lead & tin prices

[colbyjack]

i called the scrap yard today to check prices is this to much or is this not what one needs?

lead was $.50 a pound to buy at one yard and $1.00 at another.

tin the lady said wa $.20 but she said id have to get it out of a pile. so it sounds like the wrong tin. maybe she thought i was talking bout siding... lol

whats a normal rate for tin and lead? besides cheap wheel weights from a shop.

antimony (sp) whats this and where does one get it? do i need all 3 to make bullet lead for my .45? or whats a easy new guy recipe?

sorry for all the new guy questions just trying to learn whats what and where to buy or what to look for thanks -chris

[wills]

You get antimony from The Antimony Man, where else.
http://www.theantimonyman.com

[454PB]

The easy new guy recipe is wheelweights, either straight or with a little (1 or 2 %) tin added.

I don't think there is a "normal" price for lead and lead alloys. Seems everywhere from free to $1 a pound for WW. Tin seems to be around $6 to $10 per pound, most of us look for tin based solder or babbitt metal as a tin source. Linotype is a wonderful alloy either straight or as an enrichening alloy, but it is getting to be hard to find. You can buy any of these metals from Midway and other sources, but it is pricey to buy and ship. One of the challenges of casting your own is finding lead. If you do it long enough and talk to fellow shooters and handloaders, you'll learn how to scrounge it.

[Buckshot]

...................The proces for lead can vary all over the place. Anything from $.25/lb to a buck a pound can probably be found out there. Value is added via the form you find it in. If it's in a pile under a bunch of crap and is all weird and odd hunks and chunks covered in dirt etc, I'd pay $.25/lb for it easily.

You can about triple that price for anything you find that is already in ingots, regardless the size of the ingots. It's just hard to say really, as it comes in so many forms and has been stored so many different ways. I'd say anyhting under $.50/lb is a great deal. From there to $.75'lb is about what you should figure the majority of it will be priced and anything over that would pretty much have to be either pure lead or linotype to get excited about.

Tin is MUCH less common. It has many industrial applications. However I can't think of one reason why any regular person would have a use for tin, so as to have it around. If you have a chance to buy any pure tin, or tin alloy of known content at up to half it's market value, I'd buy all I could resonably afford.

...................Buckshot

[mauser1959]

Cheap wheel weights seem to be a thing of the past. But that aside , they make great bullets cast them a bit hot and they will do anything that you want for the caliber that you wish. One other nice thing about them is how well they will harden up.

[kawalekm]

I still can't believe that anyone who doesn't actually run a business making bullets has to pay money for lead. In the last 15 years, I have a only one single refusal to be given (FREE) wheelweights, and I think because that guy was anti-gun. I have at least a 5 year stockpile of extra weights in the garage rignt now. It's been accumulating faster than I can melt it down for years now.

Tin is easy to find in any hardware store. Just look for "lead-free" plumbing solder. It's made of 95% tin 5% antimony. In the past I've used 1 lb of lead-free solder with 19 lbs of ww lead to make Lyman's #2 alloy. These days though I don't even have to buy new tin solder. Pewter is an excellent source of tin and I've been using that for years now. Go to yard sales or the local flea market and watch for people selling old pewter. My best deal so far was 4 old glass-bottom beer mugs for 1$. The glass bases were cracked and leaked beer, so the guy just wanted to get rid of them. At 20oz of pewter/mug, I bought almost pure tin for 20¢ per lb! Even sticking to plumbing solder only, I've bought once used rolls at the flea market for 1$. For me, the biggest single cost of bullet making is commercial lube. If I make that too, total cost for 1000 bullets is less than 2$!
Michael

[corvette8n]

We have only one scrap metal yard in our small town, and as of yesterday he does not have WW and he said his usual sources are drying up.
none of his sources are bring them in.
None of the tire shops will sell/give them away either.
I used to get block tin and WW free from this guy.
So if I find a new source for WW I am going to get as much as my finances allow.

[imashooter2]

I still can't believe that anyone who doesn't actually run a business making bullets has to pay money for lead. In the last 15 years, I have a only one single refusal to be given (FREE) wheelweights, and I think because that guy was anti-gun. I have at least a 5 year stockpile of extra weights in the garage rignt now. It's been accumulating faster than I can melt it down for years now.

You're very lucky. Come on down to the southern Philly suburbs and you'll gain new perspective.

[murph]

Where I am located, central Oregon, lead, tin and antimony are becoming so expensive that I am for the most part, priced out of the market. Reduced to buying on line at ebay. Geez, people are bidding the stuff up over $1.50 per pound. Wheel weights are now at $1.00 per pound from the tire stores. Anyone willing to ship me some WW for a reasonable price?

[crowbeaner]

Yupper on the lead ore; there is a flooded lead mine in Bonne Terre MO that you can drain and mine all you want. HEHE.

[mauser1959]

Lead January 10,11:37
Bid/Ask 1.5443 - 1.5466


I think that this says it all , so we all better stock up as fast and as hard as we can.


http://www.kitcometals.com/