What is the going price for scrap lead?

[jfaldo]

This stuff is really soft but who knows may have other stuff in there. It will make perfectly fine round balls I would think. The 99% certified pure Rotometal is predominately for the Sharps. Still the price of the cable sheathing was right :thumbsup:

 

[Col. Batguano]

Here's where the commodity of lead is trading on the London Metals Exchange market.
http://lme.com/metals/non-ferrous/lead/

Scrap and physical delivery prices will vary up and down from that quite a bit, particularly for small quantities.

 

[graybeard]

Best choice: be friends with a plumber. graybeard

 

[excess650]

Free most definitely is the best price. :thumbsup: Have no fear of using the sheathing in your Sharps. Casting will reveal whether or not you'll need to add tin.

The stuff that I've skimmed from telephone cable sheathing was saved, cast into ingots, and used for "enrichment metal" for casting for modern rifles. It most definitely will add hardness and toughness.

 

[penrosepete]

I am finally getting a lead tester that I have wanted for a long time. What is the hardest I would want to use for round ball hunting. thanks for all your comments

 

[excess650]

My preference for PRBs in a rifled barrel are less than 10bhn, and preferrably less than 8bhn. I recall reading about the white hunters in Africa using "hardened balls", but they would have close to that 10bhn. Softer compresses, loads and expands more easily.

Harder balls can be loaded in smoothbores and will still expand.

If you're scrounging, look for old lead pipe, cable sheathing, roof flashing and other sheet lead. Stick-on wheel weights are also good.

Modern clip-on wheel weights can be lead based, iron, or zinc. You can't melt the iron, and the zinc will contaminate lead, so avoid those.

 

[Dr5x]

Excess 650
It never crossed my mind that skimming that crud from the top of your lead melt would in time remove other metal additions.
My source was scrap metal dealers,The very best source for me was the sheet lead used to cover the walls etc of exray rooms or booths. Absolutely pure lead.
My rule of thumb (nail) was that any lead I could cut into with my thumbnail was soft enough house for round balls.
A caution I have never checked out was that balls cast with antimony or other additives will cool to a size atad smaller than if cast with pure lead/
This could throw your ball patch measurement off enough to open your groups.

Flashing which is used to seal the surround of a chimney that goes through a roof is another common usage of lead sheeting.
I have a fear that these uses may have been replaced by plastic which has replaced so many of the old time products.

Dutch

 

[Idaho Ron]

Lead pipe is okay if you keep the joints out of it. I have only had a small amount of lead pipe maybe 100 pounds. The pipe it's self was 6 BHN on my Cabine Tree tester. The joints on the other hand were harder in the 9 range. I separated them from the pipe before I melted it and tried to keep the amount of pipe down. The hardness of the joints depends on how much of the softer pipe is left on it. Over all I melted them separate and paid 1.00 per pound. After all the work it didn't seem worth it to me.
I look for ingots in stores, flea markets, and yard sales. I take my tester and test the ingots. I typically ask if it is pure, then I test. I tell them if it is pure I will give 1.00 per pound. If it is over 5 I have to cut the price. I bought 100 pounds of 7 BHN for 25 dollars. That is exactly what I use for my paper patched bullets. I also bought 500 pounds that tested between 8 and 9 BHN for 100 bucks. The 8 to 9 is what I use in my paper patched 45 bullets.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Take great care in melting lead pipes......I had a pipe siphon and explode once while feeding it into a pot....luckily I only got a little bit on my arm (the only exposed area, my clothes were covered)....Had my head been closer to the pot it could have been a different story as evident by all the lead stuck to the ceiling....

Trapped air or a moisture in the pipe will expand and explode.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Good point Clyde. I use lead pipe, but cut it into small sections about 6-8 inches long and am careful to not pinch one end shut so as it melts gas and air etc. can escape. I don't need it to go bang in the pot from a gas or hidden water problem.