help needed in tulsa area

[Oklahoma Rebel]

does anyone here live in the Tulsa area, and know a free source of lead, like a demolishion company or an old abandoned sailboat, (for the keel) or a range I can pick, I only have about 250 and I need to stock up. I am only 29 and am pretty sure that most of the rest of my life lead will be hard/impossible to get. thankyou for the help. Travis

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I am not asking for free lead, just hoping someone could point me in the direction, was also thinking maybe some small towns might still have the old style dump, instead of these big places like amercan waste that picking is not allowed

[hutch18414]

I am still doing the WW thing,I have 3 small tire shops and gas stations that I hit once per month. Last month I got 350 lbs. after cleaning and smelting. It is out there, you just have to get out and hustle. It doesn't hurt to ask. The worst that can happen is they say no.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I have hit every tire/auto shop in sand springs and a lot in Tulsa, I have one that I get about 20lbs a month, another I might get 80, and that's incuding clips, trash. I am nnot the kind of person to just sit down at the computer and ask for people to look for me without having exhausted every option I have. I am hoping to fid a boat scrapyard with ballast

[DerekP Houston]

Best of luck man, it is rough. I'm still buying most of mine off the forum to replace what I've used. Try watching craigslist in your area as well, I've recently seen a few posts in my area with large amounts. Even buying it @ $1 a lb I'm still making my reloads for cheaper and having fun with my hobby.

[country gent]

DOnt just limit yourself to tire shops and boat yards salvage, check with the local plumbers, roofers , home improvement contractors, electritions linemen, and even older body shops. What you get may be pure or close to it and need alloied some. Another is junk yards. There was a heavy equipment salvage yard near here that occassionaly got heavy equipment that had lead counter wieghts on it. Dont just think inside the box but look at where all lead has been used and go from there. At one time when I started muzzle loading that yard above had a n old cable crane digger in the counter wieght was estimated at 10,000lbs of pure lead. It covered the whole back of cab floor to roof corner to corner 3-3 1/2' thick at the thinnest points. Hit the out of the way and unussuall places.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

cool, you gave me a few ideas, I already tried with all the plumbing places, I would have to actually call them as they are on a job that happens to have lead pipe, right before hey take it to the landfill. about a 1 in 1000 chance. but I do know a few places that have old heavy equipment. I don't remember any cranes, but if I see any, the weights on the front of tractors, are those lead or steel or both?

[w5pv]

Try the radiator shops also

[Oklahoma Rebel]

what would they have, solder? I thought that was the only lead on a radiator

[rancher1913]

I have a little recycle/scrap yard in the podunk town here that saves lead for me, just had to get to know the guy and now any lead that comes through his yard gets set aside for me. just got back from there and got 200 pounds of soft lead with a rubber liner, maybe telephone shielding, for 50 cent a pound. last trip he had some stained glass lead that was mostly tin. just keep beating the bushes.

[country gent]

Some of the old tractors may have lead wieghts most now are cast iron. But alot of old lift trucks and equipment that needed balast to operate and a small size used lead wieghts due to density and smaller size of weights. SOme water depts in cities may have lead pipe scrap laying around also. Machine rebuild shops ( rebuilding shop equipment) may have babit bearing around also,

[OeldeWolf]

the testing and repair tanks of radiator shops sometimes have a considerable amount of drops of solder in the bottom. Washed off, dried well, and melted down, you can get quite a bit out of a tank. And solder has tin, which reduces the surface of the lead, making it fill the molds out better.

[nannyhammer]

You may try and contact the Bigheart Times newspaper in Barnsdall. The original print shop burned down months back and some one in the editor/owner's family was trying to sell the linotype on craig's list. If you get a decent price it's only about 35 minutes northwest of Tulsa. At one point my dad had an auto shop next door to the print shop and they still had all of the old presses and associated lead....wish I new I would be casting bullets later in my life so that I could have started hoarding early.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

thanks nannyhammer i'll look into that. good lead

[buckwheatpaul]

Travis, I have been buying from the site....the quality has been great and the cost, including shipping, is about as good as if you buy from a scrap yard.....good luck brother!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

the scrapyard I go to in sand springs sells lead for a dollar a pound. so it has to be free or really cheap to beat that. it is not that I am cheap, I am poor. I have literally have 0 income, and sometimes I am able to do work on my parents property for some money sometimes. so that's why im asking around.

[OS OK]

I remember driving from Houston up to Little Rock Ark. many times, I remember junk yards with thousands of rusted vehicles parked in huge fields along side the highway…those old vehicles should have lead wheel weights on them still…an afternoon in the right place might score big.

Sorry that your broke and busted but if you want something bad enough and keep thinking about it you will come up with something…OS OK

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I have thought about that, where can you find the WW pliers? I looked at harbor freight and I didn't see any, it would help to have them if I was allowed to pick a good sized junkyard. I am really hoping to ffind one big score, like a keel or counterweights from a crane or something. then I am set for life, except for tin or antimony or both.

[DerekP Houston]

I am really hoping to ffind one big score, like a keel or counterweights from a crane or something. then I am set for life, except for tin or antimony or both.

What you have described is what most people here are looking for...

For free these days is tough, Walmart occasionally had WW for me but were more than 50% junk. You might try finding an outdoor range and seeing if you can mine the berm for range scrap.

[SSBNsquid]

I just typed lead ingot into my amazon app and got quite a few results. It might be worth looking into.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

well when I have a big fat wallet ill do that, thank you

[Oklahoma Rebel]

my problem is im broke, im sure there is lead still out there for the taking, but I cant find it, I don't mind working for it.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

there is some in a burned out old shop down the road, but it is owned by some questionable people, and guess what started the fire.

[Littlewolf]

I have a local indoor range that recently lost the contractor that was getting the barrels from under the cyclone collector. proprieter of the gun shop / range said last load they had was 15,000#. I told him the most I've ever given for mixed scrap lead was $0.40# he didn't balk but I bout had a heart attack when he said how much the cyclone barrels up a month, there's just no way I can process that much, I'd have to smelt daily.

[BrassMagnet]

I have a local indoor range that recently lost the contractor that was getting the barrels from under the cyclone collector. proprieter of the gun shop / range said last load they had was 15,000#. I told him the most I've ever given for mixed scrap lead was $0.40# he didn't balk but I bout had a heart attack when he said how much the cyclone barrels up a month, there's just no way I can process that much, I'd have to smelt daily.


You need a larger smelter and help from a few friends!
I can pick up a truckload every once in a while!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

where in the state is McPherson, is it in the south east?

[paraord]

Oklahoma? You still have lead wheel weights in those parts right? Im in the peoples republic of New York State (theres much more to the state than the city). Im still hitting tire shops and getting a 10-20 percent return on lead. I have an ace up my sleeve from a business relationship but that is still a developing relationship.

Weird spot, talk to your dentist. If they use regular xrays you could get the foil. Not a ton but pure as pure can be. Maybe hit up pharmacies for isotype medication containers Ive heard as well. Long past being radioactive but Ive read they weigh a bunch and are also quite pure. Hope that helps on the strange and unusual avenues for lead.

[paraord]

If you are paying a dollar a pound for raw why not get ahold of jetsfan-24. he sells for about a buck a pound shipped, fluxed 3 times. I did just get a box from him. Incredibly well packaged and looks excellent in quality. AND ITS READY FOR THE POT!!!!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

both are good ideas, ive only called a few pharmacies, and a lot of them don't know what an isotope container is.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

the dollar/lb lead often is pipe, and the joints have tin in them, I never buy ww's from them

[paraord]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?102214-Isotope-Lead

Scroll down a bit and there is a picture of what it would look like.

It's basically what they send chemo drugs in. Or any other slightly radioactive drug in. Probably not what Walgreens would have but it's out there allegedly. I haven't found that white whale yet.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

oh I have seen them before, in pictures, thanks. it was the people at the pharmacy that didn't have a clue,lol thanks