Midway lead.

Someone here mentioned Midway had pure lead for sale. I ordered the 30 + pound bricks, paid the 20 bucks shipping.
got the stuff last week. It's hard alloy, suspiciously resembles Lyman #2 alloy. Totally unsuited for muzzle loading ball or bullets.
I sent them an e-mail saying I wasn't about to return the stuff and pay another 20 bucks shipping the yet ANOTHER 20 bucks shipping for the pure lead.
Awaiting a response.
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, they are going to do.

 

[RussB]

Maxi...Please keep us posted on this. I've often wondered about the economics of ordering lead. It would have to be some pretty good stuff to rate the total price paid per pound.....after all is said and done.
Ocasionally I "scrounge" up some stuff of unknown hardness untill I get it melted down and formed....That's the problem with a SAECO tester, you have to get it down so it will fit the tester. The old "finger nail" or "scratch" trick is not all it was cracked up to be when looking for something really soft.
However, sometimes I'm lucky, sometimes I'm not so lucky. Last trip to Vancouver resulted in 105# of alloy, that came in at about 6 on the tester, a good buy at $25.00.
A few other trips have have not been so good. Right now I'm pretty fat with "the makings". I'll try to show you a picture of my makings if I'm smart enough to post a picture.
I have about 400 / 500lb of near pure lead. Most of it came from the keel of a sail boat...the rest was "scrounged". The five one pound blocks to the right of BHN 22 has a hardness of about 34...Heat treated antimony. Makes great .35 Whelen bullets. Pure lead and Wheel Weights is all I've ever tried in Muzzleloaders though.
Russ

 

[Stumpkiller]

Now that image is almost as satisfying looking as a freezer full of meat!

My thoughts on the "thumbnail" hardness test. It works perfectly - - - because the more desperate you are the harder you push, and the smaller scratch you'll be satisfied with. :haha:

When I fill my electric pot for casting I take ingots from as many different rough-fluxing batches as I can. (I generally make 50 lbs of ingots each time I fire up the Coleman and plumber's pot to do the first melt & fluxing of scrap lead). This tends to meld the odd lots of lead into something around 97.5 to 98.5% purity (based on weight of finished balls). That's good enough for who it's for.

 

[mowolf]

Lucky me I have a nephew who is a commercial roofer,and a neighbor who does home roofs so I have access to about a ton+ of roofing lead, really soft pure stuff. Now to get a pot and molds.

 

[RussB]

My thoughts on the "thumbnail" hardness test. It works perfectly - - - because the more desperate you are the harder you push, and the smaller scratch you'll be satisfied with. :haha:

Now, that my friend is logic! Pure, raw, logic!
ROTFLMAO! You can bet I will be using that same saying, every chance I get...if I can only remember it.
Respectfully, Russ

 

[cayugad]

I've used midway lead, two orders of it in fact and found it to be excellent lead for making projectiles. Since then I have gotten some plumbers lead so I do not need to order from them. Another thing I noticed is that they raised the price of their lead again...

I will be interested to see what they do about the lead hardness you experienced.....

 

[RussB]

I've used midway lead, two orders of it in fact and found it to be excellent lead for making projectiles. Since then I have gotten some plumbers lead so I do not need to order from them. Another thing I noticed is that they raised the price of their lead again...

After shipping and all...what do you suspect you're paying for a pound of this?
It may sound like I'm a spend thrift when it comes to this, but a year or so back I was real desperate and was looking into ordering. It may come to having to order some when I run out this time, pickings are getting pretty slim. That, plus the fact I'm sometimes paying twice what I paid just a few years back. These so called junk dealers in the NorthWest don't consider lead as junk anymore. Yeah, I can see ordering in my future. 100 pounds of lead ain't nothing when you shoot quite a bit.... As you all well know!
Respectfully, Russ

 

Hey fellas, listen up. We live in the electronic age, the age of forums, e-mail, e-alerts, e-business and so on.
I very carefully worded an e-mail to Midway, mentionting that I'm a member and moderator of TWO shooting forums with a combined total of nearly THWO THOUSAND members, ALL SHOOTERS AND POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS.
Now THAT is power.
I was very careful to slice them up very humanely and with great care and politness and never mentioned which forums I'm a member of.
I said that I was NOT about to return the lead for 20 bucks more shipping then pay yet another 20 bucks shipping for the right lead.
The reply was very applogetic, humble and SMART business.
Midway is sending me another 30 pounds of CERTIFIED 99.97% PURE lead at NO expense to me whatsoever.
Now that is a business with some smarts. :thumbsup:
By the way, the original cost of lead with shipping would be 2 bucks a pound. Not bad if you have no time (like me) to go scrounging.
I had a bad experience with Compasseco, a supplier of airguns, pellets and accessories.
They responded to my complaints in a snoty, unprofessional manner.
I murdered them on every airgun talk forum in the freaking world. :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Compasseco has since tried to make up for the "mistake". Fat chance! :blah:
They can kiss my..................and not see a penny of my $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Remember this:
YOU are a retailers most important person.
Customers rule! :RO: :thumbsup:

 

[sse]

and not see a penny of my $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Not even a dollar 29? :what:

 

[Stumpkiller]

and not see a penny of my $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

:what: You've got $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$! You never told me you had $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Do your ex wives know about this? I'm tellin. :haha:

 

Frankly Stumpy the Ex's get more of my $$$$$ than many people make! :curse: :curse:
SSE. NO you ain't gettin' the buck twenty nine.
A gift is a gift! :blah:

 

[Raynor]

Does anyone know what the hardness is of chilled lead shot. I've got a bunch of the stuff that I paid $12 a bag for. Seeing that round balls are patched anyway, would it hurt if they weren't pure lead. Thanks ~~ raynor

 

Chilled lead has a touch of antimony, 'er was that alimony???. Nope that's all the ex's.
About 2 to 3 %, not enough to make muzzle loader bullets too hard. Use it.

 

[sse]

SSE. NO you ain't gettin' the buck twenty nine.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

 

[gasbomb]

Well I just found a source of pure lead at fifty cents a pound in sixtyfour pound blocks here in the SF Bay California. Lead is very hard to find with all the Prop65 B.S. :bull: The nanny state of California says everything will kills us all. :curse: So if your a local yocal pm me and I will give you my source. :RO: