My lead source for the past few years has been tire shops and range pickups. The range lead is soft although not as soft as pure I suspect but works fine for me in both RB and regular bullets
My lead source for the past few years has been tire shops and range pickups. The range lead is soft although not as soft as pure I suspect but works fine for me in both RB and regular bullets
Scrap lead is not as easy to find as it once was. The 'free' sources are few now.
Lead has been given the hex that Mercury recv'd a while back. Touch it and you and everyone around you will die. The ground it falls on will never be able to be used for 2 hundred yrs.
The stuff comes out of the ground,,but no matter...
But unless/untill they ban the stuff outright for any use, it'll still be available somewhere. You'll just have to pay the going price.
What ever that price is for the lead in bulk form is will still be cheaper than lead ball/bullet in finished form bought retail from a maker.
It's not 1962 anymore.
If lead is $3 a pound, it's still cheaper to buy it and cast my .40 and .45 cal RB w/my LEE moulds than it is to buy already made Hornadys.
..and I can have them when I want them and no shipping or tax.
Even buying a #25 bag of lead shot at todays price ($60/bag!) and using it as the lead source is cheaper than buying lead at $3/pound thru the mail.
It doesn't have to be pure lead to make a good ML RB.
I still have scrap lead,,still pick up scrap at the range and where ever I find it.. just like most everyone else.
If it ever comes to the point where the empty suits and Greenies ban the stuff from use,, you certainly won't be able to buy lead projectiles off the shelf or order any from Hornady for sure.
There won't be a 'price of lead' cause there won't be any bought or sold retail.
What you happen to have will be it.
I'm glad I started saving mine years back. It's still around but like stated harder to find. Put the word out, you might be surprised where you get some from. I knew a guy that said he wouldn't even keep lead in his house, it's that bad.
Aim small, miss small!
I'm sure I'm echoing posts in this thread - cast your own lead balls.
A cheap Lee 4# furnace, a Lee ball mold, a simple ladle, lots of sources for lead.
Glad I stocked up years ago. Still always looking though. A little is good, a lot is better and too much is just enough!
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I get all kinds of lead given to me fairly regularly but, lots of folks know I cast.
rfd, that is exactly how I started some 46-47 years ago and still use that little 4 lb. Lee pot for RB's...and all but one of my RB molds are Lee.
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As to buying, MidwayUSA puts them on sell often, so just keep looking. Casting is a good route, and I'm so glad I swapped over to a Lee bottom pour pot ages ago.
I was shocked to find a local recycling center recently that said they had lead for $1 a pound in ingots. Supposedly pure and various hardness options. I need to get over there and grab some. We have lots of local industry that dumps it on them as scrap.
I started casting every ball I fired from the beginning some 55 years ago. A couple of decades ago I had a friend gift me a box of Hornady balls. I fired about half of them at the range and they were very good. But I still have many of them left for "just in case" and continue to cast and fire my own.
Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.
You can often find sheet lead at garage sales (just ask for it) or scrap yards. It is plenty soft for muzzle loader bullets like round ball and probably minie balls.
Hellgate in Orygun
With 16+revolvers, I've been called the Imelda Marcos of cap&ball.
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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 |