Price for round balls near you?

[SDSmlf]

Just trying to get my hands around the cost that most posted does not include shipping cost as part of ball cost. Lead is heavy $$$

Find shipping costs to be variable. While I typically cast the majority of my roundballs and lead bullets, I have found that if you are paying attention to sales offers, free shipping comes up on a regular basis from many suppliers.

Realistically, when I can purchase a Lee mold for just over $20, I’ll buy a mold before I’ll buy roundballs. I’ve got a Lee Production Pot and likely more lead than I’ll use in 5-10 years. And I’m always adding to my lead supply.

 

[wiksmo]

From a muzzleloader LGS (8 miles away), I buy:
~~Hornady .350" RBs, 100-count = $9 + $0.90 tax.
~~Hornady .490" RBS, 100-count = $16.97 + $1.70 tax.

Not sure if prices considered spendy, but it sure is convenient.

 

[michael mcghee]

local dealer 19.99 plus tax 535 dia hornady round balls

 

[sixty3.390]

I also watch for sales. Midway & Speer had a sale earlier this year, $9.99/100 for most if not all calibers. I ordered 2yrs worth as I also had a gift card to burn. At $10 it's not worth my time to cast RB's when I have many other calibers to make. I do have molds for both .45 & .50 Cals and one of my goals this year is to compare my cast vs. Speers so I will be getting more practice and confirm if my LEE molds to there job.

 

[brewer12345]

I buy lead for somewhere around $1.25 a pound shipped on average. Fire up the casting pot and crank them out. I am planning to cast on sunday and will do 45 and 58 round ball, plus conicals for 45, 50 and 54. That should be enough for shooting and experimentation with some new conical designs I haven;t played with before. You have to make the up front investment in equipment, but it doesn't take many conicals to pay for it. Round ball takes a bit longer, but they make for cheap shooting.

 

[BullRunBear]

I haven't bought any round ball for years. I either cast or get them at swap meets for almost nothing. Checked the local Cabelas just now and was shocked at the $20 for a box of .490. At least Cabelas had them on the shelf. MidwayUSA had better prices, 7 to 8 dollars less but then there's the shipping cost.

Twenty bucks per 100 to feed my 50 calibers seems high at first but it would take A LOT of hours to use them up. (I'm not a fast shooter. What's the hurry?) But I'm still glad I don't have to pay that price.

Jeff

 

[Loyalist Dave]

"If it fits, it ships" - you can get a lot of roundballs into the smallest USPO box.

Yeah I recently bought a LARGE amount of lead #2 shot which came in a USPS "if it fits" box. The USPS LOST $$ on that deal. The letter carrier put a note in my box. Said it was too heavy for her and if I wanted it I had to come to the post office to pick it up.

Them squirrels will not know what hit them.......,

LD

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Get out. Make friends.

Local infirmities, dentistry establishments, roofists, radiological laboratories, all have excess scrap lead that is often given away for free.

A cheap set of mouldes, ladle, and melting pot can all be baretered for or bought second hand for next to nothing. A little knowhow and practice and this is the result:

Free roundballs and bullets for the rest of your life.

 

[dave951]

$.95/lb + electricity. Haven't bought rb in 30+ years

 

[brewer12345]

I went on a casting binge on Sunday, all ML projectiles. One "commodity" (easily bought) thing I cast up was a couple hundred plus 570 balls. I happened to see them on Midway yesterday for $9.99. At first I thought it wasn't too bad, then I realized that was the price for 50! Guessing I have paid for my mold already.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

$.95/lb + electricity. Haven't bought rb in 30+ years

Some basic fire making skills, flint and scrap steel, tinder, and you wouldn’t have to pay for electricity and if you follow my advice, lead either.

I mill my own powder, press my own caps from beer cans and explosive compound, cast my own ball from free lead in the forest using free firewood fuel, and obtain free cloth from the Salvation Army and use the fat I render from game animals to make patches and lube.

Haven’t paid a single penny for the 10s of thousands of shots I’ve fired since the later 1970s. I shake my head in disbelief and disappointment at how much spend on shooting their muzzleloaders today with store bought ingredients.

 

[dave951]

Some basic fire making skills, flint and scrap steel, tinder, and you wouldn’t have to pay for electricity and if you follow my advice, lead either.

I mill my own powder, press my own caps from beer cans and explosive compound, cast my own ball from free lead in the forest using free firewood fuel, and obtain free cloth from the Salvation Army and use the fat I render from game animals to make patches and lube.

Haven’t paid a single penny for the 10s of thousands of shots I’ve fired since the later 1970s. I shake my head in disbelief and disappointment at how much spend on shooting their muzzleloaders today with store bought ingredients.

Sorry, I'm not Amish

 

[pwbsmokey]

Some basic fire making skills, flint and scrap steel, tinder, and you wouldn’t have to pay for electricity and if you follow my advice, lead either.

I mill my own powder, press my own caps from beer cans and explosive compound, cast my own ball from free lead in the forest using free firewood fuel, and obtain free cloth from the Salvation Army and use the fat I render from game animals to make patches and lube.

Haven’t paid a single penny for the 10s of thousands of shots I’ve fired since the later 1970s. I shake my head in disbelief and disappointment at how much spend on shooting their muzzleloaders today with store bought ingredients.

Really?

 

[smoothshooter]

For those of you that buy your round balls, what are you paying? Local big r wants $20 per 100 for .490 to .530 round balls.

Anyone that shoots more than a few dozen shots per year should be making their own. Same goes for revolver wads.
There is no way I am paying a dime or more each for felt wads, either. Punches and felt are cheap. So is lube for the wads. Mix beeswax and cooking oil and dip the wads with tweezers in the hot mixture.

 

[Nessmuck56]

Makes your eyes red..just looking at it. 100lb ingot..for Free !

 

[TFoley]

I pay $20 hundred around here. Started casting my own shortly. It's about 1/3 the cost!

You are being overcharged! I can cast around 150 .44cal ball for a buck - the price of the electricity.

 

[Bledfor Days]

$18 for 100 .440 up here in Vancouver. Sure a lot of replies here that have nothing to do with the original question.

 

[TarponStalker]

I paid $20/100 .530 Speer round balls. I want to start casting my own soon.

 

[Ames]

When I started casting I told my yard sailing wife to call me if she found any old fishing tackle. You know....grandpa died, old fishing rods in the garage....tackle boxes....bucket of sinkers for salt water fishing. 20lbs of lead for $2 seemed too good to pass up.
Up here a box of .530 will cost $20. No way I'm paying that.

 

[LawrenceA]

The nearest place that might sell them is about 500 miles away and they will be USD35 a 100.
Scrap lead is free so I cast my own.