Sources to buy lead?

[Doe]

I know that lead is up, :shocked2: sooo let try to help each other out. :thumbsup: I'm looking to buy lead to make RBS/bullets/minnies etc..and midway lead blocks are $$$ anybody else know a place to order lead ingot to cast?? I know,I can go to tire shops and junk yards, but need a place to order online. Thanks all :thumbsup:

 

[Harold1950]

Too bad you aren't in Cali, there is a place called "Rotometals" if San Francisco, their website is[url] www.rotometals.com[/url] they sell lead ingots and various metals, shipping might not be too good for your location, might cost a bunch..........but if you buy $99.00 they ship for free

 

[jtmattison]

There's a great little secret that anyone shipping lead needs to know about. It's the USPS flat rate box. $8.95 and you can ship whatever will fit in the box. You can easily ship 50 pounds as long as you tape it real good with heavy duty tape.

As for finding lead, Ebay always has lead.

I'm fortunate to have about 600 pounds in my shop.

HD

 

[Thunderchild]

Getting pure lead is a crapshoot. I have been on the loosing side more than the winning. I find it hard to determine the purity of lead (or the sellers knowledge of the product) over the internet or at the salvage yard. Most of the lead that I use has some impurities of one kind or another. I am currently paying about 1.30 a pound for lead over the internet. I pay about .40 cense a pound at the scrap yard when I can get it. Scrap yard Lead needs to be cleaned. The last that I got was glued to Sheetrock. It had a god awful smell as it melted. It smoked like a coal furnace.
The roto metal internet sight has pure lead that will cost 3 dollars a pound delivered. I am tempted to get some for real bullets and Mini Balls. Hard lead is good enough for the range when shooting PRB. I hear of people shooting Glass Marbles, and I am thinking that glass is harder than wheel weight lead. Lead from the Roto Metal source would at least have some assurity of purity of the product. I am going to have to think on that one. I can get 15 mini balls out of a pound. That is five mini balls per dollar if the lead cost three per pound. It is still cheaper than the store bought price which is ten dollars per 15. I can get 30 .563 balls out of a pound and that would cost a dollar per ten at the previous stated rate. Store bought cost 8 dollar per fifty. Still cheaper. Now if I could only get out of this recession.

 

[roundball]

"...I hear of people shooting Glass Marbles..."

And if the priority mail delivery makes it tomorrow or Thursday as it should, I'll be trying some .500" PRMs (Patched Round Marbles :grin: ) in a .54cal Flint smoothbore on Saturday.

 

[Idaho Ron]

I hear your pain. I got hosed on EBAY for "soft lead" it was hard as magnum lead shot, maybe harder. While I can make it work for rabbit hunting and target shooting in my .458 I would rather have soft lead. It loads better and I know it shoot better groups. I ordered from ROTOMETAL on Saturday. The free shipping is for 99 dollars or more and no more than 30 pounds. I got 50 pounds for 2.38 per pound and had to pay shipping, I could not see how to get around it. It is virgin lead and I KNOW it is soft. To my door for 3 dollars per pound sounds like a lot, but my rifle shoots 1.25" groups at 100 yards with pure lead. I can't buy those bullets in a store so I am stuck.
A friend of mine might trade me my hard lead for some lead pipes. I told him I would do it pound for pound. Ron

 

[flashpanner]

check with your dentist. I get my free lead from him

 

[Blizzard of '93]

most lead pipe is alloyed with some antimony and/or tin so it will cast better (fill the mold) but it's fairly low %, I have 100's lbs of lead pipe, makes good slugs for my revolvers.

 

[BigDave]

Right now, at least with 54 caliber 100 bullets the high priced premade roundballs are $12 per hundred.

That comes out around $3.60 a lb.

So if you find 54 caliber roundballs on sale it's a better price than buying the metal, and even if you don't it's a small difference for the trouble of casting yourself.

 

[Doe]

Thanks guys :thumbsup: and one more question, on the average per pound How many balls can you mould lets say 1# how many balls? trying to figure, right now i have about 25# thanks :thumbsup: HAROLD1950 You gave me a new place to to buy lead THANKS :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Thanks guys :thumbsup: and one more question, on the average per pound How many balls can you mould lets say 1# how many balls? trying to figure, right now i have about 25# thanks :thumbsup: HAROLD1950 You gave me a new place to to buy lead THANKS :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

There are 7000 grains in a pound...use the ball weight that you're casting for and just do the math...ie: .50cal ball: 7000 / 180grns = 38 balls

 

[Coot]

Thanks guys :thumbsup: and one more question, on the average per pound How many balls can you mould lets say 1# how many balls? trying to figure, right now i have about 25# thanks :thumbsup: HAROLD1950 You gave me a new place to to buy lead THANKS :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

The number that you can cast depends on the size of ball you are casting. If the raw lead is clean & pure, there is miniscule waste (remelt any bad balls & the sprues). The bore size convention is based on the number of roundballs that you can cast from a pound of lead that will fit that bore (example a 20 bore (20 gauge in todays terms) uses balls that are 1/20 of a pound - 20 to the pound. For small calibers, divide the ball weight into a pound. PS - I get my lead free as scrap from the local stained glass shop. Good shooting

 

[Idaho Ron]

I got my 50 pound order today from Rotometal. It looks great, and the order got here in three days. Ron

 

[2172]

I've had good luck buying 20lb at a time from a guy at [email protected]'s running a small bp business in Minnesota, and was the first one I found who was using the PO cheap express box routine..I've dealt with him on other items over the past few years, and believe he's a decent and honest man...Hank

 

[Rebel]

I have always had good luck in my dealing with Mike at Freetrappers(Walnutstain) too. He is an honest nice guy to deal with.

 

[billandbeaufort]

Buffalo Arms has it at $2.89 per LB. They will ship USPS flat rate for $17.50 per 50 LB. (that's $3.24 per LB at your door)

 

[sidelock]

Find your local plumbing supply shop. They all have lead in 5# ingets. Good luck

 

[Greenmtnboy]

I got my 50 pound order today from Rotometal. It looks great, and the order got here in three days. Ron

I just bought 100lbs for 280.00 a bit steep but with the price of all metals going through the ceiling and all this damn talk of making it illegal to shoot, hell I got a little paranoid.
Now I got two hundred pounds of lead and 40 lbs of culled hornaday balls. I am officially ready for Hillary to be our next "MAN" in charge :shake:

 

[Birdman]

Doe, hit every dentist in yer area and ask them what they do with all the lead from the x-rays they take, most times they have to store them up and pay to get rid of them as lead is considered hazardous waste. Every dentist(except one hee hee an anti ) I talked to was more then happy for me to take the lead off their hands. They looked at me a little funny at first but what the heck, it was free. It will take a bit to really get any weight but if ya stop every couple months you will be suprised at how quickly it will add up. oh yea, ya don't have to worry about the radiation cause there ain't none and the heat from melting will kill any other bugaboos that may be on the lead. When I first get it I'll wear rubber gloves just to be on the safe side handleing it but after its been melted ya ain't gotta worry anymore.YMHS Birdman

 

[Idaho Ron]

I get the lead from my dentist. The problem is after 6 months I got 12 oz of lead. A lot of the dentists in my area are going digital. Ron