I used to be able to get lots of free WW's but just like SandRoad said, most tire shops now are either selling to a contracted buyer or are ordered from head office to only sell to a licensed re cycler. It is very hard to find anyone who will sell used WW's other than going to the recyclers and they generally sell for 40 cents a pound. I stopped off on my bi-weekly run looking for WW's at a tire shops/recyclers and there was a girl behind the counter that I had never seen before. So I played stupid and asked how much for scrap lead and she said 25 cents a pound. So I just about corrected her and then I remembered that they only give 15 cents a pound for WW's and sell for 40 cents (nice little profit) so I bought 500 pounds and I should have got more but Christmas was around the corner and I didn't have that much with me. I have about 1.5 tons squandered away, enough for the rest of my life and my kids but I still look for more because I can see in the very near future you will not be able to buy lead at any price. In Europe most countries have outlawed it for shooting, you can only use jacketed bullets, how dumb what do you think is under that jacket for a core?
As far as range lead is concerned, it can be recovered but be careful when you processes it, sometimes water will get in with the jackets and if you drop a handful into the rendering pot it will explode the lead everywhere, very dangerous. The best way to do it is to fill the cast iron pot up and then turn the heat up and melt it, that way if there is water in there it will evaporate before it can hurt anything. Do your normal fluxing and purifying and drain the pot and start over. I know it is a pain in the back side doing it that way but take it from me who has been there done that, it is much safer.
I am working on a portable backstop that I can take with me to the range so that I can recover my own lead, guess I am paranoid about the possibility of Lead being banned and I don't want to have to buy jacketed for practicing.
