Score or not?

[lar45]

Yesterday I stopped by a small recycling shop and asked about lead. I was directed to an old Grey haird man in bibs shuffling about the shop. At first he showed me some cable sheathing and old sewer pipes, then asked what I was going to use it for. I told him I was going to cast some bullets. He then says, oh you might like this better and takes me to another spot that had 2 buckets of dirty cast bullets. He said he'd take $1/# . We piled it all on the scale along with a big ingot of something that was really heavy. It was 107# so I gave him $100 and loaded into the truck.
Now I'm reading about .40-.65 cents a # for scrap lead... Did I get a good deal, or did I pay way too much?
I didn't get the cable sheathing, but I'm thinking about going back to get it. What would be a good price to offer him?

[frkelly74]

You are talking wholesale versus retail. I believe you got a good retail price there especially since some of it is already boolits, so someone somewhere down the line thought it was good casting alloy and it probably still is. If you were selling the lead to the gentleman you were dealing with he would pay you the wholesale price I think . He has to keep the lights on somehow.

[imashooter2]

If you bought a trailer load, you might get the spot price. You did just fine for a small buy. And if those were commercial cast, you did great.

[ascast]

well done I go back and get what ever else he's got

[Winger Ed.]

At this point in history, I'd say it was a fair price for what you got.
Especially since they are already cast as boolits and are probably a good, clean alloy for recasting them.

If they are hard cast with some Tin & other 'goodies'--- you did good.
I remember buying a roll of 95/5 solder to add into my alloy for $6-7 a pound.
That roll of solder is now over $30.

It probably isn't some super, brother in law price, with the preacher's discount figured into it;
but you're not buying soft/pure Lead at that price with all sorts of trash & dirt in it either.

[BIGOX]

I think you did good and your lucky to find a place that will even consider selling to you. Might consider a few more purchases at his price before you begin to barter. Maybe he charged more for the bullets then he will scrap lead. Don't forget to ask about tin or even brass. And turn some business his way (recycle your cans through them), maybe in the future he will set stuff aside for you.

[slim1836]

Score, don't look back. Craigslist has individuals around hear selling lead at 2-3 bucks per pound.

Slim

[rancher1913]

if you have a scrap dealer that will sell to you for a buck a pound, buy all you can, soon you wont be able to get it at any price.

[tigweldit]

You did good!

[William Yanda]

I would do it and be happy. Take the cable sheathing too.

[Sasquatch-1]

Ingots on ebay $3.00 to $4.00 a pound. You didn't do bad.

[GregLaROCHE]

That’s the minimum price I’ve heard of lately. An added plus is that they are probably a reasonable alloy.

[kevin c]

Buy boolit alloy for a buck a pound? Very good deal. As said above, it's still a good deal if it's just usable scrap lead.

[lar45]

Thanks for the input, I'll hit him up on my next trip through and get all the cable sheathing he has.
He also had a coffee can about half full of 45-230 FMJ that looked to have been mined from a range, ie once fired.

[lightman]

You did ok. Those small places are the kind you need to make friends with.

[Rickf1985]

I was just looking at Rotometals today and pure lead surplus blocks are going for just over 2.00 a pound. If you buy a skid it is about 1.89 if I remember correctly. so you did pretty good and I would not hesitate to go back for all he has or you can afford. (or the wife will allow you to have).

[jeepyj]

I've been doing this a long time. Ready to use lead for a buck a pound. You did did just fine. Let's figure around 45 boolits a lbs × 107 lbs That's equivalent to over 4800 boolits. That's a good baseline for your future purchases in this volatile market. - jeepyj

[Eddie Southgate]

Only mistake you made was leaving the cable sheathing. That's the first thing I would have grabbed.

[bangerjim]

I would buy all you can at $1/#. Today with the greeny owl huggers and tree kissers banning Pb in many states, it will get even harder to find in our casting market. Sure you can buy it by the 10 ton truck load from wholesale dealers, but us small fish need to get it where we can find it in that price range.

[RogerDat]

Anything around $1 a pound is decent. Little less is a good deal. Little more for something better is still good deal.

Large quantities of same scrap are your friend. Much better to have 100 lbs. of sheathing than assorted 10 and 15 pound batches of assorted scrap that is "pretty soft". But any of that beats paying foundry prices.

Man if lead ingots are going on eBay at $4 a pound I think I might be able to retire early if I give up casting.