Lead in warehouse storage

[lwknight]

I was just looking at kitco.com / basemetals and noticed that there are 188,000 tons in warehouses. I know these are not the Comex warehouses but are probably larger in capacity than Comex.
I'm thinking that 188,000 tons really is not a lot considering just how many people hoard lead. The boolit casters in USA alone probably have more lead than that hoarded up.
Keeping in mind that this forum has 15,000 members IIRC and we are a small percentage of casters not to mention all the commercial casters and swadgers.

Heck, Oregon trail alone probably casts several tons a day.

Am I perceiving this right? It looks like all the lead in storage would not supply boolits and bullets alone for more than a week

[jimmeyjack]

Is that 188,000 tons? That is alot of lead!

[azcruiser]

28.000.000 gr per ton x 188,000 =5,264.000.000.000 think that like 22 million 800 thousand
230 gr 45 acp's Thats more than I have

[lwknight]

I think you figured a ton @ 4k instead of 2k ,or doubled the answer somehow but , anyways its 11.5 billion 230 grain boolits.
Thats enough for every American to have about 35 boolits/bullets each.
If everyone on this forum has about 100 pounds of lead and or boolits , we have about 45 million boolits worth.

[fredj338]

Is that 188,000 tons? That is alot of lead!
Not really, not for a manuf/supplier. That is only a 66,200 sqft bldg, a little bigger than a football field, stacked 10ft high, if my math is right.[smilie=f:

[Echo]

I imagine I have something over a ton of alloy, and I KNOW there are LOTS on this forum that have more than I.

And 5,264 jillion is right...

[jr81452]

Warehouse levels only reflect what is leftover after all purchase orders are filled. It is a measure of surplus. You will note that the current warehouse stock levels are at a 10+year high (maybe an all-time high, but my charts only go back 10 years). In the last 10+years can anyone recall a true shortage of lead? We are not in danger of running out anytime soon.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Well if my #2 soft lead calculator didn`t lie to me. If that gross tonnage is made up in 40 gr. .22 cal. bullets it would make 131,600,000,000 bullets (that`s 131 Billion 600 million).Robert

[mold maker]

And that doesn't account for all the lead in paint sold to us for our children to injest.

[Springfield]

I have enough for about 105,000 44-40 bullets. Hmmm... maybe I should stock up a bit more.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Well if my #2 soft lead calculator didn`t lie to me. If that gross tonnage is made up in 40 gr. .22 cal. bullets it would make 131,600,000,000 bullets (that`s 131 Billion 600 million).Robert

and just think, that's still 870,000,000,000 (870 Billion) shy of how many dollars Obama has US in debt:brokenima
Jon

[lwknight]

Holy smokes!! we're over $10.00 for every 22 bullet that can be mustered up from a football field sized pile of lead 4' deep in debt.

[fredj338]

Warehouse levels only reflect what is leftover after all purchase orders are filled. It is a measure of surplus. You will note that the current warehouse stock levels are at a 10+year high (maybe an all-time high, but my charts only go back 10 years). In the last 10+years can anyone recall a true shortage of lead? We are not in danger of running out anytime soon.
Well, w/ the reduction in the use of lead in Europe & the USA for amny things, I suspect there will never realyl be a shortage. The shortage is in cheap or free lead going forward.[smilie=1:

[jr81452]

Well, w/ the reduction in the use of lead in Europe & the USA for amny things, I suspect there will never realyl be a shortage. The shortage is in cheap or free lead going forward.[smilie=1:

Now that, I do believe. In the age of Ebay, freebies are few and far between. Why help out your fellow man, when you could make a buck:roll:

[Garbo]

remember lead is re-cycleable, so if it looks like you are running low then watch out for prospectors digging up your backstops