metal prices-a trip to the scrap dealer

[pipehand]

Hey Ya'll-
Finally got a day to take the two years worth of beer (and some soft drink) cans I've been saving to the scrap dealer. 120lbs of cans and four pounds of spent primers/.22rimfire spent cases netted less than $66. I had just filled my truck with diesel for $80, and it took $9 worth of it for the trip. I was a bit dissapointed considering the time, effort, and storage of said cans over the time it took to accumulate them.
I did nose around, and there was a half 5 gallon bucket of wheelweights, complete with lugnuts and other unsuitable crap, available for 50 cents a pound. There was also some soft sheet lead--going price$1a pound. No thanks. The wheelweights may have been OK at half that, but I really have no use for the soft stuff- particularly at that price.
On a positive note, they did have a large bin of range brass. I don't really need any, but did strike up a conversation with a gentleman who was combing it for reloadable 308 winchester. My "brass eye" helped him with the 308, and I got about forty once fired remington 30-06 cases to make some cast loads for my step-son.
Having a day off besides Sunday is unusual for me, so I stopped into a new Gun 'n' Pawn for a look around. Ending up chatting with a customer who struck me as a pretty knowledgeable member of the Gun Culture. A young fellow that had gotten a good deal on an older Rem 870 was taking an interest in the conversation, and folded in, mostly with a lot of questions. Turns out, he's from the same county as me, way back in New York, and is attending college a few miles down the road. Found out that the reason for the shotgun purchase was that he's living in an "iffy" neighborhood. I didn't mention it to him, but it brought back memories. Lo those many years ago, financial reasons dictated that those of us undergrads living "off campus" often did so in "iffy" neighborhoods. I didn't have a problem, though. It may have been due to the fact that during squirrel season I would park the car a little further from the house , and walk home with a half dozen squirrels in hand and an 870 on my shoulder.
Anyway, it was a pretty good day off.

[Vly]

Pipehand - Well, I enjoyed your story. Scrap yards and gun stores are two of my favorite places. And the New York references sealed the deal for me. I currently live in Ulster County, and went through the college student thing in the late 70's.

I had a Ruger 10/22 and an Ithaca 37 in my dorm room in a certain western NY college. Most people knew about it and nobody batted an eye. Well, not really everybody. I had skipped classes on opening day of deer season, got back early evening and had left the shotgun in my room on a chair with my roommate while I took a shower. While I was gone showering, the RA happened by.

My roommate was a Pennsylvania farmboy, so he was very at ease with guns. The RA was a black guy from some Caribbean island, so not so at ease with guns. I will remember this incident forever.

I get back from the shower and I notice my shotgun is gone. I ask my roommate were it is. He relates this story.....

"'Joe' came in and saw your gun. His eyes got real big and he asked if it was a real gun. I said, No, It was chocolate." Joe did'nt appreciate the humor and took your shotgun to the Security Office."

So all I had to do was call the Security Office to pick the gun up the next time I went hunting, and they never asked why I never returned it to them. I always took it to my room and nothing was ever said. Just a different time, I guess.

Strangely, I never felt the urge to shoot fellow human beings on a college campus.

[jleneave]

I can remember when I was in high school it was nothing to see 15 or 20 pickup trucks in the student parking area with gun racks in the back windows with a couple of long guns in the racks. During dear, squirrel, and dove seasons we would all go hunting either before school (deer) or after school let out in the afternoons. The only thing that was ever said by the school officials was to leave the guns in the vehicles and not have them out showing them off. Try that now a days and you will find yourself arrested, charged with a felony and have your guns seized!! Back then if you had problems with someone you would meet after school and have a fist fight to sort out your differences. The funny thing about it was that after the fight most of the time you ended up being friends the next day. The kids these days are scared to take an ass whopping and feel that they have to have a gun to settle things. This world is going to hell in a hand basket!!
Like someone said earlier, it was a different time, a much different time. I for one really miss those times!

[American]

Its a sad decline that brings a tear to my eye sometimes:

"The police state that politicians are building isn't some cartoony reproduction of Nazi Germany; it's an America of the future that looks much like the United States of today, but works as if the whole country has been turned into an airport security checkpoint. It'll be like Mexico, with everybody averting their eyes as the cops stroll by, but with better plumbing. It's a country that has a familiar flag, regular elections and outraged civil liberties columnists, but where it's easier than ever to get yourself arrested for things that our parents wouldn't have considered crimes - or just for annoying the wrong people. Yes, America is becoming a police state. But unless you pay attention, you might not notice until it's too late."
-- J.D. Tuccille

"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again.”
-- Daniel Webster

[robertbank]

Well I can't relate to much of what is posted above but can tell this story. At age 12. I managed to save and find enough pop bottles (2 cents for the small ones, 5 cents for the large ones), to gather $22.00 in my piggy bank. With that and a note from my mom I rode my CCM bike down to Simpson Sears Shpping Center. There I bought my Sure shot .22LR made by Cooey. With two boxes of LR ammo ($25 cents), I rode home on my bike with the gun across the handle bars.

Try that today in Edmonton and you would have the local ERT squad around you in no time. Well you couldn't actually because now I would need a Possession and Acquisiton License obtained after attending a firearms training course and have to wait until the gun was registered. Oh and at age 12 I would have to wait until I was 15 or 16 before I could get the PAL.

You just can't have enough rules and regulations in society it seems.

Take Care

Bob

[wheelgunner]

I got interested in guns when visiting family friends. The dad had his long guns in a rack on the wall and his handguns in a drawer underneath. He let me fondle them a while, took me out back to his small field and got myself a nice shoulder bruise from his 12 gauge (you can bet I showed off that bruise at school the next day!)

When I got to high school I was amazed that the school had a rifle range buried up on the
3rd floor and had an active rifle team! I brought my old Winchester target rifle to school with me on many an occaision.

I know to many of you this is no big deal. The amazing part of this story is it didn't happen in some rural area. This was in a suburb of Boston MA in the 1970's!! We now have the 2nd most stringent gun laws in the country here in the "Peoples Republic" It amazes me that back then, with guns all over the place and few if any under lock and key, I never even heard of any teens being shot. Now, with all these draconian laws in place it seems a teen is shot in Boston once a week.

Seems this thread managed to get from scrap lead to memory lane, lol.

I'm lucky enough to be an auto damage appraiser (that's NOT the lucky part) and visit many automotive establishments. Several are very happy to please me with a bucket of wheel weights every couple of months(the lucky part). When the weather finally clears up here I'll have a big (enjoyable) job to smelt them all!

[alamogunr]

Back in the early '60's when I was in college, I had a friend who had built a muzzleloader from a kit. I think he got it from Dixie Gun Works. This was back when it was just a store front in downtown Union City, TN. We were living in a dorm that was built under the football stadium(in the horseshoe, as it was called). My room was on the 4th floor. He had the rifle with him and had come to show it off. He decided that he wanted to try it out. We opened the window that looked out toward the lake and he fired at a poster on a light pole about 40-50 yards away. Boy! That small room filled with smoke. I think the only people that took notice were the guys out on the lawn below practicing with their fly rods. We just stuck a fan in the window(this was before A/C) and vented the smoke out.
John

[American]

...I brought my old Winchester target rifle to school with me on many an occaision.

I know to many of you this is no big deal. The amazing part of this story is it didn't happen in some rural area. This was in a suburb of Boston MA in the 1970's!! We now have the 2nd most stringent gun laws in the country here in the "Peoples Republic" ...

My daughter and her husband have lived up there for some years. After being in a union (him) and working as an engineer (her), they have each come to realize (with many hints and pointers from us) that many of the limits of what they can accomplish there financially, to say nothing of keeping and bearing arms and general quality of life, are due in large part to the stifling oppressiveness that seems to have accompanied political leftism in all places and times it has been tried. Although its difficult to pull up roots, they are now planning their escape to freer more prosperous environs.

"The other day someone told me the difference between a democracy and a people's democracy. It's the same difference between a jacket and a straitjacket."
-- Ronald Reagan

[mtgrs737]

Were I went to college in Emporia, Kansas many of the guys in my dorm had firearms in their rooms including the R.A. I had a Colt Python in mine from time to time, but there were a lot of shotguns and 22 rifles all the time. I bought a nice .22 marlin simi-auto for $15 one day while evesdropping on a couple of guys chatting before class.

I feel that the influence of the movies and television on our thoughts and morals and the lack of parenting has greatly changed the America I once knew.

[wheelgunner]

My daughter and her husband have lived up there for some years. After being in a union (him) and working as an engineer (her), they have each come to realize (with many hints and pointers from us) that many of the limits of what they can accomplish there financially, to say nothing of keeping and bearing arms and general quality of life, are due in large part to the stifling oppressiveness that seems to have accompanied political leftism in all places and times it has been tried. Although its difficult to pull up roots, they are now planning their escape to freer more prosperous environs

My parents live 1 street over, both in their late 70's. When they pass I will be sooo long gone!!!I have a place in NH that will most likely become my new home. MA is loosing population at an alarming rate, they are offering incredible incentives to college grads who came here for schooling to stay after graduation. How they don't understand why people are leaving is simply amazing.

[pipehand]

I just tried to post and must have hit the wrong key, and the whole thing dissapeared. Gotta watch clumsy fingers.
I think I'm too young (43) to be looking back on the "good old days" but lately its been too true.
As an 11/12 year old new Boy Scout in '76, we had BSA approved double and single bit axes, fairly large fixed blade knives, and a very active smallbore rifle program that competed in postal matches two times a month. And this was in NEW YORK CITY, borrough of Queens! I was taught the proper way to throw a knife and tomahawk, how to tie flies(wet and dry), how to tan hides, pioneering, land navigation and the list goes on. None of the Scoutmasters molested us. A "Tote 'n' Chip" card meant that you were trusted with the responsibility to safely use and carry a knife, and use axes and saws. Do they still have those?
Later, my family moved to the 'burbs, in Suffolk County. I was 14. I asked for and got a T/C Hawken Kit for Christmas. Did a fine job inletting it, draw filing and blueing the barrel, meticulously sanded, wetted, raised hairs, resanded the stock, and stained and hand rubbed the wood. My first casting experience was with a small plumbers lead pot over a a wood fire in a Hibachi grill. I still have the Lyman ladle I used to pour the balls with in a T/C mould.
Back then, the Town of Huntington had a Rifle and Pistol Range. I highly doubt it still exists next to the town dump- which probably doesn't exist either due to increasing population density and "Not In My Backyard(NIMBY)" There's probably million dollar houses build on that dump site now.
Anyway, the range was about 11 miles from my house. I'd break down the Hawken, wrap it up in a case, strap it to my Ross ten-speed, and with my "possibles" in a backpack, I'd ride the bike to the range. The Rangemaster came off as a bit of a prick at first, but I paid my fee and shot when I could. After a while when it became evident that not only had i built the rifle (ok, it was a kit), cast the balls, was properly trained in firearms and range safety, and was motivated enough to pedal my ass 11 miles in traffic to shoot, the rangemaster wasn't so much of a prick anymore. I was 15 years old. D'ya think that if there were a municipally owned shooting range remaining in Lawn Guyland this day, that an unaccompanied minor would be allowed to shoot? Hell, I'd be in custody and my parents would be too for accessory to the posessino of a 50 caliber rifle that can "shoot down airliners."
My groups would have been better had I known what I know now. The alloy for those round balls was one I'd be happy to shoot in any smokeless gun I own. I just melted down any vaguely plumous thing I could scrounge.
Getting back to the opening post. The kid at the pawn shop was looking for a place to shoot. I gave him my E-mail address. Seems like a better than average type. If he makes the effort to contact me, I'll probably invite him over, dispell some hollywood/popular myths, and try to make him a fine upstanding member of the Gun Culture.

[pipehand]

I just tried to post and must have hit the wrong key, and the whole thing dissapeared. Gotta watch clumsy fingers.
I think I'm too young (43) to be looking back on the "good old days" but lately its been too true.
As an 11/12 year old new Boy Scout in '76, we had BSA approved double and single bit axes, fairly large fixed blade knives, and a very active smallbore rifle program that competed in postal matches two times a month. And this was in NEW YORK CITY, borrough of Queens! I was taught the proper way to throw a knife and tomahawk, how to tie flies(wet and dry), how to tan hides, pioneering, land navigation and the list goes on. None of the Scoutmasters molested us. A "Tote 'n' Chip" card meant that you were trusted with the responsibility to safely use and carry a knife, and use axes and saws. Do they still have those?
Later, my family moved to the 'burbs, in Suffolk County. I was 14. I asked for and got a T/C Hawken Kit for Christmas. Did a fine job inletting it, draw filing and blueing the barrel, meticulously sanded, wetted, raised hairs, resanded the stock, and stained and hand rubbed the wood. My first casting experience was with a small plumbers lead pot over a a wood fire in a Hibachi grill. I still have the Lyman ladle I used to pour the balls with in a T/C mould.
Back then, the Town of Huntington had a Rifle and Pistol Range. I highly doubt it still exists next to the town dump- which probably doesn't exist either due to increasing population density and "Not In My Backyard(NIMBY)" There's probably million dollar houses build on that dump site now.
Anyway, the range was about 11 miles from my house. I'd break down the Hawken, wrap it up in a case, strap it to my Ross ten-speed, and with my "possibles" in a backpack, I'd ride the bike to the range. The Rangemaster came off as a bit of a prick at first, but I paid my fee and shot when I could. After a while when it became evident that not only had i built the rifle (ok, it was a kit), cast the balls, was properly trained in firearms and range safety, and was motivated enough to pedal my ass 11 miles in traffic to shoot, the rangemaster wasn't so much of a prick anymore. I was 15 years old. D'ya think that if there were a municipally owned shooting range remaining in Lawn Guyland this day, that an unaccompanied minor would be allowed to shoot? Hell, I'd be in custody and my parents would be too for accessory to the posessino of a 50 caliber rifle that can "shoot down airliners."
My groups would have been better had I known what I know now. The alloy for those round balls was one I'd be happy to shoot in any smokeless gun I own. I just melted down any vaguely plumous thing I could scrounge.
Getting back to the opening post. The kid at the pawn shop was looking for a place to shoot. I gave him my E-mail address. Seems like a better than average type. If he makes the effort to contact me, I'll probably invite him over, dispell some hollywood/popular myths, and try to make him a fine upstanding member of the Gun Culture.

[American]

.... The kid at the pawn shop was looking for a place to shoot. I gave him my E-mail address. Seems like a better than average type. If he makes the effort to contact me, I'll probably invite him over, dispell some hollywood/popular myths, and try to make him a fine upstanding member of the Gun Culture.

Thanks for taking the time to tell that story - I'm more than a few years older than you but for all practical purposes was raised in later times...

If every one of us gun enthusiasts could introduce two or three people, kids, young adults, or any other individual who has not been exposed to firearms, to this sport, it might push THE day a year or ten into the future, the day when we will be offered a choice by our government - give up your guns or become a felon by default, by decree of those who swear to uphold our constitution as a condition of their job.

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
-- Thomas Jefferson

At every opportunity I try to talk up guns, self defense, shooting for sport and hunting. I repeatedly point out that the people you meet at the range are as regular a bunch of good, solid everyday folks as you could ever want to meet - almost without exception they are courteous, respectful, helpful, and reasonable. Try to find those qualities to that degree in an average group at a movie theater, a shopping mall, a PTA meeting, a grocery store, in traffic, or even at a church, for that matter, much less a music concert, a college campus, or a Democrat political rally. Good luck.

Yeah, if you can, get that kid headed in the right direction, buy him a gift membership in the NRA, and the GOA if you can afford it. Get him to care and understand enough to vote, because that's what its going to take. The issue of guns is THE canary in a coalmine issue - when our Second Amendment rights die, so our beloved America will be just another socialist bland-ocracy in decline, ruled by elitist busybodies who will bleed it dry, while they live high.

"How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded, controlled, supervised, and taken care of."
--Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp (TX)

"Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: (1) Those who fear and distrust the people and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes, (2) Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depository of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist; and in every one where they are free to think, speak and write they will declare themselves."
-- Thomas Jefferson

"When you disarm your subjects you offend them by showing that either from cowardliness or lack of faith, you distrust them; and either conclusion will induce them to hate you"
-- Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Prince"

I'm also a volunteer tutor and Big Brother and Mentor. Math, science, fishing, shooting, sailing, water skiing, home repairs - whatever can be done to gain respect and so have the opportunity to influence them, even in small ways, toward self-reliance, individualism and personal responsibility, in the right direction, or at least away from the left direction they have been taught is right. Its imperative that youngsters have some reference in life, some guidance besides the leftist controlled schools and media brainwashing machines to influence their understanding of why their life is so good, how it got that way, and how to keep it that way. They certainly aren’t getting these things at school these days…

[DLCTEX]

Ha! A double post! been there, done that(several times). My first casting experience was as an eight year old making lead soldiers. The melting pot resembled the small Lee with the pour spout. I never painted them as I became interest in the casting process and kept melting them down and recasting them, then shaping things in "tin" foil and casting that. Dale