... bit the bullet and yanked the trigger on a few lbs from 2 different venders. around $2.00 per lbs delivered...not bad I guess to be delivered here in the frozen north huh?

so much for my snivel ... just shocked about the price but the sport is worth the value. thanks all for the support and yankin me into the new century...LOL

[Beagle333]

You could place an ad in the WTB forum. There are folks on here who will still sell a box of pure now and again for a buck or so, + ship. It's not every day, but I do pick up a box occasionally from members. :mrgreen:

[mazo kid]

I was just gonna suggest that. You can get soft lead (usually) for about $1.00/pound plus shipping in a Flat Rate box.

[dbosman]

There were a couple of listings of 65# lead or range lead for $75 shipped, this week.

[idahoron]

I would be very skeptical of range lead. I would not buy "soft" lead from anyone unless I could test it. I did buy some at a yard sale once that was in ingot form. I could drop it on cement and listen to it thud. I bought it and it was about 7 BHN. I was very happy with that. Ron

[Baja_Traveler]

I bought 60lbs of dead soft lead here a few months back. It was reclaimed from an indoor range that only allowed 22 rimfire. It's good stuff for my Sharps at a buck a pound shipped. Look for a deal like that in the Swapping and Selling section.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[bob208]

any place i can. one time there was a guy that shot b-p at the club. his brother worked for a place that built trailers for some one that had a lead lined xray room. well a bucket of the scrap that took 2 of us to lift . cost us $10.00 a bucket. we bought all they had. there a guy that i re;oded .30-30 shells for used j bullets. he paid me with 2-3 5lb. blocks for every box.