Lead bullet Castors, Sources of Lead

PsyEx

PsyEx

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Location
Edmonton, Alberta
Hey Folks just a question for the BP folks. I thought of posting this in the reloading section but I was sure that this would be the place for this. If not my apologies to the Mods.

Where is a good place to get LEAD?

Those of you that Cast your own bullets and balls I got a melter and a mould but coming up short on the lead. Is there a store that you prefer or a better place to get lead. Would love to hear of anyones ideas. I have heard of people using fishing weights and tire weights but these days I notice they are Zinc coated and not suitable for bullets. I am probably overlooking the obvious but never hurts to ask I suppose.
 
Go to a place like general scrap or one of the other recyclers in Edmonton.There you can get plumbing flashing or Linotype or babbitt.Wheel weights even if they have zinc shouldn't be a problem as long as you carefully watch you temperature.I still sort my wheel weights by type and look for the old oval shaped ones the others I melt and if the prove to cast poorly filled out bullets I use them for sinkers or just take them to the scrap yard.
 
I get lead at a scrap metal yard the last few times they had divers weights (10 lbs),I cast mainly for revolvers so I need as pure lead as I can find. If it can be gouged with a thumbnail easily it is fairly pure.
I pay about 75 cents/pound.
Most scrap yards will have lead stashed somewhere but if you find some good stuff buy a lot of it so your casting (hardness) will be consistent
 
Older buildings that have the soft lead plumbing vent gaskets on the roof... you can get a lot of round balls from one of those! Note: be sure the building is abandoned\about to be demolished before you strip the vent gasket off - people get poopy when the building is still in use and you do that :)
Having permission from the property owner is also a very good idea :)


Jim
 
I recently had to replace an old cast iron plumbing drainage stack from an old house, recovered around 30 lbs of pure lead that was used to seal the joints.
 
I've gotten back into reloading and making my own bullets . I've been able to pick up lead scuba weights on Kijiji for next to nothing (picked up 5x10lb uncovered lead weights for 20.00). The lead is soft and when I melted it down no smoke at all. When I want to add tin I get 50/50 pure solder from the local homehardware store and add it to the mix (1 to 20 tin/lead mix).
 
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Poppy, Yes I can see what you mean about people getting a little uppidy about you ripping apart their occupied building. Why do they have to be like that, don't they understand I have guns to feed, ;-). Fig33, Scuba weights, I never thought of those, great idea, I knew it was a good idea to ask you guys thanks. Schneidersauto, I had thought of the lead behind backstops but dismissed it as being contaminated with copper. What do you think? have you ever gotten reliable samples this way? It would be great if it worked out and cheep too I would think. Modern bullets are alloys as well, are they not?
 
I received several pieces the size of a coffee can from a machine shop that was closing. What is was used for I'm not sure, but it was a great score!
Good luck, I'm not sure if this anecdote helps or not but it is an avenue to try I suppose.
 
If you are loading a muzzle loader that fires minie balls like the Civil War era Enfields you can pick up lead at gunshows pretty cheap. I bought bags of lead shot in larger sizes(number 2 and BB) for $20 for a 20 lb. bag. You can no longer use it for migratory game and upland and trap/skeet shooters want smaller shot, so there is not much demand for it. Plus it is not alloyed with any other metal. 20 lbs. will make a lot of bullets.
 
Mike Webb said:
If you are loading a muzzle loader that fires minie balls like the Civil War era Enfields you can pick up lead at gunshows pretty cheap. I bought bags of lead shot in larger sizes(number 2 and BB) for $20 for a 20 lb. bag. You can no longer use it for migratory game and upland and trap/skeet shooters want smaller shot, so there is not much demand for it. Plus it is not alloyed with any other metal. 20 lbs. will make a lot of bullets.
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Kewl, Gun shows is definately on the list now. Honestly I never really thought of getting lead there, mainly just surplus and doylies :rolleyes: . Tokguy I will check out a few machine shops. I have friends that work there so should not be a problem to make an inquirey, thanks guys this is gold er, Lead... Keep going, anyone else?
 
Lead

Got mine from a tire store.About 300 pounds of wheel weights for nothing.they even helped me load it.A little effort pour into a lee ingot mould and your good to go.smelt outside and upwind of your pot.Wash up before eating or smoking wear gloves ect.Good luck.Dave
 
I got mine from a local refinery because I wanted pure. Paid around $1.05/lb but I now have a lifetimes worth, maybe more.
 
41 Colt, Man I wish I had not cancelled my trip to the island this year. I would have taken some of that Goex off your hands. Not sure if there are any lead refinery's here near Edmonton, only Oil and then of course PotAsh over in Sask. IF I find myself near the Best Coast there I will definitely visit the local refinery. Thanks for the Idea. Dave S. I have a few tire shops around me and I am a military mechanic you had a great Idea with the tire shop, maybe I will bring a round of Timmies swap some war stories and liberate some lead, Thank you Sir!!
 
Im thinking about making a trip from vancouver island to vancouver to go get some lead ingots...around 1.21 per pound, i know wheel weight are free but from what im reading it's better to use ''pure'' lead when casting minie ball. So if anybody is interested let me know we can try to work something out.
 
I got about 1,000 pounds from a few different local tire shops. The stick-ons are pure lead, so I separate them from the normal clip-ons. The normal clip-ons make good rifle bullets and the stick-ons are good for pure lead bullets for my old Colt SAA. I had to pay 30 cents/lb to the tire shops, since that is what the scrap dealer was giving them.
 
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