Lead prices continue to plummet

[roundball]

The price of a 25 lb bag of lead at my Trap & Skeet club had risen all the way up to around $45/bag a couple years ago.

Last summer/fall the price dropped back to about $35/bag.

Just received our latest club shipment and it has dropped all the way back down to $25/bag.

 

[Claude Mathis]

Damn! I never should have invested in lead. :wink:

 

[Slowpoke]

Couple weeks ago I ordered 100 pounds of 99% pure lead from the fine Muzzleloading Forum sponsor ROTOMETALS. The total charge was $160.29. I could have gotten it a little cheaper but I would have had cut it up which is a real pain.

Rotometals shipped it in a two flat rate boxes.... My mail carrier is a frail older fella, and he told me that I had a couple packages that I needed to carry from his truck. When I got out there he said: "Son, those are some really heavy boxes, whatcha got in there Lead?" I said "yes sir it is."

 

[nchawkeye]

Should have told him it was Gold!!! :grin:

 

[sniper68]

here's the one and five year lead charts. Kinda makes you wonder about retail pricing don't it?

 

[Walks Alone]

No idea what it sells for here. Not a lot of muzzleloader shooters around, but there is a lot of cast bullet boys. I don't have time to mess with it so the 175# or so I have won't make the move to a new house in 2 weeks. I have more ball ran than I'd ever shoot (since I don't shoot anymore). :wink:

 

[CZMark]

Retail prices will lag on the way down the same as they did when lead prices were skyrocketing. It has to do with the cost of the inventory they have on hand--if a company buys a couple hundred tons of lead at $1.50/pound, it cannot afford to sell product made from that lead at $1.00/pound because commodity prices have fallen.

 

[rafterob]

Just about everything, especially minerals, are traded as commodities and gambled on just like the stock market. The retail price does not necessarily reflect the actual cost of procurement, production, shipping and marketing. It is what someone is willing to pay for it.

 

[Swampman]

A scrap metal dealer just gave me a bunch of roof flashings for free.

 

[blacksmithman64]

If it keeps coming down, maybe I'll be able to afford to shoot the bess again! :haha:

 

[roundball]

If it keeps coming down, maybe I'll be able to afford to shoot the bess again! :haha:

It'll be interesting to watch the price...I know that some of the trap & skeet shooters at our club either took up other doins, or at least cut their shooting way back a lot.

If lead gets further down into the teens, there will probably be a "run" on it to stockpile while prices are lower, then supply & demand will kick in and the price will skyrocket.

Seems like it was just a few years ago I paid $11 a bag for Lawrence brand #7.5/8/9 magnum shot.

 

[FishDFly]

Pure economics, it's called supply and demand and has been taught in high schools and colleges for many years.

Those who do not understand it are amazed at price flucturations and wonder why the prices change.

Let's see, a depression occurs, prices fall, wonder why, no demand for goods, thus no need for certain commodities.



RDE

 

[ohio ramrod]

No idea what it sells for here. Not a lot of muzzleloader shooters around, but there is a lot of cast bullet boys. I don't have time to mess with it so the 175# or so I have won't make the move to a new house in 2 weeks. I have more ball ran than I'd ever shoot (since I don't shoot anymore). :wink:

You have a real problem. Unless the reson is health related you need to start shooting again. The smell of black powder smoke is good for many ailments including depression. I am a few years older than you and while my eyes aren't as good as they once were I still shoot as much as I can and when I'm not shooting I am thinking about shooting.

 

[tjohnson56]

Is shotgun lead, as in #6 or whatever soft enough to cast roundballs?

 

[roundball]

Is shotgun lead, as in #6 or whatever soft enough to cast roundballs?

Sure but unless you just happen to have a stack of bags of lead shot you don't need, or want to sell, I think it would be an expensive way to go.

Shot usually comes in a few flavors...pure 100% lead, then hard lead shot with a couple % antimony, then even harder magnum lead shot with 4-5% antimony.

 

[Golfswithwolves]

Plummet- that's a good one for lead! :bow:

 

[Idaho Ron]

Is shotgun lead, as in #6 or whatever soft enough to cast roundballs?

Pure lead is about 5 BHN.
Chilled lead shot is 12.5 to 13 BHN, so it is ass hard as wheel weights, I know I have tested it with my tester. I have never seen pure lead shot my self. And I have never made bullets out of shot like West coast premium magnum lead shot. That stuff has been like gold for about the last year. Ron

 

[paulvallandigham]

I agree. You don't want to try to make balls or bullets out of lead shot- way too much antimony in the mix. Antimony makes the lead hard and brittle. This is not a problem for small pellets, but it can create problems for larger rifle sized round balls, and for cast bullets. If you have ever sized a bullet in a lubrisizer, you come to hate high antimony lead, as its so hard to run through the press and dies.

 

[SR James]

Well I wish the retail prices would hurry and catch up with the lead price drop...Cabelas wants $18.99 for 100 .54 rbs. Other places have 'em somewhat cheaper but not a whole lot. That's a lot of $ for 100 round balls. But thanks to Roundball's IRS sale, I'm pretty well stocked up on .54s. Just wish he'd "liquidate" a few other calibers too! :wink:

 

[roundball]

I just sold them for what I had in them...have to keep my other cals as long as I have rifles that shoot them.
When lead started climbing I bought 3000 x .395s for my .40cal at $4.xx/100 which is reasonably low cost shooting with 30-40 grns Goex.
But the real money saver is practicing 1" dots at 20 yards with the .58cal...9/16" marbles only cost a penny apiece.
:grin:

Unless the sky falls in I assume retail lead prices should be easing down by this time next year