How much lead is too much?

[Mousehouse]

Is there such a thing as too much lead stock piled in my garage? I have close to 700 pounds currently. Waiting for winter to get here so I can start making some bullets.

Us to get free wheel weights decades ago but most of that has dried up around here. Find it for sale in the classifieds on here and a few other places and buy a box or two when I can.

How much lead do you like to keep on hand before buying more?

[high standard 40]

At my high point I had about 5000 pounds. Mostly wheel weights and soft lead. When I had to move earlier this year I decided that was too much.

[Walks]

Back in the early 1960's My DAD had Pallets, very heavy strong pallets of 1,3,5,55 lb ingots of various alloys next to the Dog Runs. I seem to remember it was 3,500lbs.

At 300lbs I think I'm just about out of alloy.

[Bookworm]

How much is too much. Hmmmm.

Can you still walk around the house ? Get to the bed, toilet, fridge, and door ?

You ain't got too much.

[MT Gianni]

Figure 350 lbs per year for each year you figure you have left to shoot in. If you are a competitive shooter that might be raised to 1000 lbs per year depending on what you shoot. If you are an occasional plinker, figure the weight of each round, divide that into 7000 and you get the number of bullet per lb. Shots, times weight gives you a guideline.

[marek313]

I never feel like i have enough and I'm def nowhere near where you guys are. Around this time I try to fill up my ingot box for the winter and that only holds maybe 200lbs and I usually use that up during long winter casting sessions. I'm one more smelt away about 60lbs from filling it up. I do small batches enough to keep my babies fed. About once a month or so I stop at the scrap yard and buy some more at 1$ / lb.

[lightman]

I don't know? It depends on your age and how much you shoot or plan to shoot. When I had 700# I was still actively looking for it. I'm not actively looking anymore but I still grab it when the opportunity allows.

[reddog81]

When I get under 1,000 I start actively looking for more.

Too much is when the foundation of your house starts to crack.

[Peregrine]

You don't have enough.

I don't either.

[Mousehouse]

Great comments. I guess I need to start searching for more.

[Winger Ed.]

If you shoot much, that will go pretty fast.

For example:
If you shoot 200 gr. boolits to feed a .45ACP, 1,000 of them will weigh 40 pounds.

Getting off into some of the large cal. rifle boolits, you'll run right through your stash pretty quickly.
As time goes on, Lead will not be getting any easier to scrounge.

[smithnframe]

I moved from Pennsylvania to Texas with 3 tons in the back of a Uhaul van.......so no!

[JBinMN]

I currently have approx. 1200# of mixed pure lead, COWW, Linotype, Monotype, Foundry type & some SOWW & range lead. The majority being pure & COWW. With about 20 pounds of pewter, if I need it for the tin.

Not counting previously cast boolits ( about 3-4000 of mixed calibers/weights) sitting in container to load, nor counting loaded rounds/

I was just thinking on this the other day & although I have access to more pure lead & COWW, as well as pewter when it is needed, so I think I am done purchasing more lead/etc. for the time being.

Reasons why are::

1) that I use boolit traps to recover much of what I shoot.

2) My sons & grandsons like to shoot & even help me reload, but I do not think that maybe one out of 4 will do what I do after I am no longer able to cast & shoot.

3) I do not have any friends/buddies that are interesting in casting any longer & although some do cast & also reload once in a while but not very often; they have their own supplies & so mine are irrelevant to them & theirs.

I could probably come up with more reasons to not accumulate any more lead or potential alloy materials, but I urge others to get as much as they think they might want or need, as , was like said earlier in this topic, "it is getting harder & harder to find".

When it comes the time for me to no longer be concerned about my supplies, or I decide that it is time to share the sources, I will share my sources with those members here who are close enough to me to be able to access those sources to keep them supplied. I have a couple/few members to my North in the TCs areas of MN, and other surrounding areas, as well as some to the South, South East & South West of me who are close enough & might find those sources I have to be worth checking out.

Until then... I am not telling anyone anything else about those sources. A feller has to keep some things close to his chest other than his cards in a card game, right? Not unlike if one knows where there is, or might be "gold" or other precious metals
( lead & tin included, eh? ;) )

No one has enough, until they can't use it anymore to meet their needs, then is sometimes becomes a "burden". Many possessions are that way.

"One mans treasure is another mans junk.", or vice versa, "One mans junk is another mans treasure".
;)

Last thought... "Ya can't take it with ya.". Use it up, or give it away....
;)
I am thinking I have enough & leave some for others...

Until I think I might run out..
haha!
;)

[NyFirefighter357]

Someday it will not be available, get it while you can. I'm betting on it! I hardly shoot and have never cast a bullet but living in NY I decided I needed to stock up. I even have met friends here that cast bullets for me I've also traded alloy for bullets here. I PC as well to preserve them for the future.

https://i.imgur.com/TIyecKh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RyH8f41.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rD7xvtD.jpg

[Budzilla 19]

Just added another 264 lbs to the stash holding down my reloading bench!! ‘Bout 1200 under there now so might be good for now, not counting the 55 gallon drum outside half ww and half soft so I might be set for awhile. And 70+ pounds of tin and some Linotype, yeah I’m good for now. When I brought my stuff home from my Dad’s place, ( RIP Baldy, I miss you every day ) he said” take that big ingot with ya, you might need it”. Well, I had it tested and it’s a 56 pound of 63/37 solder!! Dad was an old school plumber and scrounged everything lead wise. I guess you never have enough.

[RogerDat]

My solder/pewter/equipment shelf was a mess. So I made wood shelf with dividers, sort of like the cubby holes in a roll top desk only bigger. Sorted a bunch of solder and such, decided to weigh and do an inventory while I was at it. The shelf isn't collapsing so I can certainly add more. Or stop adding more and focus on other types of lead. Have a few hundred pounds. Problem is I can't walk away from a good deal on solder or pewter. It is why I sell some from time to time. I sometimes put more funds into those purchases than I really should.

I'm not that far from retirement. I might end up with a lot more time to cast and shoot. Or find myself doing other things and shooting less. Won't be shooting if I go camping with wife to see light houses and waterfalls. On the other hand could decide to get into some form of competitive shooting so I can embarrass myself someplace other than the dance floor.

There are also things such as powder, primers, or brass that selling lead or tin alloys can help pay for. Making any lead I can scrounge now at a good price a potential source of money to purchase other components later. 10# of pewter sold will pay for a couple of 1k blocks of primers.

I also expect that the amount available will have some impact on the rate I use it. Sitting on a couple of tons one may well shoot more than if one is down to a few hundred pounds. The first case one might go twice a week to shoot, and shoot a few boxes. When supply is low one maybe more inclined to make a trip to the range only twice a month. And shoot fewer boxes to adjust consumption to suit the available supply. People with self control will self ration a commodity in short supply or expensive to replace.

What one decides to shoot can also make a difference. An auto loader vs a revolver or bolt gun. Plinking rounds or heavy hunting bullets. One can use 160 grain or 200+ grain in some rifles. Pretty significant difference in a hundred rounds. If you cast for an AR or SKS/AK you can burn through ammo a lot faster than someone with a bolt gun in 308. The 9mm may be smaller than the 38's but shooting a 5 or 8 shot revolver vs 15 round magazines one can expect to go through ammo faster and maybe more per range trip. Same for 45 colt vs 45 ACP in pistols even if bullets weigh the same the faster rate of fire would make it more likely you would use more per trip. The lesson there is make sure you have some revolvers and bolt guns in addition to auto loaders just in case you need to ration your shooting rate. Then stockpile enough lead that rationing is not necessary.

I'm over a ton certainly, won't know exactly how much into second ton I am until I start making much of it into standard ingots with the ingot molds I bought from Lakehouse as a Group Buy. I know I have 350# of sorted WW's that I haven't melted down sitting in buckets. Have purchased printers type in a couple of 400# plus quantities. There is at least 1000# under the casting bench of CO & SO WW's in angle iron ingots. Roughly 400# of Lyman no. 2 alloy I mixed and had tested ready for casting. Around 900# of assorted shot down in the basement.

I will continue to add to the supply steadily at a rate faster than I use it. Try to set aside money so when I find a deal in quantity I can purchase it. What I don't use, or sell while I'm alive will not get wasted. Some will go to friends that cast assuming they haven't all died of lead poisoning and the rest will be sold so wife can hire lawn care and snow removal when I'm not around to do it in exchange for couch cuddling and letting me have the remote sometimes.

My goal is to have enough components on hand that I can afford to shoot as much as I wish even when my income is reduced in retirement. If I die with a ton of lead sitting in the garage and several thousand primers on hand that isn't a bad thing, simply means I didn't run out.

[kevin c]

It is really helpful to determine your consumption. In my case, to feed my action shooting habit, I need about 750# of new cast boolits a year (3000 rounds a month X 12 months X 147 grains each divided by 7000 grains per pound). That's 62.5 pounds of lead a month I need to source.

A bit more difficult is knowing how much to stockpile. Enough for a few months? A year? Is it possible to stockpile a lifetimes supply, and should it be done? Lots of factors to consider. How available are lead alloys and at what cost, now and in the future? What are your resources? How long do you think you'll be shooting and in what volume? Do you anticipate constraints on ammunition or ammunition components (a bigger stockpile of lead isn't personally of much use unless all of it can be converted into loaded ammunition, and you have the other necessary items in quantity to do that, or anticipate being able to trade for or buy them). Do you have a place to put it all? Will you still have a wife if you pursue this?

For some who may have already lived much of the time they believe they have been graced with, it may be possible to say yes, I have enough. Others younger may say the same, depending on their assessment of their circumstances. But the quantity will be different for each individual. Also true is that many allow that they have enough, but will still accumulate more.

[Bazoo]

I have a bucket of sorted wheel weights and 1/4 bucket of soft. I have about 50 pounds of ingots other than that. The bucket I have I gave 30 per bucket for 2 and sorted the junk out.

[JimB..]

I have maybe a thousand pounds in raw. I find it fun to cast even though I’m not good at it, just trying to figure out the basics and get the equipment that I want together while I’m still earning a salary. That said, I’m buying 55gr .224 fmj pills for .05 rather than casting them because of the work involved.

I recently had to move the shop, it was not fun. Trying to figure out what I’ll do with all this stuff if the wife wants to retire 1,000 miles from here...probably pay someone to load and drive it all.

[richhodg66]

I'm comfortable, usually looking for more. I inherited all my dad's reloading and casting stuff, most of it anyway. He didn't have much scrap lead, but did have an awful lot of already cast up bullets for many things, so I've been shooting mostly that for a while, in fact, it's been a year or so since I cast any myself.

I do have some lead around and would like to make a good range salvage day or two somewhere in the next year or so. It isn't going to get any easier to find or cheaper.

Most of my shooting now is going where I'll eventually recover it if I live long enough. Not gonna do that until I need to, but it isn't going anywhere. I worry about supply drying up, seems most of my shooting nowadays is .30 caliber rifles, but if I ever start shooting big bore handguns like some guys do, lead vanishes quickly.

[Sig556r]

If you gotta ask, you ain't got enough...

[leadhead]

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

[dondiego]

If you how much you have, you need more!

[RogerDat]

If you how much you have, you need more! Thank you! I have always wanted a good solid excuse for never getting a complete inventory. Now I have it. If I figured out how much I have I would be forced to go purchase more.

Oh wait I was going to go purchase more anyway.

It always boils down to it won't spoil, if you don't use it someone else will. Provided you make arrangements to sell or give away what you find you don't need. Lead is not going to "vanish" from the market but price may go up and many desirable types of lead and lead alloy will no longer be in the waste stream.

Body solder? Lead water pipes? Lead underground cable? Thick x-ray wall liner? Roof flashing and seal under bath tile? Printers type? Linotype? Wheel weights? Even pewter had a period of high popularity that is long past. These items in the scrap metal stream, tire shop, or showing up in estate sales will decline as time goes on. And with them goes an inexpensive source of casting material. So taking advantage of current availability to stock up at low prices is just smart.

Go price foundry lead at Rotometals. Something close to COWW's goes for $3 per pound at foundry prices. Currently one can purchase near the same alloy for $1 a pound in S&S forum. I would like as many of those $1 a pound ingots as I can so I can avoid or postpone buying the $3 a pound casting material as long as possible.

[lightman]

I don't know exactly how much I have. So I better keep collecting! :drinks: I do know how many milk crates and partial milk crates of which alloy I have. And I know how many buckets of mixed type metal and how many Linotype bars that I have. I also know how many buckets and containers of un-smelted scrap that I have. I have scored enough or almost enough wheel weights since last year for another smelting day. (350-400 pounds) I'll do that this winter after hunting season closes. I also have a gallon can of battery cable ends and another gallon can of net weights and decoy weights. I usually post some pictures when I have a smelting session.

[bigdog454]

lightman: If you can inventory it you don't have enough.

[Conditor22]

There are variables. A friend built portable boolit traps for handgun use so our only lead waste is higher pressure rifle loads. Were working on a portable method to salvage that also.

[RogerDat]

There are variables. A friend built portable boolit traps for handgun use so our only lead waste is higher pressure rifle loads. Were working on a portable method to salvage that also. I have been tempted to place a short log or two such as one would use for a chopping block at a couple of places where folks shoot. Figure by the time they have been there a few months as potential targets, something to pin paper targets on, or set physical targets on top of they would be filled with spent bullets.

End of that few months I could pick them up, leave new ones and burn the old one to gather the lead that would melt out. Bullet trap for the other fellows bullets.

I wish now that I had stuck to my guns so to speak when we bought this house. I wanted something with a bit more land with fewer houses nearby so I could have a backyard range. This location is nice being on paved road, convenient, not too crowded but not enough land or enough buffer for a range. Two of my neighbors have them, one lets me use his but it really scares his one dog he acquired a few years ago so I am reluctant to ask to use it, and it only provides pistol distances. Hmmm maybe I should check on berm mining?

Guy made a killing on .223 ammo had purchased a number of cases well before the "troubles" enough that he didn't mind at all selling much of it at the high prices that it commanded during the shortages. I think his berm is full of that and 9mm which would be pretty slim pickings.

[bdicki]

It only becomes a problem when you move, it comes in a little at a time and has to leave all at once. I have 2500 pounds of #9 shot and an unknown amount of lead.

[drac0nic]

I have a simple line of logic to this question. If you can never have enough ammo and lead is a key component of making ammo then you can never have enough lead.

[Winger Ed.]

. Hmmm maybe I should check on berm mining?

I'm not running short, but I hate to miss an opportunity.
Our range master gave me permission to mine the butts if no one is out there shooting.
I was going to make a 2' x 2' square frame from 2 x 4s with a mesh screen on the bottom to shake like they do for archology digs.

Shovel dirt in, shake it out- when done, shovel the sifted pile back up on the berm.

If you're on a rich lead deposit, you should get 2-3 gallons in about 1/2 a hour.
And you can't beat the price. With the jackets that smelt out, ya might be able to sell them as Copper scrap.

[lightman]

lightman: If you can inventory it you don't have enough.

I hear ya!

[Slugster]

I believe that I will have enough lead stockpiled when the earth starts veering off course from all of the weight I have piled in my shop.

[Winger Ed.]

I believe that I will have enough lead stockpiled when the earth starts veering off course from all of the weight I have piled in my shop.

Move to Guam. If you cause it to turn over,
beyond some sort of global warming issue, it won't hardly effect everybody else.

[Hossfly]

I have 3 cubic feet, that’s about a little over a ton, at 700 lbs. per cu. ft. Not ne’er enough tho. Still have some soft telephone box lead to melt.

[rcslotcar]

I bought a Saeco lead hardness tester to be able to mark all my ingots. I have about 2000# pounds of B/H marked ingots, maybe more. I've made ingots from pewter if find it cheap enough. I cast bullets to fill 50 cal mil cans in all my calibers. I still collect any scrap lead and alloy it when I get enough to fill my 80# pot. I also believe lead will be harder to find in the not so soon future so I continue my hunt.

[jimb16]

I'm a little low myself. I've only got around 2500 lb of wheel weights, 55 lb of tin, 50 lb of pewter and 150 lb of linotype. Need to start looking for more....

[JBinMN]

I have 3 cubic feet, that’s about a little over a ton, at 700 lbs. per cu. ft. Not ne’er enough tho. Still have some soft telephone box lead to melt.

If it is 700 pounds to a cubic foot, then I think I have more than 1200#. More like 2100- 2500 pounds, as I know the ingots & stuff yet to be smelted takes up more than 3 cubic feet stacked. Hell, the ingots alone are likely over 3 cubic feet themselves & I know I just piled up 500 or so pounds of mixed lead in sheets, pipes & such for smelting that I obtained over this past summer. Not even counting a couple of pretty full 5 gal buckets of COWW. (< they don't weigh 700 pounds though. I would guess more like 75-100 or so. Maybe that is why I was thrown off for weight earlier when I posted...)

Yep, I think I underestimated now, looking at it using cubic feet= 700# for a count...

I still say I think have enough though, as I just do plinking, some impromptu target shooting on occasion with friends & family & such, & not competition stuff like some here do.

As like was mentioned earlier, I have 4 or 5 boolit traps made out of wood & rubber mulch inside, & I also use 6x6 chunks of cedar screwed together to each other, that are drops from back when I built some fancy front porch columns a few years back. I stack them 3 high & 12" long & shooting into them saves a lot of lead, until the hole where the Bullseye is gets shot thru. They are quite lightweight until they get full of lead too.
Once I have shot out the middle, then I retire the middle chunk & save the top & bottom & reuse them for middle pieces until they are shot thru. Makes for good kindling to start fires & easy to dig out the lead.

Thanks for pointing out the cubic feet deal. :drinks: Makes me feel a little bit better about my stockpile anyway...
;)

[BNE]

I probably have enough. But I hope I get to shoot a lot more in the future, so I keep looking. I also enjoy the hunt, and the smelting. It’s just as much a part of the hobby as the shooting part.

[WRideout]

I'm not running short, but I hate to miss an opportunity.
Our range master gave me permission to mine the butts if no one is out there shooting.
I was going to make a 2' x 2' square frame from 2 x 4s with a mesh screen on the bottom to shake like they do for archology digs.

Shovel dirt in, shake it out- when done, shovel the sifted pile back up on the berm.

If you're on a rich lead deposit, you should get 2-3 gallons in about 1/2 a hour.
And you can't beat the price. With the jackets that smelt out, ya might be able to sell them as Copper scrap.

I made a small screen from scrap wood and a piece of hardware cloth. I use it to mine the berm at my club's pistol range. I tried the same thing at the rifle range, but didn't have much luck. They bury deeper, and are shot at a lot less.

When I smelted the used bullets, I always had a fair amount of just plain dirt that stuck to them, and had to be skimmed off. So I started putting the sifted bullets into a plastic bucket with holes in the bottom, and I wash them off with a gallon jug of water I bring to the range with me. I don't even have to dry them off if I add wet bullets to a cold pot for smelting. The water cooks off before the lead melts.

As a rule, I like to bring home more lead than I deposit. Range lead is pretty much an unlimited supply. Right now I've got about three buckets and a couple of coffee cans of range scrap ingots, along with the same amount of wheel weight, and some additional pure lead (about two coffee cans full). Pewter is kind of hard to know because a lot of it is still in mugs and vases. I do sell the jackets to the scrap yard; they give me the price for yellow brass, which is OK.
Wayne

[Gtek]

I have a 5' 1"x12" piece of pine with my pile count on it standing in front of pile marked with PL, COWW, SO, LIN, etc. with count. I affectionately call it my tally board and it is north of 3K. I am proud of my cleaned, melted, some mixed, ready to go glorious sorted and stacked piles of ingots and blocks. Many a safari and every trip not a guaranteed success but it was the hunt and all very enjoyable. Only above knows if I will need more, but I think I do!

[Hickory]

I would think you would have too much if it tumbled over on top of you and you died because of it.
Stack it low to the ground.

[Peregrine]

I would think you would have too much if it tumbled over on top of you and you died because of it.
Stack it low to the ground.


Think of my back! :(
Can we compromise on at least three feet up?

[lightman]

I probably have enough. But I hope I get to shoot a lot more in the future, so I keep looking. I also enjoy the hunt, and the smelting. It’s just as much a part of the hobby as the shooting part.

Its none of my business but I'm just curious, if your deal for trading XFR analysis for lead is working out ok for you? I certainly hope so as you provide a very valuable service to the members here. And we appreciate it!

[brewer12345]

How much weight in ingots does a 5 gallon bucket hold?

I don't feel like I am stocked up enought. I can see that lead has gotten harder to get just in the last three years I have been casting. I also realized I need certain types of lead. Taking up muzzle loading places a premium on really soft stuff, which I am short on. Fortunately the amount you shootin a session of smokepole is a lot less, so a couple boxes of ingots will make me well supplied.

[lightman]

How much weight in ingots does a 5 gallon bucket hold?

Its just a guess but a bucket of ingots is heavier than a bucket of weights. My guess is between 150-200#.

[RogerDat]

That weight per cubic foot sounds like a useful bit to remember. One thing I think I will like about the Group Buy ingot molds is having them be a consistent weight will make turning a count of ingots into a weight easier.

I have a #3 Rowell bottom pour ordered that should arrive soon. That will pour 4 lbs at a time. Already have a #5 which pours 9 lbs but can't really scoop from the bottom of the pot so once I have both I am planning to get all my lead smelted into nice clean and uniform ingots. As either ingredients or finished alloy. Which I will hopefully weigh and inventory.

I like putting all the ingredients into the alloy calculator to see how close I am to 3/3/94 alloy if it was all combined. That is sort of a target for what my supply needs to yield. If alloy calculator shows richer alloy then I can pickup more soft, less rich then more hard alloy or tin is called for. Revolver alloy is softer, some rifle is Lyman #2 which is richer but if overall I can make a ton or two of 3/3/94 then I figure I am in pretty good shape.

Then after all the ingots are smelted, stacked and inventoried I shall sit in the garage and enjoy a warm adult beverage (Bailey's and coffee comes to mind) while I admire the hoard. Be a nice but short rest before going out after more.
:bigsmyl2:

[RogerDat]

How much weight in ingots does a 5 gallon bucket hold?.... None, filled with ingots the darn thing splits open.

I think it depends on ingot shape and if stacked in the bucket or dumped in. A full 5 gallon bucket of WW's is about 110# it has some steal clips taking up space and also air space between the weights. I would guess ingots could go higher or lower mostly depending on how they are loaded into the bucket.

Someone posted a picture of puck ingots stacked in buckets. That would probably be typical. One can stack angle iron ingots on end and fill the space pretty tightly, and do more than one layer. While tossing in bar shaped or puck ingots would probably yield a lot of lost space lost due to air space around ingots.

If the bucket is just a wrapper around a stack i think it works OK. If one dumps a bunch of loose ingots in one and then comes back to try and move it after a while the bucket will probably be deformed and can split rather than move. Live and learn as they say.

[brewer12345]

The buckets don't move. They sit in the corner of the garage 2/3 or 3/4 full of ingots.

[Muddydogs]

How much weight in ingots does a 5 gallon bucket hold?

I don't feel like I am stocked up enought. I can see that lead has gotten harder to get just in the last three years I have been casting. I also realized I need certain types of lead. Taking up muzzle loading places a premium on really soft stuff, which I am short on. Fortunately the amount you shootin a session of smokepole is a lot less, so a couple boxes of ingots will make me well supplied.

I have a 5 gallon bucket full of COWW muffin tin ingots, ingots are stacked in the bucket with a lot of air space left and I have about 225 pounds in there.

I unlike some of you have to know what I have whether its brass, bullets or lead so the scale accompany's me outside when smelting and every ingot gets weight after its cooled and before it gets put in a bucket. My lead stash is kind of sad but I'm bringing anything home I find.

[John Boy]

I look at it this way:
* If one has in inventory 5000 plus total cast bullets for all my calibers
* If one has in iventory over 3500 reloads for all my calibers
If one has for example 2100 lbs sorted by alloy ... it's just 'Money in the Bank'

[Nodakjohns]

I PC as well to preserve them for the future.

https://i.imgur.com/TIyecKh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RyH8f41.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rD7xvtD.jpg[/QUOTE]

I need some white powdercoating like that ! I was just looking at my bullets and i dont have a white coating

[kmw1954]

. About once a month or so I stop at the scrap yard and buy some more at 1$ / lb.

How fortunate for you, here in the Wisconsin/Illinois area lead is a Hazardous Material and the crap yards/recyclers will NOT sell it to the public. If they did I would have much more than I have now.

[Hanzy4200]

I probably have 400 lbs or so. Anytime I need, I can mine the local berm. All I can carry away. My fear is having to move. The 50+ guns, 500 lbs of ammo, truckload or misc. gear. Last thing I need is to have move a metric ton of ingots.

[Hanzy4200]

How fortunate for you, here in the Wisconsin/Illinois area lead is a Hazardous Material and the crap yards/recyclers will NOT sell it to the public. If they did I would have much more than I have now.

That's rough! I would expect that in California, but not there. My yard sells for $.40-$.50 lb. Last year I bought around 45 lbs of 50/50 solder drippings for $.50 a lb. Talk about a score!

[Bookworm]

I called the local scrap yard 3 days ago. They are PAYING $.52/lb for 'soft lead'.

Last time I bought there (traded, actually) I paid right at $1/lb. By the time I add time, travel, and propane, it's cheaper to purchase from the forum.

[RogerDat]

How fortunate for you, here in the Wisconsin/Illinois area lead is a Hazardous Material and the crap yards/recyclers will NOT sell it to the public. If they did I would have much more than I have now. Around here one has to search for yards or tire stores that will sell. A privately owned yard was recently purchased by a big recycling company. No more digging in the bin there.

The reason given for not allowing sales to the public does make at least some sense. If the public gets injured or killed while searching through the yard or bins there is a good chance the business would end up getting sued. Public hazard and all that. It is a working yard, forklifts and trucks going though all the time. I worked around that stuff for years so comfortable with avoiding it.

Some people would I'm sure be out there in the yard with ear buds in and music cranking or talking on the phone oblivious to what was going on around them. Made a lot more sense than "lead is hazardous" or "if you spill molten lead on yourself you will sue us". The first makes little sense as they allow me to bring it in, and provide no special hazardous environment gear for employees, the second might happen but won't be a successful at getting money. More likely to be tossed out of court.

One local tire shop, part of a chain said a shop was selling them to a guy who was dumping them in a pile to get to later, apparently the pile was large and the rain runoff was contaminated with all the crud you would expect from WW's as well as lead. Some got into the ground water... company was accused of being negligent in disposing of the "dangerous" scrap and so now all WW's go out via a licensed recycle operation. Probably makes the bean counters happier to have receipts for pickups against payment made also. Shop employees I think might have sold some for beer money from time to time.

I also think that buying at $1 a pound from the S&S forum makes a lot of sense. Buying the lead even for scrap prices, travel gas, propane and your time spent to cast clean lead vs. a buck a pound for already cast ingots sounds pretty good. Not uncommon for a scrap yard to want $1 a pound as it is. Only makes sense if the lead is better than "plain". Sometimes can get it cheaper than a buck from the yards but at a dollar a pound for scrap it isn't really a better deal than S&S. Even buckets of WW's after sorting are often only 50% lead which means whatever you paid per pound times 2 is you lead price.

[kmw1954]

The reason given for not allowing sales to the public does make at least some sense. If the public gets injured or killed while searching through the yard or bins there is a good chance the business would end up getting sued. Public hazard and all that. .

Mostly has nothing to do with the yard, though many no longer allow Pick and Take because of Liability reasons, it is all about the State EPA listing it as a Hazardous material which puts it on a restricted list. So which of the 50 states have this I don't know but I do know that Wisconsin. Minn., and Illinois do.

[shootinfox2]

Plenty+More=Enough.
Basic principle that has served me well. Get it where, when and how you can.

[kmw1954]

With consumables is there ever a point of enough?