I Quit

[BrianL]

By the way, when I first started doing this, I was skeptical and thought that you would end up with a mass of lead dust. So I pounded 50 300 gr 45 bullets into a very tight group (that is my story) and then dumped it. Apparently, no two bullets take the same path because a good portion of those bullet could have been reloaded, nothing but rifling marks and a bit of nose deformity. Of course, the more that you shoot into it, the more bullets get hit over time. I take the granulated stuff and do a once a year smelting, tossing the smoking rubber into a 5 gallon pail of water. By the way, the red compressor tank shown in my photos in strapped to an old wheelbarrow so it is mobile. I have even taken it inside for shooting during the winter in my 36 ft shop.

[MarkinMD]

I just completed sorting and melting two 5 gallon buckets worth of wheel weights from the local tire shop. One bucket was from two years ago and one was from one year ago. The two year old bucket yielded about 70 pounds of COWW and 12 pounds of SOWW. The one year old bucket yielded about 30 pounds of COWW and 6 pounds of SOWW. I am paranoid about zinc contamination so before anything went into the melting pot, it was pinched with diagonal cutters. I am retired so my time is not worth much but I will not waste it on buckets of wheel weights that are mostly iron and zinc. I melted down a collection of Pewter objects from various good wills and ended up with almost nine pounds of pewter ingots. Since I am not a high volume shooter, this should last me for a while. I will need a source of Antimony in the future and I fear that I will have to part with some cash and obtain it from Roto Metals.

[BrianL]

I am retired so my time is not worth much but .............

Nope, not acceptable at all. The time spent till now was not given the value it deserved but going forward, it has increased in value many times over. The hourglass only has so much sand, value each grain and spend them wisely.
On the lead issue, build a trap, reuse your lead. I have been shooting the same lead for years.

[jednorris]

Perhaps I am nitpicker but accuracy is my goal. I buy my lead at the local scrap yard for about $.90 per pound. I buy only roof flashings, assuming that most of the flashings I get come from the nearest (local)) flashing manufacturer and have the same lead composition. I buy my tin from Buffalo Arms and when I mix it, I know I have a mix that is exactly duplicated.

[fredj338]

I quit WW almost 10y ago. In Kalif, they dried up fast after they were banned. A 120# bucket that used to yield about 100# of ww now is maybe 40#. Just not worth the effort imo. I would rather scrounge at the berms. At least its can be 95% usable alloy.

[fredj338]

The people who look down on hoaders are idiots.

Not hoarding if you plan to use it or sell it. Its called investing.

[bruce381]

I buy from Kathie the Captain fast shipping smelted and fluxed real well and shipped to house way cheaper than roto. She is in the seller vendor section tell her bruce says hi great lady cannot go wrong.

[Baltimoreed]

It’s been too hot to cast for a while but now that it’s cooling off I’ll have to break down and build some boolits. Got plenty of ww’s.