Do You Have a Lifetime Supply?

[fredj338]

I just scraped together 400 pounds or so. I bought 60 lbs of linotype, somewhat expensive but worth it I think. I had a guy I did business with before for primers and projectiles, he sold me 100 lbs of wheel weight ingots and 25 lbs of soft lead, plus he threw in a couple of bars of 50-50 solder all for a very reasonable price. Lead WW are extinct here in NY, so I went around to local scrap yards getting denied, none would sell to the public, it was frustrating but I finally found a smaller more rural yard that was happy to sell me a couple hundred pounds of scrap, which I smelted into ingots and got 196 total clean lead out of it

Been like that here in Kalif for about a decade. Though bullet alloy is free at the range berms i shoot at.

[405grain]

I agree. In California lead clip on wheel weights are as scarce as a dinosaur. Recycling places here won't sell to the public. The last time I heard about a COWW score (it was a couple of years ago) a friend of mine found some in a rusty 55 gallon drum behind an abandoned service station at a ghost town in the desert.

[lightman]

I finally realized that I didn't need 11,000 pounds and have been slowly selling some. That was harder to do than I thought it would be but thats better that some other bullet cast to get it than a scrap yard.

[kevin c]

Once upon a time, I had as much as you, Lightman, but I’ve managed to get it down to a fraction of that. And while I’m always tempted to go for the occasional great deal that comes around, sensibly I should keep trying to reduce my stock; it’s still way more than what I’m likely to use.

[Balrog006]

Been casting for 56 years. Used to get wheel weights free from tire shops but no more. I’m down to my last 1200 lbs of ingots, but I should be good thanks to my latest purchase. Best $190 I’ve spent in a long time.

That looks like one of the old snail style ‘Detroit’ bullet traps.

[lightman]

Kevin, I'm like you. Its going to be hard to resist a cheap or free score!

[dverna]

Been casting for 56 years. Used to get wheel weights free from tire shops but no more. I’m down to my last 1200 lbs of ingots, but I should be good thanks to my latest purchase. Best $190 I’ve spent in a long time.

I bought something like that on eBay and just set it up last year. Have not used it due to rotator cuff surgery but will soon. I hope to bet about 75% recovery so should never run out of lead with the 4000 lbs or so I have .

It was a silly purchase for an old man. If I get 75% recovery, I will be able to produce over 700,000 bullets. I need to sell 3000 lbs of alloy if it works as expected. But alloy is not easy to sell for a decent price. Most folks are looking to buy at less than $1.50/lb.