Has lead demand come to this?

[Hardcast416taylor]

A recent, this week, online auction just ended for 40 lbs. of unmarked lead (?) ingots. The final bid that got it was for $44 then 10% auction premium then 6% sales tax added on for an unknown type of lead. Has the demand gotten this crazy for buying an iffy lead? For sinkers or some other purpose that isn`t being shot down a gun barrel, then it is great, for boolets - I`ll pass. There are untold amounts of lead coww and other known types of lead out there for free or at a lesser cost than the auction item, you only need to do a little looking.Robert

[rancher1913]

around here iffy lead is a buck a pound, if you can find it. I can drive 2 hrs and buy coww for a buck a pound, or I can order from a vendor here for a buck a pound already smelted. so yes lead (at least in my neck of the woods) is getting expensive. luckily my friend up around brassmagnets neck of the woods still sells it to me for 40 cent a pound already smelted.

[lwknight]

There will always be fools paying fools prices for things and there will always be someone that will take their money.
Auctions bring out the hysteria and frenzy in people. Seasoned buyers just let the fools have their day and bide their time till the right deal comes up.

[Ball Caster]

The local scrap hard gets 80 cents a pound for any type of lead. They have plenty of buyers.

[RogerDat]

Buck a pound for clean ingots is about standard in S&S forum here. But that would be for known COWW or SOWW, maybe range lead. Stuff that while not foundry pure is pretty much a known lead. Reflects national market price, regional or local prices may be lower which is what provides the source and motivation for the lead for sale in S&S.

So the initial 40# for $44 is not too bad until you start adding fees and taxes.

[lightman]

I've been watching reloading equipment, bullet molds and lead prices on ebay for a couple of years now, just for kicks. I don't see this as a real indicator of value. I can'd believe what some of this stuff goes for! Free lead is still out there, but is harder to find. Cheap lead is still there if you keep looking and affordable lead is still available around here.

[Nose Dive]

Well... If you are OUT of lead....and NEED lead...NOW.... $44 for 40lbs isn't a sin.

I have 'friends' in the roofing business and from time to time I get awarded with a few hundred pounds for free....or for 10lbs or so of deer sausage or couple cases of beer. You see.....I want those fellas to remain my 'friends'.....

If one is attentive, polite, compensatory, and willing to 'go and get et'...one can usually find other fellas of similar mindsets and different exposures and willing to help an 'friend' out from time to time.

this should be on 'on going', never stopping endeavor so one does not find himself in 'dire need' of a smelt pot supply, and thus be moved to paying $44 for 40 lbs.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[JSnover]

A single auction isn't a very good market indicator. If you found a handful of like items and averaged out the winning bids, you'd have a better idea but I'd just as soon buy from an established source.

[Stilly]

That is funny. If you start looking at other ebay auctions, I have seen several that start 40 lbs or 20 lbs of lead at .01 but shipping is $80 and there are IDIOTS bidding on them. One was up to $9.30 I think. I almost bid until I saw the shipping and then I was like- WHAT?

On ebay there are several decent sellers that are selling lead ingots from range scrap or pure lead, but their prices (after shipping) range from $1.24/LB-1.65/LB) clearly there are several that are around 1.29/LB and I am liking what I see. I even got a few of the BIN auctions for 1.21/LB after shipping. Last year I bought 480+ lbs of COWW from a fireman and I THINK I am done with that mess. They were VERY nice, new and all boxed up, but I had to pull out the clips and I just got tired of doing that after several melting sessions. I really should have had a larger production pot or one of those little satanic smelters but I did not so I had to deal with melting it through my bottom pour Lee and when I finally got around to making some boolits, the damn thing started dripping on me... But now I know how to fix it so it is all good. Just sucks doing 20 lbs at a time. The only reason why I went along with it was because the price was .50/LB so I was going to kick myself if I had passed that up and I AM glad that I got it, but man it was some work. I would buy some again though but if I had the money I would just look for Ingots at $1.25/LB... Lead is a bit harder to find/hunt down out here in Cali...

[JSnover]

With all the questionable lead out there, if I can't find it locally I'd just as soon buy from another member or from RotoMetals, since they're one of our sponsors.

[MaryB]

Only ebay lead I buy is foundry type in original form!

[too many things]

about 8 yrs back when the zinc started in the WWs I would check out the tire tools on feebay. for a while I did good getting new lead weights that the shops would put up for sale . But the cat got out and that dried up . About 3 yrs ago I did hit a score on 150lbs of new truck tire weights . most were from 7 to 12oz. but the large clip was about 1oz.It don't take many to fill a pot.
best way on feebay is watch the newly listed -BIN- and free shipping . I got a box about 3 months back he said were all lead for $40 for 55lb. Found about 1lb of zinc and 10lb of tin. so was a good buy

[rancher1913]

was talking to the new neighbor last weekend and subject got around to lead, he wants to split one of the lead pallets from rotometals with me :cool: still have several 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights to smelt but they won't go bad sitting around and the time it takes to smelt is cutting into other projects, so 500 pounds of known alloy for a little over a buck a pound sounds good to me.

[bangerjim]

Here's your problem.......you dealing with evilbay! That den of iniquity is the LAST place I would buy anything.........including lead these days. Didn't used to be bad, but the fees have gone clear out of site.

Buy from our brothers & sisters in the S&S section! To hades with evilbay and it's hoard of thieving minions.

I get all the lead and alloys I will ever possibly need locally.

banger

[tinsnips]

One thing about being a plumber is you get a lot of free lead. Down side it is all pure lead !

[slim1836]

One thing about being a plumber is you get a lot of free lead. Down side it is all pure lead !

Black powder shooters are your friend. :-)

Slim

[RP]

Tinsnips that's not really a down side a lot of members would love to have pure and would be happy to swap you lb. for lb. of harder lead some may even go tow to one for pure. Keep in mind what you have that is easy to get for others its hard to find. Just look at how many members are looking 40 cal brass where others are scraping. WWs here were very easy to get now my supply is slowly going away do to more tire shops not letting anyone get it to zinc and steel weights . I picked up 3 buckets last time from a good supplier after sorting smelting my finished good lead results were so low it was not worth the time or effort. I have gotten lucky with a connection at the scrap yard now I can get pure where just a year ago finding pure was hit and miss.

[Vinne]

RP, you are so right on. The last bucket of WWs got me about 25# of lead. A lot of work sorting for little reward, BUT, I am thankful for that much. It will keep me in bullets a little longer. Things are getting tougher down this way.

[jmort]

Aside from the hey-day of COWWs, this is a great time to buy lead. Prices are low.

[RogerDat]

I'm biased, I have sold lead and swapped lead for dies or brass here in the forum. That disclaimer out of the way....

The folks who say avoid eBay and buy here are spot on. People here actually know what matters about bullet casting lead. They have reputations to maintain in this community. Shipping costs are always kept to a minimum. People shopping in the S&S know lead, for the sellers here calling spacers "linotype" just won't fly. Not that they would anyway. No one here advertises lead for "sinkers". ;-)

If you want quantity or special alloy then Rotometals a site sponsor with a link at the top of every page is a good choice. Or post in Wanted To Buy part of S&S forum. Good bet someone here can get you what you need at a good price.

I'm pretty sure some members here also sell on eBay so aside from the auction fees adding to the price they might be able to give good value but buying lead here is a pretty good bet across the board, eBay is a carp shoot with unknown dice.

Plain, printers lead, solder, pewter or tin and super hard from Rotometals. All works toward making bullets, none goes to waste or spoils.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I am pretty lucky. Here in SW Idaho I can still buy 97% lead, 3% antimony alloy for the spot price of lead. I just melt my 80lb WAAGE lead pot full, and add a pound of tin. Works for everything I cast, mostly in the 1800-2200fps range.

[Garyshome]

well #1 of lead will turn out 56 125 gr 9mm boolitz, or 30 230 gr 45 boolitz! Not bad for a buck or 2. I really don't have a problem with that price, I like $1/lb shipped if possible.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That is funny. If you start looking at other ebay auctions, I have seen several that start 40 lbs or 20 lbs of lead at .01 but shipping is $80 and there are IDIOTS bidding on them. One was up to $9.30 I think. I almost bid until I saw the shipping and then I was like- WHAT?

How would we know if such sales were to people who lived locally, and considered it a good deal for collecting it?

[james23]

I get free WW from my tire dealer, ww ingots for $1 from another guy, and found a guy selling pure lead for $1 per ingot. Tin is the issue for me.

[lightman]

Yeah, if you see cheap lead on Ebay you better check the shipping price. Personally I would rather buy from the members or sponsors on this site. My favorite way is scrounging for it myself, whether for free or cheap.

[mac1911]

Took me three years to get the flow of lead going.
I trade with others. Zinc to one guy who makes cannon balls and some large 20 or 30 mm bullets for some big guns.
I also trade aluminum for lead. Basically it's a $ value trade.
I also get lead that mysteriously appears a few times per year.
I have more lead than I could use. That comes in handy though as I trade it for other stuff. I traded 100# of smelted coww for for a case of rifle primers 5k when primers where non to be found.

[EDK]

I joined the local gun club with outdoor range after the divorce took away my private shooting range. I couldn't resist picking up 9mm empties and two GLOCKS later...
One of the club members is a berm miner as well as brass scrounger. I asked him about trading my reject brass for lead. He got $1.50 per pound for brass and $.50 for lead last fall so I traded and we're both happy. I've bought some more lead outright and will work on the stock pile.
Lead...and scrap pewter or solder or ?....don't eat. I doubt that you can ever have too much.