Ok so I'm going to go look for lead for the first time...Advice?

[imashooter2]

So this weekend I plan to drive around asking for wheel weights at the local tire shops. No idea if I will get any or not but I'm going to ask. How do you guys go about asking and how do you know if you're getting ripped off or not? Should I take my own bucket and gloves? Give me the short and sweet for a first timer.

Forget donuts, pizza and beer. Take a young woman with a short skirt and low cut blouse. Your success rate will easily quadruple.

[Rizzo]

My neighbor is a roofer so I asked him about getting the lead he removes from roofs.
A few days later I found a pile of lead at my gate.
Then a few weeks later, another pile.

After a couple of more I told him "I'm good!"
It is mostly pure lead.
I cut out the solder joints before smelting, then smelt the solder joints into separate ingots.

Perhaps go to some roofing outfits and see how that works for you.
Good luck to you.

[Texas by God]

I have a small tire shop which charges me $25 for a full 5 (plus a little) gal bucket which will generally get me 55 pounds of unprocessed WW. Lifting a full bucket is nigh impossible and very likely to fail. I always take 2-3 buckets, a flat shovel and a two wheeled hand cart. That way I can move the full bucket to an area where I can dump and redistribute the load to multiple buckets.

I am definitely on the lookout for home roofers, but I keep missing them. Single day tear-off and reroof is the norm around here. That and I'm not sure if I will be able to communicate an on-going deal with a Spanish speaking roofer.

Comercio Cerveza por El Plomo?
Try that.
Trade beer for lead?

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[Conditor22]

My neighbor is a roofer so I asked him about getting the lead he removes from roofs.
A few days later I found a pile of lead at my gate.
Then a few weeks later, another pile.

After a couple of more I told him "I'm good!"
It is mostly pure lead.
I cut out the solder joints before smelting, then smelt the solder joints into separate ingots.

Perhaps go to some roofing outfits and see how that works for you.
Good luck to you.

You can never have too much lead!!!!!

Lead is great trading stock, lead is easy to sell on forums where people cast boolits.

Get a bi-lingual friend to write down that you will pay cash or beer for lead [in Spanish and English], offer 2x what the scrap yards pay (I pay .50¢ a pound for pure), and hand it out to the roofing crews and leave cards at the roofing supply shops



I get a lot of pure from scrapers that get cast-iron pipes



and of course the holly grail is linotype/monotype from print stores

[Green Frog]

Where in S.C. are you, OP? I just drove down to Mount Pleasant from VA yesterday and would have happily brought you a “starter supply” gratis if you’re a newbie! Drop me a PM if you are in the Charleston area and I’ll see about bringing you some of my excess next time I come. I hate to see the new guys get frustrated with some of the hoops you have to jump through these days. I fear the days of cheap and abundant lead from old fashioned COWWs are about done.

Froggie

[richhodg66]

Rotometals.
After you go through the hassle of smelting Rotometals will seem like a bargain. I had pure and bought the anitmonial bar and mixed 5 pounds of it with 15 pounds of pure. It cast very good and I had good mold fillout from the get go.

If you're gonna pay that much for lead, you might just as well buy jacketed bullets. I don't find the process of rendering range scrap or wheel weights nearly enough of a problem to justify that cosyt.

You must either be rich or not shoot much and/or allergic to work.

[quilbilly]

Check the recycling yards and scrap yards. plumbers and or roofers also may have lead but theirs is more than likely pure or close to it Boat yards may have some also.

Pay special attention to any metal recycling outfits near hospitals. They will occasionally (maybe a couple times a year) have lead sheeting from X-ray room walls. That is the good stuff, nearly 100% pure, and melts clean often with no dross to be skimmed off. It doesn't absorb radiation either.

[Conditor22]

I built boolit traps for all my guns so I recycle everything I shoot. But, I cast for friends and don't get that lead back so the search goes on.

Sometimes you can find good deals on Craigslist or offer up

[Sasquatch-1]

I built boolit traps for all my guns so I recycle everything I shoot. But, I cast for friends and don't get that lead back so the search goes on.

Sometimes you can find good deals on Craigslist or offer up

I think it is time to tell the friends to start looking for lead to replace what they shoot. Might start casting less if they have to start looking for and footing the cost of lead.

[WRideout]

You'll do better looking in the smaller shops rather than big chains like Firestone.

Watch for roof crews and building demos. Usually some lead at these.

Most productive and cheapest is mining a public pistol range. The one I'm a member of would let me and it would take 15 minutes or so with a sieve and an E-tool to scrounge up a five gallon bucket full. I'd go that route a long time before I wasted the time and effort driving around to tire places.

Exactly what I do. Also, my tire dealer will give me a bucket of wheelweights for free, about once a year. It helps that I am a steady customer of his. I tell everyone I know that I mold my own bullets, and have received free chunks of lead every now and then. Be prepared to smelt down any scrap lead, but don't use your molding pot to do that; it will get coated with gunk. Rusty muffin tins are good molds for clean lead. There are members/vendors here that sell lead by the box for a reasonable price.

Wayne

[DDJ]

We have around here a grocery chain that's called Hy Vee a once a week they publish a for sale and wanted circular. I just put in a lead wanted ad in there and got all kinds of responses. I now have more lead than I'll probably will ever need. Tere's still plenty of lead out there. It doesn't have to ww as you can harden up pure lead. Good luck

[Froogal]

If you're gonna pay that much for lead, you might just as well buy jacketed bullets. I don't find the process of rendering range scrap or wheel weights nearly enough of a problem to justify that cosyt.

You must either be rich or not shoot much and/or allergic to work.

I will admit that I could buy ready made bullets for less, but I cannot buy bullets with the hardness that works best for me and my guns.

[Dusty Bannister]

I would say that by this time of day, the OP has had a chance to make the rounds and has the first day of a long term quest behind him. I hope he did not get "skunked" but he would not be the first or the last to have a day like that. It would be a positive factor if he does some up with some "treasure" to reward his efforts. Mostly, he will have a better idea what to expect the next time and will follow up on the ones that show promise. There are some good photos of lead "in the wild" so he will have a reasonable idea what he is looking for at the scrap yards and in out of the way places. This is be beginning of a life time hobby that has surprises and rewards and an occasional "aw shucks" when you end up buying something that is someone else's trash. That is when you turn junk into tractor or tiller weights or just a lead slab to hammer on.

So how did the first adventure go?

[Green Frog]

Well, OP... what's the report? Did you score or crap out? What is the state of wheel weight searching in the state of South Carolina?

Froggie

[fredj338]

For me it just isnt worth the gas & time to source ww at tire shops. If they sell to you, the buckets will be lucky to have 50% usable metal. If you go, yes gloves & buckets, they like to keep theirs & the ww can be filthy as well as sharp objects. They throw all kinds of stuff in those buckets. I wouldnt give more than 50c per & thats if you can sort for lead v steel or zinc. Otherwise buying ingots in the swap & sell is a far better bet even at $1.50 per # delivered.

[fredj338]

MY buddy is a super for a construction firm & did the same thing, asked one of his roofers what they do with lead shtg removed. After about 1200# worth, he stopped taking it.

[KCSO]

Check with local plumbers for sheet lead removed from houses and contractors. Also pass the word on to friends and you may be surprised. I had a lady who heard I was looking and called and told me her husband was a fisherman and did I want his fishing weight lead. 200 pounds of wheel weights.

[Cyrus]

My idea is that the wheel weights I accumulated about 9 years ago and the range scrap I continue to grab at my range every time i shoot will all be turned to ingots as time allows and that is my stash for when/if we can no longer buy cast boolits or even metal from a supplier. I pray that day never comes of course. I do look forward to the casting process some day but suspect I’ll wait until the kids are older and I have more free time. I went on a year-long journey almost a decade back hitting every tire shop I could and scored about 20 5-gallon buckets of wheel weights. I figure if I net 1500-2000 pounds from that I’d be pretty happy.

[slim1836]

As a civil engineering construction inspector for over 40 years most of my lead came from the side of the roads I worked on. The word spread to the workers I saved wheel weights and they would keep an eye out for me. Railroad crossings , intersections, and accident sights around guardrails usually had a few.

Many good suggestions already have been made, however, there are still many places left if you look.

Slim

[dverna]

Looks like we will not get a report from the OP. Wonder if he gave up, or got so much stuff he is busy sorting and smelting it? LOL