# Lead I Think I Made A Good Buy



## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Bought 30 pounds of Lead for $40,thats including Shipping.Should make a few Bullets.:sing:

DW wasn't too happy but she will get over it.

big rockpile


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## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

Reminds me, I need to pick up a few pounds.:goodjob:


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## Michael Kawalek (Jun 21, 2007)

Buy? I don't understand that word. Why would you want to "buy" lead. I've cast my own bullets for years, and am now getting into swaging too. After decades of casting I"ve never, ever had to pay money for lead. Every time I go to the service station to get tires or other service, I ask the manager if I can have scrap wheelweights. I talk about target shooting and casting my own, and people are almost aways positive. Guys will actually carry boxes full to my car because they think it's facinating. Here's a recent pic of a new Swagamatic bullet maker I picked up. Down at the lower right hand corner (behind the chair backrest) you can see one of my 5 gallon buckets overflowing with lead wheelweights. I've got several of those, all free!







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I make great cast bullets with wheelweights and a little scrap tin solder or pewter added. I try to mimic Lyman's alloy #2 with 90/5/5% lead/tin/antimony. It's hard enought to push at rifle velocities. For bullet swaging though I use soft stick-on weights or other scrap lead products. Don't pay money for lead! Take the time to scrounge up your own supplies and pay nothing. If times ever get bad, and you really need those bullets, scrounging may be the only way to get it. Better learn how now!
Michael


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

I get Wheel Weights for Fishing Weights.But the Lead I bought is more Pure for my Muzzleloader Bullets.

big rockpile


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## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

around here they no longer give it away the junk wheelweights as they are bringing serious dollars for scrap..Soft lead for our muzzeloaders is dear now a days.. clean soft unalloyed lead is harder to come by also what they call clean soft lead at salvage yards has a lot of impurities that will flux out and you lose a good percentage of you total weight. I pay .80 cents a pound for "clean" soft lead, but by the time its fluxed it ends up a costing me about what Big rockpile paid.lead pipe and roof flashings etc. make up the main source of my muzzleloading lead.. got a 5lb. ingot of plumbers lead at an estate sale.:gossip:


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## bowdonkey (Oct 6, 2007)

Something I would like to do is get the Lee slug molds for 12 gage. It's a special design that fits in a standard shotshell wad. And if any disposable income appears, maybe the H&R semi-auto with a slug barrel. Should be a nice wrecking machine.


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

Cost of all loading materials are up.
The factory where I used to work, made wire and wire rope.
In the operation we used a lead quench to "Patent" the wire stock (sorta of a scramble up the molecules) in prep for the next "draw" down to size.
The process used a tank of 1800 degree lead, wires ran thru it.

Guys that ran that job used their spare time "running balls"( round, maxi/minis) making sinkers and lead head jigs, for them selves and others.
It was frowned on to make down-rigger balls/weights as they were 25 lbs each, little too much.
Bought lead in 100 lb bars, truck loads at a time.
Still have some mini ingots 2 lbs each. Wish I had more.

Pure lead is a better materal for round balls than wheel weights, but wheel weights are better for "bullets".


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## gunsmithgirl (Sep 28, 2003)

I think you got a good buy. I use pure lead too. I used to buy mine from a guy at a flea market in Alabama, haven't found a good deal on it since I have been up here.


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## Michael Kawalek (Jun 21, 2007)

Hi Rockpile
I have a suggestion for you. Go through your collected wheelweights and separate out the "stick-on" weights. Those are the type that has the adhesive backing instead of a steel clip. They are made of pure lead so they're soft enough to press against the rim of the wheel. The Europeans seem to like the stick-on weights more than Americans, so you're more likely to find them on VW's and Mercedes, than a Ford.

That's what I use for swaging alloy. It's kind of convenient to both cast and swage, because all my recycled lead gets diverted to one pile or another. It's still my position that scrounging is your best stratege! Keep at it! If you want some more information, here is a cool website dedicated to bullet making. Enjoy.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/
Michael


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## ninny (Dec 12, 2005)

If you know someone who owns/runs an auto salvage yard, go out there and spend a day pullling weights off the wheels, probably a ton of them. 

.


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## DavidUnderwood (Jul 5, 2007)

I roof houses. There are still a lot of
lead boots and lead collars around vent
pipes. I've probly saved up 500 pounds.
In remodeling work we sometimes get an 
old lead pan out from under a ceramic
tile shower. I don't throw anything away.
Amazing how it adds up!


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## KYBOY (Feb 28, 2008)

I have a friend who ownsa tire shop and get all I need for fishing but I wont use it for bullet casting. I catfish in the rough a lot so I go thru a lot of sinkers,LOL..I bought a Lee electric pot so I can really go thru em'. I first melt my whel weights down in a cast iron kettle to clean off the impurities.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

I'm glad you guys are talking about this subject cause I have a question. The other day I was cleaning up some junk scrap stuff around here and I found two batteries that I need to do something with. One is a old car battery and the other is a big heavy Marine deepcycle battery. I kept them thinking of robbing the lead out of them and using them to cast either lead balls or lead fishing weights. Would the batteries have a good source of usuable lead in them? 

If so, anyone know where I can get cast molds to make either round balls or fishing weights? 

Also, if the batteries are a good source, wouldn't they be worth more this way then trading them in for a new battery?


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## tamsam (May 12, 2006)

BR if the lead came from China you might want to check it for toys. Just had to do it. Sam


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

I've used expensive and cheap bullet molds, and find the Lee cheap molds work just fine. 

Be sure and get a 45 cal round ball mold for your beanie flipper.

I think my Catfish Connection catalog had a bunch of sinker molds in it. They were high priced. 

I've been known to drill a blind hole in a hunk of aluminum scrap, then run in a tapered reamer, and make a simple sinker mold. I make a loop of copper wire from a piece of romex, pour the hole full of lead, and stick in the wire while holding with pliers. Then I upturn the mold and a few taps lets the sinker fall free. 

Let me know how taking apart the battery goes. I have some around here awaiting the same fate.


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## DavidUnderwood (Jul 5, 2007)

The main problem with old batteries
is getting rid of the liquid inside. It
may be about dead, or may be very 
potent. Don't get it on you. Sulphuric
acid can burn you, and will ruin your 
clothes. Can't just pour it out anywhere
either. Never mind EPA and such, the
stuff is dangerous.


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## Michael Kawalek (Jun 21, 2007)

OldcountryBoy
David is right, old battery acid can be dangerous, but there is an even greater threat to using battery lead. What I've read is that battery lead is alloyed with arsenic and the arsenic bearing dross produced after melting can produce poison gas. I got this information from Dean Grennel's book "ABC's of Reloading". Don't melt battery lead unless you are in a remote location and are significantly upwind. Your best option is to just use the batteries as a trade-in. You'll probably get more money out of them that way anyway.
Michael


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

Years ago I took a piece of 8" pipe about a foot tall and welded a flat plate on the bottom. The plate is an irregular piece of scrap. I can set it on an old Coleman gas stove or a turkey fryer and melt many pounds of wheelweights or scrap at once. I skim the dross with a soup ladle, then pour into a cast iron muffin pan or a Lee ingot mold. All the fumes and oils and smoke blow away outdoors.


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## DavidUnderwood (Jul 5, 2007)

In using the "pipe pot", or any other pot
for that matter, pour out all the melted 
lead when you are through. It is quite
possible to over heat lead in a cold pot
from the bottom first. The bottom becomes
liquid, forms gasses that are sealed in by
the hard lead on top. The resulting explosion
would be unimaginable. A violently rupturing
pot, with molten lead flying around at near
vapor heat. Just be careful.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

Of course, I always empty the pot. Good tip for those that don't know, though.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Michael Kawalek said:


> OldcountryBoy
> David is right, old battery acid can be dangerous, but there is an even greater threat to using battery lead. What I've read is that battery lead is alloyed with arsenic and the arsenic bearing dross produced after melting can produce poison gas. I got this information from Dean Grennel's book "ABC's of Reloading". Don't melt battery lead unless you are in a remote location and are significantly upwind. Your best option is to just use the batteries as a trade-in. You'll probably get more money out of them that way anyway.
> Michael


thanks for that bit of information. I knew the battery acid would be dangerous, but didn't know anything about the lead/arsenic mixture. With that bit of info, I'll just trade them in and use the cash to buy a bunch of sinkers.


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