Pure lead hard to get

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Garyg

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Has anybody bought pure lead from a manufacture? I am in ontario and there is a place in Hamilton that sells lead and lead alloys. It is Alchemy castings. No prices on their web site though. I would imagine shipping could get costly. I like shooting black powder but its hard to find the sizes that you need. No luck with scrap yards either. One yard had 10lb of unknown lead alloy. They wanted $3.50 a lb.
 
Know any roofers? All the older houses have lead flashings on them. This year alone Ive taken probably 500 lbs to the recycler. They only pay about 5c a pound of them.
 
"...No prices on their web site..." Phone 'em. Mind you, lead is getting harder to find due to the tree huggers. It's not as common as it used to be.
 
TargetAcquired said:
Aren't wheel weights pure lead?

I've got piles of them, but I just trade them for stuff. I assumed that when the zinc was weeded out it was just lead.
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No, wheel weights are not pure lead. They have alloying materials in them that make them quite a bit harder than pure.

OK, to clarify, only (usually) the stick on wheel weights, used on mag rims are pure or close to it. The clip on wheel weights, used on steel rims, are harder alloy. Hard, is bad, for muzzleloaders, usually.

If you can access some sources for stick-on weights...

sunray actually is right here. Phone them. The stuff is a commodity, the price changes on a minute to minute basis, so they would have to put a live tracking on their site to keep up the prices.
Ask them about the ingot sizes, as well as whether they have anyplace that is getting a delivery that you could get an order piggybacked on to to save shipping. No harm in asking!

Quantity counts too, as when you wish to buy several hundred tons, the price goes down to somewhat closer to spot.

There is a chart posted on the castboolits site, or you can check out kitco or any of the other metals trackers online. Somewhere around a buck a pound right now, but postage sucks, eh? :)

Wish we had the same flat rate box deal that the US guys have, under $20 to ship 70 pounds across the country!

Post a WTB in the EE and see what shows up locally, maybe.

Cheers
Trev
 
I think I'd be going to your local tire shop and get a 5 gal bucket of WW. Might pay nothing or up to $25. Separate the stick on's from the clip on's. Melt them separately and sell the clip-on ingots. Depending on where you live, you should end up with 20-30# of soft lead and make some money towards some powder or what not.
 
Garyg said:
Has anybody bought pure lead from a manufacture? I am in ontario and there is a place in Hamilton that sells lead and lead alloys. It is Alchemy castings. No prices on their web site though. I would imagine shipping could get costly. I like shooting black powder but its hard to find the sizes that you need. No luck with scrap yards either. One yard had 10lb of unknown lead alloy. They wanted $3.50 a lb.
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buckbrush said:
Canada Metals will sell you pure lead or any of several alloys like Lyman #2, W.W., Linotype, 20 to 1, ...
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Good to know if I ever have trouble finding tin or antimony.
 
I bought linotype from Alchemy castings a few years ago, and I can speak to them being a solid company. Their products are guaranteed pure and they'll have it in stock, but the price is retail. As for alternatives, it's hit and miss, but a metal recycler is your best bet.
 
an other place to check is the works yard at your local Phone Company, they used to wrap wiring clusters in led. they are replacing them and the lead wrapped bundles can be found in the scrap bin.
 
You can fool around melting wheelweights or scrounging scrap of unknown provenance or you can simply go to Canada Metals and get exactly what you want. If you just want to make handgun bullets for playing around, wheelweights are a great choice. The clips will float once the lead is melted and can be skimmed off easily. If you're looking for a repeatable alloy to shoot BPCR then you want to eliminate the possibility of contamination (you don't want aluminum in your lead pot - apparently it's very bad) then bit the bullet, so to speak, and get the good stuff the first time.
 
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