What is your lead collection goal?

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

I know many will hoard until they are room temperature. But if you have a point of critical mass, what is it?

Now I'm a small timer compared to many. But my goal is to have enough lead to fire 50 rounds (averaging 158 gr) once a week for 30 years. If my math is right that is about 1760 lbs. Although, if/when I get there, I'm sure I'll want to round up to an even ton (just to be manly).:mrgreen:

[runfiverun]

a long term goal like that is how you need to approach all your reloading uses. [purchases]
50 rds a week is a bit light though. [some days I go through more than that myself and I average 2 times a week]
I based my needs on a 200 gr average boolit weight and for only a 25 year period..

[9w1911]

1000lbs is my cut off, I think?? haha 2000 may work just fine too

[Beagle333]

What is your lead collection goal?

I'm pretty much there. :cool:

[pretzelxx]

1Lb more than the amount i ever have at any given time.

[yman]

I don't believe in setting limitations. [smilie=w: but 1000lbs would do nicely. I have my on berm so I recycle.

[str8shot426]

I have been casting for only one year. But I am collecting more than I shoot. I would say I have enough when the buckets of ingots start creeping into the wifes side of the garage. Lol!

[BNE]

I started casting over a year ago. THEN, I hoped to get to 1,000 pounds. I now am thinking I want over 2,000. I have also aquired some steel plates that I plan to use in a boolit catcher. I have had a lot of fun scrounging for lead. It was frustrating at first, but I've enjoyed the process.

[10 ga]

Lets see, I'm 64 years old, I shoot 1# per in the ole punter. That's about 5 trys to tune up in September and about 2 shots a week util the flight is over in april so say 60 shots a season. that is 65# a year, I have 32C of alloy and soft on hand so that is enough to las me util the laird calls me. I still get all I can whenever I'm at the scrap yard tradin Al and Cu and Fe in. Well I do shoot bout 200 shots a year out of the ML and that is another 10/12# of alloy used. I'm gaining on the stock on hand so I've gotta live a long time! The gran kids love the fire and thunder of the big gun. They may be able to put a dent into the stock of alloy if I build a couple more punters and couple of batteries. Life is fun! 10 ga

[shoot-n-lead]

I am nearing 55yrs old and I only have 1500lbs...hope to have 2000lbs by the end of the year.

If I can use the 357 a little more, it should get me through a normal lifespan...if I can just make it THAT long.

[Roy Acuffff]

Well I am 70 years old and don't see as well when I was shooting at least once a week. I have about 600 lbs. on hand and continue to gather as I can find locally.

So, my guess is I have closes to enough with a little coming in every once in in awhile. But, understand I will not stop looking. I cast my first bollits in 1963.

Roy

[RogerDat]

I have a goal - Enough stock on hand of the appropriate alloy to make 1000 lbs. of 94/3/3 which I figure will be enough. Not that I'm going to walk away from any good deals due to mistaking a goal for a limit. :mrgreen:

Right now I'm right at the 1000 lb. mark just not the right balance. Need approx. 75 lbs. of linotype and about another 125 lbs. of plain to have 1k worth of 94/3/3 but one never knows what deal awaits to temp the frugal.... If I find such a deal then I'll adjust goal. God save my marriage if someone gave me 500 lbs. of plain! But am slowing down sort of now that I actually have a goal and am getting close.

I suppose if I started casting and shooting semi-auto that would be a whole new ball game but wheel guns and bolt action don't eat the ammo quite as fast.

[Buck Neck It]

When I see lead lying around, I grab it. It will soon be in the back of somebody's pickup, might as well be mine.

[357maximum]

I hope to live long enough to use my COWW stash (+.- 4,500lbs or so), still need soft lead however as I mostly shoot 50/50WW/PURE either AC'ed or WD'ed depending on application. I have my own berms made of nice siftable sand if I happen to outlive my supply, all I will have to do is apply some 2-4-D to the quackgrass holding the berms in place and seive away.

Life is grand :mrgreen:

[Hamish]

Enough to cause a disturbance to the Earths gravitational force,,,,,,,,,but more than I have now will be fine and dandy,,,,,,

[Garyshome]

Too much is NEVER enough!

[GaryN]

It's kinda like money. It don't matter how much you have you always want more.

[HollandNut]

I don't have a 'limit' , right now I have a couple hundred of WW , about fifty of lino and about 50 of Babbitt .. Always looking , I found one WW today in a parking lot and it jumped in my jeans ..

I used to shoot here , but the dawgs and wife don't like it , I dig thru the berms at the ranges when no one is there ..

[badbob454]

i have @ 2000 lbs and lino and tin is extra , im set for life too buisy to shoot much , and im 60 years old ,,, should be enough , but ill pick up any i find and buy any that is cheap enuff

[sasquatch76]

I've only been casting for a few months, so a lot more than I have now, and a lot more than I can afford. So, I best get to scroungin'.

[huntergatherer]

Hah! My first post on this fine site - good day to you gentlemen. I have read often here about some users and their massive stores of the Pb. I had about 500# (as you fellahs in the US state it ) = 250kilos here in Australia. Last Friday a mate called me over to his father-in-laws place who passed on last year- he gave me the whole collection of lead- totaled 260kgs which is about your 500# or thereabouts. I've been singin' ever since. So I reckon I've passed the 1000# mark. My scrap merchant is expecting about 10 tonnes of lead from a sail boat soon - coo-ey- now THAT would make a good stash.

[R.M.]

I'm sitting on around 9K pounds right now, and wouldn't turn down another bucket full.

[dikman]

No target. The two Gary's probably summed it up nicely between them. I'll just keep collecting whenever I can (range scrap/ww's/pure), and sell trade the range scrap when I can for pure.

Can't seem to help myself..........

[762 shooter]

Everything, all the time.

762

[djgoings]

My father once told me to "buy things when the price is right, not necessarily when you need them".

[C. Latch]

I started casting less than a year ago and have less than 400 pounds on hand at the moment.

I think I could get by the rest of my life with 1000#. I do intend to recycle on my own range, though.

[leadhead]

To much is never enough.......................
Denny

[62chevy]

700# should do it as I only shout 50 rounds twice a month give or take. I have 3 guns but only shoot one at a time and rotate which one I take to the range.

[finstr]

I turned 48 this year and only started casting last summer. So far I have aprox 700lbs total of soww/coww/range scrap. I cast for a couple friends and they help me scrounge in return. One young fella seems to take an interest in casting so we kinda learn together. I think if we gather a few tons of lead that'll keep us for awhile anyways.

[lightman]

I don't have a goal. Truthfully, I'm probably at that lifetime supply, but I'll keep looking. I have a good selection of pure, coww, isotope lead, and lino/mono/foundry type.

I'm not paying rent on the storage space and its not going to get any easier to find, so I'll still keep looking! I'm looking at retirement in a few years and hopefully will have more range time. Lightman

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

I turned 48 this year and only started casting last summer.

I too turned 48 this year and started casting last summer. I have amassed a bit over 1,000 lbs so far (all of it free stuff). I'm surprised how quickly my pile has grown.

[tg32-20]

I probably have more than I will ever use, 2000# + and for the most part I shoot into a berm in the backyard.

But today while walking I spotted a wheel weight and it turned out to be lead and I was so thankful to find it.

tg32-20

[00buck]

Back when WW's were free I got a lot :) I mean A LOT !

I have bought ingots from here just to help out a fellow :D

I have a lifetime supply of ingots and buckets of sorted raw wheel weights..

but I cant help myself and still collect any lead I find.. I'm addicted to lead scrounging

[Sgtonory]

I will never have to much lead. I have over 1000lbs at a time and i always feel low on supply.

[beex215]

i keep all my lead in a 1000round count 7.62 box. it only holds maybe 200lbs max. so 200lbs at a time till i need more.

[9w1911]

My scrounge radar is on full alert but it is scarce in my part of the world, my tire shop wanted 100.00 minimum for a bucket of unsorted WW, he said he was selling to people in CA. They used to be 45.00 and were pretty good you could get 150lbs per bucket. Problem I have is I have not had the "score" happen, have had a few minor ones, but not like the ones you read on here ie: 500lbs of Lino ingots for 500! etc or a free sail boat.
I will just keep looking.

[Bigslug]

A single Sagan Unit should do me - Billllions upon Billllions of ingots...

[Buck Neck It]

Bigslug, I like the way you think.

[Buck Neck It]

And, how about finding a Sagan Unit of primers, and sharing it?

A little bullseye and 2400 wouldn't hurt either.

[dbeerman2000]

I just started collecting, so my pile is small, maybe 140# soft lead and 30# WW. I am happy to say that i scored some soft lead for "free", i found some scrap brass in the dumpster and traded a local scrap yard for some soft lead. So now i have my new source and my goal of 2000# will be forthcoming.

[Horace]

m.o.r.e.

Horace

[psychicrhino]

At about 600lbs now. Would like to put 1000# un reserve and replace as needed.

[bobthenailer]

Im now 65 and beleive I have enough alloy, approx 2 ton and about 50,000 boolets cast up to last me ? i usually go through 3 to 4 hundred lbs a year but just to be sure i'll take anything that comes my way i can get for free.

[Smoke4320]

have approx. 1000 Lbs and hope to be to 2000 by years end.. Berms of sand to catch what I shoot now ..
pick up lead where I can any worry about mixs later

[smokeywolf]

Will my sons be able to source lead when they're my age? How about their sons and daughters? What about the great grandchildren and their children and grandchildren and so on?

My goal is to set no limit; to never say, "OK, that's it, I'm finished."

smokeywolf

[fastfire]

No limits, cant ever have to much

[762 shooter]

Unless the EPA gets their grubby little fingers into some legislation it will always be worth at least a dollar a pound.

762

[inspector_17]

right now have about 500#. always on the lookout for more.

[swheeler]

16 ton and what do you get

[swheeler]

nother day older and deeper in debt

[mold maker]

11 milk crates, mostly full, and at 72, I'm still looking. At my passing somebody will get the giggles and a sore back.

[gwpercle]

Saint Peter don't you call me, cause I can't go....

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My goal is to have one rifle and one pistol and about 40 lbs of 94-3-3 alloy left when I die. That should fit in the coffin with me :razz:

[Dirtdgger]

I've got about 700 lbs of lino, 600 of pure, and 5- 5gal buckets of ww. My son built me a bullet catcher, and I've got another one I'm working on. But I can't quit looking For lead were ever I go it's just a addiction.

[swheeler]

I owe my soul to the company store

[RogerDat]

......But I can't quit looking For lead were ever I go it's just a addiction.

See handling scrap lead and casting is BAD FOR YOU. This poor member is addicted! Time for an intervention!
Line to intervene on his Lino stash for his own good forms someplace in Missouri. :kidding:

[imashooter2]

I'm 57 and have enough on the shelf to shoot 5,000 two hundred grain boolits a year for the next 25 years. Since the vast majority of my casts are lighter than that, I'm no longer actively looking for lead. Of course if I stumble across some, there's no sense in letting it lay...

[GL49]

More than anyone else. He who has the most lead, wins.

After reading some of the replies, I'm a ways behind in this race.

[twc1964]

I only have 200 lbs so far but I'm new to all this. equal amounts of coww, lead pipe and range lead. still looking though.

[rollmyown]

I mostly look for tin based lead alloy and hardening alloy. I'm doing ok with 50/50 solder, but would like a lot more. 100 kilo would be nice.
I find lino very elusive and have only a Kilogram or so. I recently missed a healthy supply but was a month late to the scrapyard.
WW's and to a lesser degree sheet lead I'm ok for, but if it's free or cheap enough I will get more. It's money in the bank and can be traded or sold if need be.

[btroj]

I mostly look for tin based lead alloy and hardening alloy. I'm doing ok with 50/50 solder, but would like a lot more. 100 kilo would be nice.
I find lino very elusive and have only a Kilogram or so. I recently missed a healthy supply but was a month late to the scrapyard.
WW's and to a lesser degree sheet lead I'm ok for, but if it's free or cheap enough I will get more. It's money in the bank and can be traded or sold if need be.

Oh, metric lead. That won't work in the US, we need English lead, it is measured in pounds. My moulds all cast bullets in grams, not grams. My rifles don't shoot grams of powder or velocities in M/S either.

If I see any metric lead around I will send it to you.:killingpc

[Rottweiler]

For a long time I thought about a ton of ingots would be a sufficient lead reserve. Then I bought a shot maker, OK maybe 2 tons of ingots would hold me. Now I've gotten on this powder coating bandwagon. Is 3 tons going to be enough? SIGH

[mold maker]

Enough, is always lots more than you have. With tonnage in ingots, I can't drive past a WW in the road.
Am I obsessed?

[RogerDat]

I mostly look for tin based lead alloy and hardening alloy. I'm doing ok with 50/50 solder, but would like a lot more. 100 kilo would be nice....

I would look over the sticky on Pewter Identification and be on the lookout for pewter and EPBM (Electro Plated Britannia Metal) both are better than 80% tin. Might want to have a small electronic scale able to run on batteries so you can get a clear idea of the weight, but at garage and yard sales I have been reluctant to weigh items in front of the seller. Not sure how seller will take to my plan to melt their "treasure" into bullets. One pewter mug even with plastic bottom would be around 350 - 400 grams of 85 to 95 percent tin. Might even have a little copper to help toughen the bullets.

[Buzzard II]

A little is good, a lot is better and too much is just enough! A few lbs. more than I'll ever need is my goal!

[Bigslug]

I'm just glad dragons hoard gold instead of lead. Can you imagine the chaos?

"RUN FOR THE HILLS!!! The dreaded Smaug descends from the North to devour our virgins and steal our wheelweights!!!"

[rollmyown]

I would look over the sticky on Pewter Identification and be on the lookout for pewter and EPBM (Electro Plated Britannia Metal) both are better than 80% tin. Might want to have a small electronic scale able to run on batteries so you can get a clear idea of the weight, but at garage and yard sales I have been reluctant to weigh items in front of the seller. Not sure how seller will take to my plan to melt their "treasure" into bullets. One pewter mug even with plastic bottom would be around 350 - 400 grams of 85 to 95 percent tin. Might even have a little copper to help toughen the bullets.

I agree pewter is a great source of tin. The thing I like about 50/50 solder is it is a known percentage and at least for now I can get it at scrap lead price.

[RogerDat]

I agree pewter is a great source of tin. The thing I like about 50/50 solder is it is a known percentage and at least for now I can get it at scrap lead price.

For sure! I snag any solder bars or even roll solder I see at the scrap yard. 30% tin 50% tin it's all good at scrap prices. Check where your scrap yard throws cast. Before I found out what alloy EPBM really was I saw several pieces in the same bin as the cast faucets and other cheap cast junk that was not aluminum. I missed out that time. Was gone when I went back after internet search.

[mold maker]

I'm just glad dragons hoard gold instead of lead. Can you imagine the chaos?

"RUN FOR THE HILLS!!! The dreaded Smaug descends from the North to devour our virgins and steal our wheelweights!!!"

At my age, I've forgotten about virgins, melted my wheel weights, and am hoarding all the gold I can find. It's getting easier to find gold than wheel weights though.

[fredj338]

It's age & volume related, but if I had 2 tons, it would probably not be enough. I am always looking to add to my stash.

[kenn]

I figure 2400 lbs will last me a lifetime. I have a 100... That was free so it's a good start. I'll keep working on it until I get to 1K. The problem for me doesn't seem to be lead. It seems to be pistol powder. If lead is the needle in the haystack, w231 and hp38 are the Holy Grail, Sasquatch, and Loch Ness, combined.

[novalty]

Since I started casting last year, I have picked up 800lbs in mostly COWW's, a 65lb hunk of boat ballast, and have about 80lbs more coming that was formed to use as tractor weights--so just shy of 1000lbs pre-ingot weight. At the rate I am finding it now, it will be a continuous search for lead--especially since my wife started shooting this year.

[jsizemore]

More is better. I don't care if it's an 800lb sailboat keel or 1 WW in a parking lot.

[knobster]

Twice as much as I have now. Ask me next month and I'll give the same answer!

[hickfu]

10X more then I have now would be my goal so around 10,000lbs would do.

Doc

[Defcon-One]

Why not just ask "How much TREASURE would be enough" or, "If you had a Gold Mine, how much would you dig up before you stopped"?

I have over 1,000 pounds of different alloys. I have slowed down some, but I'll never pass up a good deal or a scrounge opportunity.

I think that most of us do it because it is fun in its own way!

[brtelec]

I find it is like a sickness. At first I thought I would like to have about 300 lbs at all times. Now at about 1200 lbs. I am thinking 2000 lbs but then what? I do not think it ever ends.

[mannyCA]

Too much is NEVER enough!

Exactly, like coke and hookers...

[DRNurse1]

Um-m-m....MORE!

[Defcon-One]

What is your lead collection goal?

My goal is to live long enough to cast and shoot all that I have collected! You asked....

It is not a SICKNESS.....We are all Treasure Hunters!

Never mind, my wife says the Treasure Hunting is a sickness, too!

DC-1

[mold maker]

As a collection, I have way too much. As boolit material inventory I will never have an adequate supply.

[Doc_Stihl]

All Of It

[Garyshome]

100x what I already have!

[zidave]

More!

[dnepr]

I figure I have about 750 lbs , I mostly shoot rifle so that is enough that I won't pay much to get more, definitly grab it for free or my last deal which was about $0.20 a lbs for clean ingots

[Oregon Coot]

I have a 7000# sailboat keel attached to my sailboat ... mostly made up of wheel weights and linotype. I am afraid if I remove it, the boat may develop a stability problem.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I must confess that I do not know how much lead I currently have in weight. However the pile in my garage is 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 4 feet high in ingots that I have smelted. Not much air space in that pile. I also have another 360 lbs of ingots and range scrap which I have yet to smelt.

At 71 my trips to range have decreased somewhat and I no longer run around scrounging lead anymore. COPD has really taken the wind out of my sails and my mobility has suffered a lot. I look for the electric shopping carts wherever I go and I suppose there is an electric scooter in my future down the road soon.

[62chevy]

I must confess that I do not know how much lead I currently have in weight. However the pile in my garage is 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 4 feet high in ingots that I have smelted. Not much air space in that pile. I also have another 360 lbs of ingots and range scrap which I have yet to smelt.

At 71 my trips to range have decreased somewhat and I no longer run around scrounging lead anymore. COPD has really taken the wind out of my sails and my mobility has suffered a lot. I look for the electric shopping carts wherever I go and I suppose there is an electric scooter in my future down the road soon.

I can relate to the COPD thing and looking for the go carts at the store. But have to admit that most days I can walk it and others not so much. At the range rifle is keep at 25 yards and pistol at 25 foot. And that is why I'm interested in cat sneeze loads.

[Dan Cash]

At the moment, I have +/- 1 1/2 Tons of metal evenly split between WW and salvage pure. I suspect the WW will run at least 20% zink but I will see if I can't find a use for them. I doubt I will live long enough to shoot all of this up but I know someone who will benefit from it when I am dead. Might still buy some more too.

[jcwit]

More than I'll ever need/use. I have hundreds of lbs. to smelt yet, and ingots by the thousands.

[bigjake]

I guess my goal would be to have enough collected so my boy and his buddies have enough lead to cast boolits their whole life. thats quite a bit.

this isnt related to the thread but i remember one time looking at used tires behind a goodyear store. I was sifting through the tires looking for a decent set for my old van.(sometimes there was some nice ones) [they dont pile them up anymore, they sell them] anyway, there sat a whole 55 gallon drum of WW's. apparently they didnt worry too much about them getting stolen. I didnt even take a second look at them!!

[Suo Gan]

How often you move dictates this for you.

[mold maker]

How often you move dictates this for you.

You've sure got that right. I lived at the same place for 48 years, and now I wonder where all that stuff came from. I only moved enough lead to keep shooting, and retired the same year. I found it easier to hunt more lead than to carry it, out of a basement to the truck, and down the steps at the new place.(2 blocks away.
I moved into my parents home, and it had their lifetime collection of, too good to throw away, but not good enough to use. That meant no room for mine of the same caliber.
Why do we hold on to so much STUFF ??

[Gun_nut83]

I've just started scrounging and I take the attitude that I have on a great many things......over kill is a highly underrated concept. I'll stop hunting lead when there is no more lead to be found, and then I'll smelt my copper and brass supply and turn down my boolits. Hehehe

[FISH4BUGS]

How often you move dictates this for you.
Boy isn't that the truth!
I was collecting wheel weights for ten years in 5 gallon buckets. i was lucky to put them in my girlfriend's basement in the house she rented. A friend sold his tire shop and told me the closing was Friday at 4. I could take all the wheel weights I could take. 2 days of trips back and forth, bloody fingers, etc. but it was all worth it! i still get a bucket or two a year from the garage where I now get my car repaired. I swap him 38 special reloads for it.
My girlfriend's house came for sale (private sale) and we bought it! I easily had well over 2000 lbs of wheel weights (maybe closer to 2500 lbs) and I could not even consider moving it. So we bought the house. That is kind of true.......I did not want to think about that butt busting work to move it.....to where? ....so we bought the house.
I shoot machine guns so I can go through a fair amount of lead. Last manic reloading session I did 5000 124 gr 9mm's. 380, 9mm and 45 submachineguns eat up a lot of lead. But I think I am all set for the rest of my life. ....but always looking for more wheel weights!
So the answer? Never enough...............

[cdngunner]

My goal was 100 pounds by the end of the year....I am at a little over 600 lbs at the moment

[JASON4X4]

I never had a goal but now it is addicting. I just picked up 700 lbs in the last week which puts me at about 1700 lbs