Boolit alloy price

[lancem]

Look on the bright side-
You probably don't get too many door-to-door salesmen or those Jehovah's Witness types.

Ha Ha, no never!

[fredj338]

MBC bullets:

200 grain 45 ACP bullets at $48.50 per 500. That's 14.3 lbs of lead at $3.40 per lb, prior to tax and shipping. Already sized and lubed and ready to load.

I scrounge lead where I can. But a lot of my lead is in the form of bullet-shaped ingots from MBC.

Plus lube or coating, plus time. I dont care all that much about my casting/coating time, I enjoy that, but $50 in matl for bullets when I can buy them for $65, seems a lot of work for practice ammo. No free alloy or even $1.50/#, yes.

[Old Two Wars]

I feel a bit like a

Attachment 309763

Why???

[huntinlever]

Why???

Paying $3.80 a pound. I appreciate the quality of the alloy and to be honest haven't had a dependable source of WWs for years, so was glad to use the known metal. No complaints about the company but wasn't aware how seemingly above margin the prices are. In a way, not sure if this is where Ed was going, but I guess ultimately paying $130 for 45 pounds v. less than half that for the same amount - well, that's 800 bullets that will last a long time.

My metric has always been value - was what I paid worth the price? Sometimes I feel hosed paying cheaply, and sometimes I walk away saying "that was a good value" though it's price point was higher. A lot to be said for me to have clean, ready-to-go known alloy that I don't have to scrounge for in an increasingly dried up regional zone, that will last through several hundred bullets.

But I was unaware....so, yeah, a heel.

[charlie b]

I don't mind the cost of the Rotometal. I have no interest in scrounging or making my own alloys. FWIW, the price point of lead is usually set by folks who buy in the hundreds or thousands of tons. Breaking that down, repackaging, inventory, making specific alloys, etc carries a cost. I am happy to pay for the convenience.

But, I am not a volume shooter. 50lb of lead lasts me almost a year.

If I were an IPSC pistol shooter (or similar) then I'd be looking for the cheapest bunch of lead I could find and alloy would not matter much.

[Kraschenbirn]

From the price and OP's descrription, I've bought from the same source and been quite satisfied. IIRC alloy is 2- 2 1/2% antimony and a Bhn around 11 (+/-). First 60 lbs I received went for 'softball' handgun loads and boolits for my .38-55 Highwall (smokeless loads, of course). Considering the current scrap lead situation in my immediate area (as in NONE, ZIP, ZERO, NIL) and the hassle driving 50-60 miles, hoping the recycler will have something I can use and then, if he does, sorting , 'smelting', and casting that into ingots (last trip, I got barely 50% COWW/SOWW...rest was Zn or Fe) that $1.68 (shipped) price looks pretty good.

Bill

[Rickf1985]

You are not going to be able to buy any metal at spot prices unless you are a wholesaler and buying hundreds of tons of it. I want to see where you are going to get lead from anywhere now at less than 1.50 lb.. I am not talking about e-bay where you do not know what you are buying, I am talking about certified alloy or pure lead. Show me someone selling for "Spot" prices. Or even close to them.

[huntinlever]

I had posted in another thread, conflating it with this thread.

I just bought 60 lbs from Rotometals, which cost me $175. I'm getting 60 * 7000 / 400 (bullet weight) = 1050 bullets. $175/1050 = $0.17 per bullet. It's a lot of upfront cost, but over the course of the bullets, no problem with it. Like Charlie B, I'm not a volume shooter in my 45-70 and not having to hunt in a barren locale for bits and pieces here and there, also makes it worthwhile to me.

I find Rotometals good to work with and though I need to pay more attention to market conditions, I find value in buying from them.

[oley55]

Good place that I have bought from many times, so safe no scam!

Call me confused. In your OP you asked the the world if it was a good price and then you tell us you have bought from them many times. Has the price changed since your many times or.....?

[lancem]

Call me confused. In your OP you asked the the world if it was a good price and then you tell us you have bought from them many times. Has the price changed since your many times or.....?

I have bought many other things from them and know them to be a reputable firm. I have never bought lead before and didn't know what prices were like and so had to ask.

[fragman]

I did get 46lb of lead yesterday for $45 from a scrap yard. It was in the form of 29ib of boolits (not range scrap, unfired) and 17lb of jacketed projectiles. Gonna guess that the unjacketed boolits would probably be ready to melt into ingots and cast (as they were already boolits) and the lead in the jacketed is likely softer. I'm guessing they must have come from a reloader who passed on.

Not a huge haul by any means, but I was literally driving past it and thought why not stop and ask? Didn't cost me any extra gas and only 10 minutes of my time.

[fredj338]

I don't mind the cost of the Rotometal. I have no interest in scrounging or making my own alloys. FWIW, the price point of lead is usually set by folks who buy in the hundreds or thousands of tons. Breaking that down, repackaging, inventory, making specific alloys, etc carries a cost. I am happy to pay for the convenience.

But, I am not a volume shooter. 50lb of lead lasts me almost a year.

If I were an IPSC pistol shooter (or similar) then I'd be looking for the cheapest bunch of lead I could find and alloy would not matter much.

Order a pallet from roto its under $2/# delivered. You still need to alloy it though. For most handgun use, you dont need special alloy. Berm lead is over 90% usable & fine for 38sp to 44mag, just water drop for the magnums.
I scrounge because i shoot 8-10k rds a year in various handguns. So paying more than $1.50/# is my limit, but mostly i scrounge.

[charlie b]

Nope, not for handguns, which is why I use Lyman #2 alloy. And I don't use enough to order a pallet even if they offered it.

[GregLaROCHE]

I think you got a good deal as long as they are what they are supposed to be.

The price one is willing to pay for alloy has a lot to do with how much you shoot each and how heavy your boolits are.

[fredj338]

Nope, not for handguns, which is why I use Lyman #2 alloy. And I don't use enough to order a pallet even if they offered it.

For most applications, #2 is more than needed & cost more too.

[jdgabbard]

You are not going to be able to buy any metal at spot prices unless you are a wholesaler and buying hundreds of tons of it. I want to see where you are going to get lead from anywhere now at less than 1.50 lb.. I am not talking about e-bay where you do not know what you are buying, I am talking about certified alloy or pure lead. Show me someone selling for "Spot" prices. Or even close to them.

Certainly you pay a little of premium for any metal. I just bought some 1oz silver rounds the other day for $1 over spot, so don't tell me it can't be done. And I regularly buy lead for around <$0.50 over spot on the pound. That said, it's not from any companies. Usually from individuals selling various allows. And like I mentioned before, we don't need to know the exactly molecular composition to shoot these buggers. We just need an approximate allow composition. Think about how much lead plumbing pipe has been shot up over the years...

But I will say you're right about companies selling lead of given alloys. They're always higher. My issue is people selling scrap is they do so as though it is fresh new certified alloy. It's not, and they shouldn't have expectation of getting the same price Rotometals is getting for a known composition. I'm not paying $2.50-3.50 for your melted down ballast from your boat. Although it is likely an antimony lead alloy, it's not worth it. It's worth $1.50ish of my money. You might pay more, I won't...

[AxiVessel]

It's essential to consider various factors when evaluating the price of alloy for casting. Factors like alloy type, quantity, and market fluctuations can impact the cost. It's wise to compare prices from different suppliers and check current market rates with Priceva to ensure you're getting a competitive deal.