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View Full Version : Scrap lead prices.......



3006guns
10-30-2009, 01:36 PM
Well, I followed through with my threat to visit the local salvage yard and check on the availablility of lead. I was escorted out into the yard and shown a 55 gallon drum full of it.......mostly soft and in huge sheets. Beside the drum was a smaller container full of wheelweights. The yard girl made a call and found that they are getting .90/lb. !!!!!! I told her I was sure I could get it for at least .50 and her reply was "O.K...I'll sell it for that".

Maybe I should have said .20/lb.

Has the world gone mad???:veryconfu

Idaho Sharpshooter
10-30-2009, 01:57 PM
In a word "YES!".

The liberal dims new version of supply and demand: if it is in short supply the price goes up. If the product is over available, the price goes up. I had the same garbage tossed at me here. The guys go to the Portland, OR market and figure out theirs is just as valuable. I told the guy, "heck, if it's that valuable, why not load that pallet up and take it there?". When he got the shipping price there and figured out that that is what they are selling it for, not what they are actually paying, then , THEN! we could talk.

I think they used the same model as Big Oil does.

Rich

Rock
10-30-2009, 02:04 PM
yeah, my local scrap yard buys for 19 cents, sells back in the same form/condition for 90 cents.

It's crazy math..... For 90 cents I want them to smelt it into ingots for me :)

Lead Fred
10-30-2009, 04:12 PM
Just got some for .55 cents an lb. Half of in was in Lyman ingots.

Im going back to empty the drum

bbs70
10-30-2009, 06:19 PM
2 scrap yards 5 miles apart in the small town area where I live.
One sold lead for 25 a lb and the other was 50 a lb on the same day last week.
And the 50 a lb stuff had shingles and other garbage all over it.

Last spring I went to a scrap yard and got some lead for 45 a lb, after I paid for it I talked to a guy who was bringing in a small amount of lead.
He told me they gave him 15 a lb for the stuff.
I have no problem with them making money, thats what they are in business for.
BUT, 30 a lb profit and they don't even have to handle it.:groner:

fallout4x4
10-31-2009, 01:57 AM
See here bbs, you lost yourself a sale: Next time you see that guy offer him 20 cents and skip the middleman.

bearcove
10-31-2009, 11:12 AM
That is why I did the WW alloy group buy that zbench did. $1.58 a lb. Smelted at a foundry to the alloy we want, assayed to confirm we get what we want and not what we don't. I got about a 100 lbs of wheel weights last week here in NM. Asked the guy about zinc ww. He said " We don't use them, That's just Californcate that uses them." Two cars there with cal plates. So what are they worth? Answer, To me a whole lot less than they used to be. Definately won't mix with any of my "good" lead.

Lumpie
10-31-2009, 11:14 AM
I called a scrap yard in Oklahoma City about a week ago. I asked what he was getting for scrap lead, and he replied what are you going to do with this lead? I told him that I was going to use it to cast bullets. He then replied that it was 55 cents per pound. I went there a couple of days later, and asked a man there if he some scrap lead. He then asked what i intended its use for. I though for a sceond, then I told him I was going to cast some toy soldiers, and fishing weights. He then said 30 cents a pound. Be advised not to tell them anything about bullet casting. They are wise to the fact that useing it for this porpose will bring more money. Just my two cents. Lumpie

Lumpie
10-31-2009, 11:41 AM
I called a scrap yard in Oklahoma City about a week ago. I asked what he was getting for scrap lead, and he replied what are you going to do with this lead? I told him that I was going to use it to cast bullets. He then replied that it was 55 cents per pound. I went there a couple of days later, and asked a man there if he some scrap lead. He then asked what i intended its use for. I though for a sceond, then I told him I was going to cast some toy soldiers, and fishing weights. He then said 30 cents a pound. Be advised not to tell them anything about bullet casting. They are wise to the fact that useing it for this porpose will bring more money. Just my two cents. Lumpie

Ole
10-31-2009, 01:55 PM
I gave up on the scrap yards around here. They all want a 400% markup off what they pay for stuff and won't budge on price from my experience.

madcaster
10-31-2009, 03:33 PM
I stopped a few weeks back at a local scrap yard,they had just loaded a van with 400 pounds of soft lead,the kind that makes me go all mushy inside(for my beloved flintlocks dontcha know!) and it was all they had,it had sold for a dollar a pound.

lwknight
11-01-2009, 09:53 AM
Some scrapyards are paying up to 50 cents per pound for pure lead products.
The market price is about $1.05 per pound before spot pemium. Foundry lead is around $1.20 plus shipping.
Its a mad mad world. 3 months ago lead was $0.50 on the exchange market. If you can get it for 50 cents, buy it up before China does.

klutz347
11-03-2009, 04:22 PM
From the sounds of it I should be really happy that I'm only paying 25 cents a pound for scrap.

ReloaderFred
11-03-2009, 04:35 PM
I just got lucky and found about 200 pounds of linotype, with some monotype mixed in. It's costing me $1.00 a pound, which in this market isn't a bad price.

Fred

Ajax
11-03-2009, 05:45 PM
i just called a local salvage yard and they quoted me $.68 a pound for wheel weights.


Andy

jforwel
11-03-2009, 10:53 PM
Five cents a pound where I live and no I am not telling any of you where I live. ;) The downside is that I only get twenty pounds or so about once a month. Got thirty pounds of cable last week. Rural areas don't generate much scrap.

Casting Timmy
11-04-2009, 07:27 AM
The junk yards in my town sell for .60/lb for WW.....I do remember he said he woudl make a deal on some other stuff a while back. I might have to see what that was and ask the price on that one. I really don't have much luck getting from Tire stores around here. I wish I knew someone that worked at a tire store or had a different source.

WILCO
11-04-2009, 08:30 AM
I wish I knew someone that worked at a tire store....

Run an ad on Craig's list. :kidding:

mcooper
11-04-2009, 05:50 PM
Run an ad on Craig's list. :kidding:


Heh...I tried that, got taken down as it was a "WTB"

MilSurpFan
11-06-2009, 08:44 AM
Was getting mostly sheet lead from a local scrapyard for .15/lb. Then it went up to .25/lb and finally .35/lb a few weeks ago.

Last haul netted about 175 lbs of soft stuff in large blocks and one nice shiny long 25lb ingot that I believe is linotype. The one block of soft lead was about 140 lbs by itself. Hard to get in the trunk.

lwknight
11-17-2009, 08:17 PM
I talked with a sales rep from sullivan metels today about buying bulk lead and she told me that if I bought 40,000 pounds of lead pigs it would be $1.30 per pound.
The premium is about $0.25 and when had dropped temporarily a few months back that their cost did not actually go down much at all.

I know that some scrappers are paying $0.50 per pound.
clip-on Wheelweights have $0.30 per pound worth of antimony. If you can get WWs for 50 cents per lb , its a steal

angus6
11-17-2009, 08:48 PM
I talked with a sales rep from sullivan metels today about buying bulk lead and she told me that if I bought 40,000 pounds of lead pigs it would be $1.30 per pound.


Ouch , around here the foundry cast 2/6 alloy is cheaper then that with only a $200 min. purchase , lead would a few cents lower yet

Marlin Hunter
11-17-2009, 09:24 PM
I gave up on the scrap yards around here. They all want a 400% markup off what they pay for stuff and won't budge on price from my experience.


They wont budge now because of the economy. Gold, silver, brass, copper, lead, aluminum, etc..it don't matter, everything will go up.

lwknight
11-18-2009, 12:09 AM
Ouch , around here the foundry cast 2/6 alloy is cheaper then that with only a $200 min. purchase , lead would a few cents lower yet

Eventually their supply will dry up. We had best stock up on any reasonable buys that you can get today.

I saw one commercial boolit casters website offering 92-2-6 for $1.67 or $1.57, can't remember. I'm betting that they will go up soon.

Todays NYMEX futures on lead is $1.06 and you always pay a premium from resellers who actually take delivery. Plus a premium for the distributer.

angus6
11-18-2009, 01:59 AM
Not much worry about their supply drying up , just what the price is each month

lwknight
11-18-2009, 04:05 AM
Well... I did mean that the supply of less expensive inventory...
Almost anything can be bought for the right price.
It very well may be that wise consumers of base metals actually used the futures market in the way that it was designed to be used and bought options at a strike of what was current market value a few months ago.

I'm sure that no one has unlimited options and supply.

blaster
11-19-2009, 03:48 PM
My WW supplier just went under. I was in there picking up a load last week then poof drove by yester day and it was closed. Well the 6-700lbs I bought for $0.10 was a good run. That should last me long enough to find a new supplier at my leasure.