Range Lead Cost?

[Lynn]

My first post so if it's in the wrong forum just let me know.
How much should I be paying for range lead ingots ?
I have a source with around 6000 pounds but don't want to overpay.

[Wheelguns 1961]

Is it in ingot form?

[imashooter2]

10-20 cents a pound raw. Lots of work to make range scrap usable. $1 a pound in ingots if the ingots are reasonably clean.

[GhostHawk]

I agree with Imashooter. 15 to 25 cents a pound for range scrap to wheel weights that have to be smelted. You have time, fuel, etc to pay for.

Clean lead in ingot form I'll pay up to 1$ per pound. They have done the works, spent the money on fuel, etc.

I have been lucky in that except for tin, lead/tin alloys, linotype etc I have yet to have to pay over 1$ a pound for lead. That includes good clip on wheel weight lead in muffin ingots delivered to my door. That is the low end.

To get pure soft lead 1/4" for making dragging weights I have paid 10-15$ per pound. Not sure I'd do it again.

#1 buckshot cast of 50% COWW and 50% range scrap can also make good dragging weights. Slipped inside a shoelace, Harbor freight heat shrink tubing, or the cover piece from cheap clothsline or rope it also works, and is lower cost.

Something is worth what someone is willing to spend. Make up your mind before you buy. And then be patient and do the due diligence. Is the best advice I can give you.

[mpkunz607]

FWIW, I picked up 100 lb of lead roofing sheet at a nearby scrap facility last week for $1.25/lb. Maybe a little high, but there was more to the story. As additional info, I found lead ingots there but they looked curiously un-dinged and un-oxidized, so I had them shoot the ingots with their NITON x-ray analyzer, and they were over 3% antimony, so I passed on them and took the sheet which x-rayed at 99.9% Pb. I've had them x-ray soft lead pipe in the past, it also came out to 99.9%. Just something to keep in mind, they all seem to have the analyzers. Worth making sure you know what you are getting. I wanted pure lead so I have a known supply for muzzleloading.

[kevin c]

If it’s raw range lead, your net weight after removing jackets, trash and gravel/sand/dirt/rock (if from an outdoor berm) may be something on the order of 60%. If raw and from an indoor range with rubber pellet backstops, the rubber is nasty to burn off and difficult to separate from the metal. If it’s recovered shot, it takes a lot more heating and physical breakdown of the pellet exteriors (graphite and oxides?) to get them to melt.

For ingots, it may matter (for those wanting precise alloy makeup) that they can vary in composition if not all poured from the same melt; a mix fills each pot melted down, and one might have a lot of cast with tin and antimony while the next is mostly commercial jacketed with soft lead cores.

[Lynn]

Is it in ingot form?

Yes it is all in ingots weighing about 4 pounds each.
Thanks for all the responses

[toallmy]

Consider the prices offered at a recycle center in your decision to the purchase price .

[Lynn]

Locally the scrap yards have vastly different pricing based on the type of lead you want.
I am a complete newbie to lead bullets so I figured range lead would simplify my learning curve?

[Dave W.]

The problem with range lead is that you don't know the makeup of it or the hardness. If it is mostly lead from jacket bullets it will be relatively soft. The more cast bullets it has alloyed with it, the harder it will be. I suspect it will need to be mixed with a harder alloy to get a usable mix. But, that depends what you want to use it for. Do you have any idea of the mix or hardness of it? 6000 pounds is quite a bit of material.

[GregLaROCHE]

The problem of pricing range scrap, is that you normally don’t know exactly what you are getting.

[Lynn]

I have absolutely no idea on the hardness.
It is a range I frequent and the owners son has made it into ingots.

[Winger Ed.]

Then it's probably a mix and has a few 'goodies' in it.
Trying to sell it, even with the expensive goodies in there, it'd be real hard to get more than scrap Lead prices.
Handgun range stuff melted down are more likely to have a harder alloy/mix than the rifle range with most of it coming out of jackets.

However; it's probably good they way it is for pistol loads, and gives a good starting point to make a harder alloy for rifles.

If I was looking to buy Lead, I'd pass on the entire 6,000 pounds, but I'd snag a 5 gallon bucket or so of it if
I could beat the scrap yard purchasing price.

[Lynn]

I bought a couple hundred pounds to give it a try. If it doesn't work I can always turn it into fishing weights

[imashooter2]

I’m sure you can cast perfectly usable boolits with those ingots, either as is, or with some small addition of tin.

What did you end up paying?

[Hammerlane]

Any where close to the Carolina's and you want to share

[Rickf1985]

I look at it this way, Lead is going to be the new mercury. Remember in school when we rolled it around in our hands? Now you can't even find it because it is considered so toxic! "They" are trying to make lead the same thing. So if you can get 6K at a real good price. especially range scrap from a known range, you get it! It is an investment.

[anothernewb]

Our club does not charge to remove lead from our range. heck, it saves us a ton in hazmat removal fees. however, the last 8 years, I have been the only one to bother with recovering any. Always amazes me how many people claim to want something - yet are unwilling to do even the smallest share of labor to get it.

I have no idea how many 1000s of pounds of ingots are sitting out behind the shed anymore. I would say on average I pull 11-1500# of scrap each year. so I'm guessing 8-1100# of ingot form when done.

[Charlie Horse]

Our club does not charge to remove lead from our range. heck, it saves us a ton in hazmat removal fees. however, the last 8 years, I have been the only one to bother with recovering any. Always amazes me how many people claim to want something - yet are unwilling to do even the smallest share of labor to get it.

I have no idea how many 1000s of pounds of ingots are sitting out behind the shed anymore. I would say on average I pull 11-1500# of scrap each year. so I'm guessing 8-1100# of ingot form when done.

The casters at my club pool together and buy their lead from a scrap dealer. I get all I want for free from the backstops. But I won't lie. Scrounging lead taxes my ingenuity. It takes some thought to process range scrap without poisoning yourself or your property, angering the neighbors, or throwing out your back.

[ascast]

Lynn you do not mention if you wanted/would consider a buying partner ( lol) I would watch the sample closely of cleanlyness, crap floating, does it fit in your pot?, what melting temp?, hardness? all that, I would try to get the whole pile. Never too much for the zombie times. You can always sell off a portion so yours is free.

[Bigslug]

Lynn, this thread here: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?269789-Careful-Analysis-of-Segregated-Range-Scrap-Smelt&highlight=segregated+range+scrap . . .was my contribution to those wondering what's in their range lead.

Unless you're getting a large number of fellow casters frequenting your range, or getting a lot of shotgun pellets mixed in, your primary source metals will be jacketed bullets, which are nearly pure lead with a trace content of antimony (less than 1%). Foster-type shotgun slugs are even closer to pure lead.

When I separated out and smelted a bunch of cast bullets (my rejects and other folks from the berm), it behaved and hardness-tested like common wheelweight or wheelweight plus tin mixes.

You're most likely going to be buying an alloy containing random bits of all that and will probably test between 8-10 BHN when air cooled, that MIGHT water-quench up to 12 or 14. On the plus side, it's local, cleaned up, you aren't paying shipping and it has SOME tin and antimony that will probably make it useful as is for most low to medium intensity pistol loads. On the down side, you've just got my educated guess plus your own local range knowledge as to what it's made of, and when you DO have an application where you need to know what's in your bullet with some degree of precision, it may not serve. Because of those factors, I wouldn't pay over current market value for pure lead.

[dverna]

I bought a couple hundred pounds to give it a try. If it doesn't work I can always turn it into fishing weights

That is a smart move. Very little invested and if it works the guy may give you a better price if you take 2000 lbs off his hands.

I have used range scrap mixed with Linotype (2:1) and made good pistol bullets out of it. I had a lot of Linotype so did not "tweak" it as the bullets were good. Might be able to go 3:1.

It you need Linotype I saw a guy list some on this site recently and the price was decent IIRC.

[Lynn]

Guys I ended up with about 230 pounds for $200 cash as I live in California.
A 3 pound salmon weight at sportsmans warehouse out here runs $15 so even if it doesn't work for bullets I am still okay with the price

[imashooter2]

Good score. :drinks:

[Rickf1985]

Real good price, especially considering it is already in ingot form so the major work is done and no junk included in the weight. AND in California at that!!! I would get all I can at that rate.

[fredj338]

I have absolutely no idea on the hardness.
It is a range I frequent and the owners son has made it into ingots.

IF its range lead its harder than pure & not zinc, hopefully. At $1/#, I would be a buyer. It beats berm mining & spending time & $$ melting it. 1000# is a good round number, maybe it a bit cheaper.

[WILCO]

I bought a couple hundred pounds to give it a try. If it doesn't work I can always turn it into fishing weights

Great job!

I'd cast some boolits and test hardness. Go from there. :)

[truckjohn]

I can say from experience, buying other people's processed range lead is a winning proposition. It is a lot of work, especially if the range has a dirt backstop.