Looking for Lead

P

pgrundle

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I am a newbie reloader and playing around with the idea of casting some 9mm and 45 Colt bullets and then powder coating them.

I just have two questions:

1. Where would I purchase small lead, 5 pounds a piece, in the Vancouver area?

2. Any suggestions for purchasing powder coat material, either in store or online works for me.

Thank you in advance for any advice given,

PG
 
your best bet for free or cheap lead is tire shops. If you can get some discarded wheel weights they can be melted down for excelent cast bullet alloy. If you look in the powdercoating sticky in the bullet making forum you will find lots of info.
 
I pick mine up from a place in Richmond, they sell it in 60 lb ingots though. I have a bunch of 1/2lb and 1lb ingots if you wanted to grab a bit. Are you near the lower mainland?
 
For pistol bullets, agree, hit up a local garage and get lead wheelweights from them. For more exacting requirements, buy from Canada Metals or someone like that.
 
I wouldnt waste your time at the tire shops. For most of the country that whole scene is long gone. There should be plenty of dealers in the Vancouver area.
 
Not sure about your area, but metal recyclers in my region sell lead in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Last time I went I got a chunk of lead the size and shape of a coffee can for about $2 a pound if I recall. Might be worth calling your local scrap yard.
 
I've done the metal recycler thing. The one place I hit up even had 5 gallon pails that I could take with me after I sorted through the drum of scrap lead.

If you get really lucky you might show up just after someone drops off a bunch of lead pipe from a demolition project. Even luckier, you could cut out the middleman and get the lead pipe straight from the construction/destruction site.

I guess it all depends on the kind of contacts that you have

Good luck
 
Philthy1 said:
I wouldnt waste your time at the tire shops. For most of the country that whole scene is long gone. There should be plenty of dealers in the Vancouver area.
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What he means is the days of getting a pail of wheel weights used to be mostly lead alloy, tire shops are now using zinc alloys and steel weights. paying for a pail of used wheel weights is a losing proposition because zinc is unusable.
 
I picked about 150 pounds of spent bullets from my local range. They are a bit labor intensive to process but the lead is great.
You can also try (as others have pointed out) going to the local scrap recycler. You can usually score some lead pipe, sheeting and if you are really lucky, you may find some x-ray room lead from a hospital.
You will be surprised at how fast you can accumulate a large stockpile.
 
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