Today's Garage Sale Search

[HodakaGA]

Not much luck, got a late start though. One stop found 4-5 boxes of shotgun shells but seller wanted more than gunshop prices. Anyway at the last stop met old guy and his wife. Bought 2 cupcake pans for ingots for a $1. The old guy was sitting and stripping wire. He said his son is an electrician and brings him a bunch of wire left from jobs. He strips it and sells the copper. I asked did he ever come across any lead. He asked if I cast bullets and I answered we were gathering lead and stuff to start. He said he used to cast and did I want a bunch of old 58cal. bullets?

Free! I figured it would be a few but he went in his shed and came out with a box of maybe 5# of old bullets. Even had an old powder measurer in the box. So the morning wasn't a complete waste after all!

2 weeks ago I stopped at a sale and asked if they had any old lead/pewter. The guy said to follow him. He went in a shed and brought out 2 large pieces of lead roof vent flashing. Told me to just take them.......probably over 10# total........so I bought a dollar old big pot for smelting.

[BlueNorther]

Had a little luck myself this morning. Third stop I found a next to new turkey fryer for ten bucks, no pot. Also got an 18 inch stainless steel slotted spoon and a 10 oz. ladle. Next stop I found a 4 qt. SS pot that fits the turkey fryer just right for a buck. Now I can process the 100 pounds of wheel weights my nephew got for me.

[Longrange]

I got skunked with all five stops I made, will look again tomorrow.

[Fugowii]

Got skunked at the yard sales as well. I did pick up an almost full 20 Lb Propane Tank at the town
disposal area that was only four years old. Now I have a spare for my smelting setup. No complaints!

[hoosierlogger]

I got about 4 pounds of Dutch Boy solder for $3 at a flea market. Also picked up a RCBS powder trickler for $10 and 1000 Large pistol Mag primers for $30.

[HodakaGA]

Bluenorther, you did good. A $10 cooker I'd have snapped up too.

Hoosierlogger, I was at the Homedepot yesterday and looked at "retail" solder. Blew my mind, it was over $16 per lb. ! You got one heck of a deal.

I got a couple of lbs. of solder (3 partial rolls, one about full), a like new 50 and a 30 cal. ammo can, plus a couple of nice multi-bit racheting screwdrivers and a bunch of useless junk for $18 a month ago at an estate sale. I saw two ladies looking at several lead ladles and asked where was the plumber solder.....The guy said there were 4-5 big bars somewhere but we could never find them.....too bad. The deceased worked on cars, appliances, did some plumbing and had all kinds of stuff, literally tons of stuff. Oh, the women bought all the lead ladles for some reason. One would probably hold 10# full.

[squirrellnuttz]

Scored one next to new turkey fryer with no pot, great shape and sturdy for $25. Looks used maybe once or twice only. Found a big sieve type deep fryer pan for $2, a good day!

[johnlaw484]

My score was a Coleman camp stove nearly new for $5. (he wanted $10). It works like a camp for a backup smelter. I have an old gas cook stove the local school was throwing away because the oven did not work. It works great and I even use it to blue guns.

[jsizemore]

My scores at the flea market this past weekend was 3 1/2 lbs of pewter for $5 and 2000 LP and 2000 LR primers for $40. Been blanked for the past month, so this is incentive to keep going. Got a gun show by the flea market this coming weekend.

[clodhopper]

I got a picture frame for 50 cents that yeilded 1/2 pound of tin.

[HodakaGA]

Got a 3x5 heavy wooden work table on casters with a great wood-working side vice. Nice and solid top. Looks like that'll be my new sizing-loading-gunsmithing station in my shop. It'll free up a bunch of counter space.

Same place I found about 4# of solder for $3, looks to be mostly 50/50.

[clodhopper]

This weekend is was just a well used "PROTO" plastic hammer with one cross peen face for 50 cents, no pewter.

[Changeling]

Don't come to Maryland! I drove around through 1 subdivision after the other, maybe 7 yard sales! All I seen was people selling baby cloths! No pans, pots, Pewter, zip. Purchases 0.

[clodhopper]

Today was good, 5 bucks for 100 speer .30 165 btsp bullets, 50 cents for a redding powder funnel, 50 cents for a candle holder that yeilded 6 oz of pewter,
a buck for a belt buckle that yeilded 5oz of pewter.

[Fugowii]

Picked up a cast iron mini-muffin pan for $5 in decent shape. Otherwise totally skunked.

[Dillon]

today i got 3 muffin pans, a hot plate, and a nice ladle for under 7 bucks! yeah!

[geargnasher]

Scored one next to new turkey fryer with no pot, great shape and sturdy for $25. Looks used maybe once or twice only. Found a big sieve type deep fryer pan for $2, a good day!

I know who is John Galt. The question isn't who he is, but what he'd do today. ....or has he already?

Gear

[stephen perry]

A good find would be what I had for 25 years. In 1962 my dad bought a Lyman bottom pour pot, did Lyman ever make a dipping pot that was electric like SAECO or Lee? The Lyman heating element went South after several intensive years of Casting. I then used a Kenmore deep fryer to dip with for 25 years until the element went South. The element would heat the lead but not melt. Could have been a difference in house currents from our Ontario house to my now Upland house. No matter I recycled the Kenmore.

I would buy another Kenmore if the price was right. I saw a near new one on e-bay that went for $60, too much with shipping. I have 4 pots now, SAECO and 3 LEE's but I sure liked that Kenmore stainless steel pot. I keep looking at Goodwill and other sites.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[qajaq59]

I get all my solder at the garage sales. There's usually some in the back shed so if they are cleaning those out, I score. Almost all the older homes have solder kicking around.

[armoredman]

I got a rock.

[TGM]

Found a Layman 450 at a sale today for $15, with a .357 sizer and a 429 top punch. Shows very little wear. It always pays to pursue the local sales, you never know what you may find.

TGM

[qajaq59]

Now that is a great deal.

[mustanggt]

I was on vacation in the liberal bastion of Western Washington. The wife and I were prowling antique shops. Not the greatest place to find a good buy but I ran across some lino in a dish. It weighed about 10 lbs. I thought I had made a good score and kinda got excited till she told me the price. 50 cents per letter!!! I exclaimed why so much??? Oh people like to buy letters to make their name in a stamp. At that price it would have been maybe $60-70 for the lead. Wow did she rain on my parade. However I did make up for it by scoring everthing I needed to start smelting and alloying for about $40 which may not be as good as some of you guys have done but I got it all in one place at one time. That don't happen everyday. I'd rather hunt critters than hunt for stuff.

[odinohi]

But the last garage sale I hit I told the guy I was looking for pewter or lead and he showed me a milk crate with some soft lead. About 80lb for 5.00. Looks pretty good. Should cleanup easy enough. Thought I would let you all know. Have a good fourth and dont let your firecracker go off in your hand.
OD