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Thread: Range Lead Cost?

  1. #1
    Boolit Mold
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    Range Lead Cost?

    My first post so if it's in the wrong forum just let me know.
    How much should I be paying for range lead ingots ?
    I have a source with around 6000 pounds but don't want to overpay.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master Wheelguns 1961's Avatar
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    Is it in ingot form?
    Due to the price of primers, warning shots will no longer be given!

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master

    imashooter2's Avatar
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    10-20 cents a pound raw. Lots of work to make range scrap usable. $1 a pound in ingots if the ingots are reasonably clean.
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  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master GhostHawk's Avatar
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    I agree with Imashooter. 15 to 25 cents a pound for range scrap to wheel weights that have to be smelted. You have time, fuel, etc to pay for.

    Clean lead in ingot form I'll pay up to 1$ per pound. They have done the works, spent the money on fuel, etc.

    I have been lucky in that except for tin, lead/tin alloys, linotype etc I have yet to have to pay over 1$ a pound for lead. That includes good clip on wheel weight lead in muffin ingots delivered to my door. That is the low end.

    To get pure soft lead 1/4" for making dragging weights I have paid 10-15$ per pound. Not sure I'd do it again.

    #1 buckshot cast of 50% COWW and 50% range scrap can also make good dragging weights. Slipped inside a shoelace, Harbor freight heat shrink tubing, or the cover piece from cheap clothsline or rope it also works, and is lower cost.

    Something is worth what someone is willing to spend. Make up your mind before you buy. And then be patient and do the due diligence. Is the best advice I can give you.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Mold mpkunz607's Avatar
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    FWIW, I picked up 100 lb of lead roofing sheet at a nearby scrap facility last week for $1.25/lb. Maybe a little high, but there was more to the story. As additional info, I found lead ingots there but they looked curiously un-dinged and un-oxidized, so I had them shoot the ingots with their NITON x-ray analyzer, and they were over 3% antimony, so I passed on them and took the sheet which x-rayed at 99.9% Pb. I've had them x-ray soft lead pipe in the past, it also came out to 99.9%. Just something to keep in mind, they all seem to have the analyzers. Worth making sure you know what you are getting. I wanted pure lead so I have a known supply for muzzleloading.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    If it’s raw range lead, your net weight after removing jackets, trash and gravel/sand/dirt/rock (if from an outdoor berm) may be something on the order of 60%. If raw and from an indoor range with rubber pellet backstops, the rubber is nasty to burn off and difficult to separate from the metal. If it’s recovered shot, it takes a lot more heating and physical breakdown of the pellet exteriors (graphite and oxides?) to get them to melt.

    For ingots, it may matter (for those wanting precise alloy makeup) that they can vary in composition if not all poured from the same melt; a mix fills each pot melted down, and one might have a lot of cast with tin and antimony while the next is mostly commercial jacketed with soft lead cores.
    Last edited by kevin c; 03-28-2023 at 04:02 PM.

  7. #7
    Boolit Mold
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wheelguns 1961 View Post
    Is it in ingot form?
    Yes it is all in ingots weighing about 4 pounds each.
    Thanks for all the responses

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
    toallmy's Avatar
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    Consider the prices offered at a recycle center in your decision to the purchase price .

  9. #9
    Boolit Mold
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    Locally the scrap yards have vastly different pricing based on the type of lead you want.
    I am a complete newbie to lead bullets so I figured range lead would simplify my learning curve?

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
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    The problem with range lead is that you don't know the makeup of it or the hardness. If it is mostly lead from jacket bullets it will be relatively soft. The more cast bullets it has alloyed with it, the harder it will be. I suspect it will need to be mixed with a harder alloy to get a usable mix. But, that depends what you want to use it for. Do you have any idea of the mix or hardness of it? 6000 pounds is quite a bit of material.

  11. #11
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    GregLaROCHE's Avatar
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    The problem of pricing range scrap, is that you normally don’t know exactly what you are getting.

  12. #12
    Boolit Mold
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    I have absolutely no idea on the hardness.
    It is a range I frequent and the owners son has made it into ingots.

  13. #13
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    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
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    Then it's probably a mix and has a few 'goodies' in it.
    Trying to sell it, even with the expensive goodies in there, it'd be real hard to get more than scrap Lead prices.
    Handgun range stuff melted down are more likely to have a harder alloy/mix than the rifle range with most of it coming out of jackets.

    However; it's probably good they way it is for pistol loads, and gives a good starting point to make a harder alloy for rifles.

    If I was looking to buy Lead, I'd pass on the entire 6,000 pounds, but I'd snag a 5 gallon bucket or so of it if
    I could beat the scrap yard purchasing price.
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  14. #14
    Boolit Mold
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    I bought a couple hundred pounds to give it a try. If it doesn't work I can always turn it into fishing weights
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails IMG_1953.jpg  

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I’m sure you can cast perfectly usable boolits with those ingots, either as is, or with some small addition of tin.

    What did you end up paying?
    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

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  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy Hammerlane's Avatar
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    Any where close to the Carolina's and you want to share
    I would rather fish. Can you shoot fish ?
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  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    I look at it this way, Lead is going to be the new mercury. Remember in school when we rolled it around in our hands? Now you can't even find it because it is considered so toxic! "They" are trying to make lead the same thing. So if you can get 6K at a real good price. especially range scrap from a known range, you get it! It is an investment.

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy anothernewb's Avatar
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    Our club does not charge to remove lead from our range. heck, it saves us a ton in hazmat removal fees. however, the last 8 years, I have been the only one to bother with recovering any. Always amazes me how many people claim to want something - yet are unwilling to do even the smallest share of labor to get it.

    I have no idea how many 1000s of pounds of ingots are sitting out behind the shed anymore. I would say on average I pull 11-1500# of scrap each year. so I'm guessing 8-1100# of ingot form when done.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by anothernewb View Post
    Our club does not charge to remove lead from our range. heck, it saves us a ton in hazmat removal fees. however, the last 8 years, I have been the only one to bother with recovering any. Always amazes me how many people claim to want something - yet are unwilling to do even the smallest share of labor to get it.

    I have no idea how many 1000s of pounds of ingots are sitting out behind the shed anymore. I would say on average I pull 11-1500# of scrap each year. so I'm guessing 8-1100# of ingot form when done.
    The casters at my club pool together and buy their lead from a scrap dealer. I get all I want for free from the backstops. But I won't lie. Scrounging lead taxes my ingenuity. It takes some thought to process range scrap without poisoning yourself or your property, angering the neighbors, or throwing out your back.
    Last edited by Charlie Horse; 03-31-2023 at 10:02 AM.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master

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    Lynn you do not mention if you wanted/would consider a buying partner ( lol) I would watch the sample closely of cleanlyness, crap floating, does it fit in your pot?, what melting temp?, hardness? all that, I would try to get the whole pile. Never too much for the zombie times. You can always sell off a portion so yours is free.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check