Scrap lead prices

I just cleaned up 140 lbs of pure lead. From a friend. And 120 lbs of range recovery. I collect from behind the pistol range at the club I belong to.

The last time I bought scrap lead was a couple of years ago and I got around 1000lbs that cleaned up into about 600lbs for about 55/lb dirty weight. Not such a good deal when I got it cleaned up.
 
Easyrider604...just getting ready to go to work and will set aside some choice lead for you. Thanks again for showing me how to shoot the 1911 my groups are getting better all the time. I will PM the address of the scrap yard as I don't know it off-hand. My next project is to reload for Colt .45 and .45ACP I have a nice 1873 clone on order and factory ammo in .45Colt is about$1.00/Rnd:eek:
 
i get my ww for free, i help out a local shop keeping the mess cleaned up and i usually get a 5 gal pail every 6 months.
 
358Scout said:
I went to a metal scrap yard here in Saskatoon, and picked up a sheet of pure lead used for some kind of roof flashing. Paid $1.00 / pound. Also checked with Habitat for Humanity - when they are given an older house to strip, that flashing ( around the chimney and sewer vent) is the same thing - pure lead. That was also cheap.
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I have a stash of close to 500lbs of W-W and 200lbs of pure lead and trying to get even more b/c the times of cheap lead are over, the eco-terrorists are making it true as we speak. The most I paid was 75c per lb and will pay more if nessesary before lead jumps in price like copper from 65c couple of years ago to over $4 now....never mind the price for silver and gold....
 
Keep your eyes peeled when looking through wheelweights. New cars are coming in with steel weights, stamped Fe, and the zinc units are marked Zn. California is pushing for lead free wheelweights, so you know damn well where that could end up; less lead, more crap.
 
Paid for the first 5 gallon bucket full yesterday. Could have had them for $20 for a full pail, but gave the guy $25 just to make sure he'd save them for me next time. He said he'd have the new bucket full in a month and to stop back in so we will see.

My jeep goes in for service tuesday so I'll make a deal with them too ;) Like everyone is saying, its time to stock up.
 
trade some of your lead for scrap wheelweight lead. pure lead is harder to come by and folk shooting muzzel loaders need it.

hardened wheelweights can be driven to 30-30 levels with a gas check.
 
I haven't been shooting much this year because I am low on lead! I guess I have no one to blame except for myself. I haven't been trying too hard. Anyone wishing to sell me their bucket full of ww for $25, I'll jump on it! I hope the yield is still okay nowadays. I think I was getting about 65% yield over a year ago.
 
xtremacanuck said:
Keep your eyes peeled when looking through wheelweights. New cars are coming in with steel weights, stamped Fe, and the zinc units are marked Zn. California is pushing for lead free wheelweights, so you know damn well where that could end up; less lead, more crap.
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Indeed, last time the $30 5gal bucket from Kal Tire yelded only not quite 35lbs of clip on w-w, 4lbs stick on lead, 1lb of zink and 80+lbs of steel. If my time looking for them, car gas expense, sorting them, propane expense and melting it are added up then I paid well, well over $1per lb. Yes, the good times are over.
 
I know that if you accidentally melt zinc in with your lead, it is no good for bullets but don't throw it out 'cause it is still great for fishing sinkers or diving weights or even in the keel of your sail boat for ballast...(a pound is still a pound) just mark it properly (spray paint) and don't get it mixed up with your good lead billets...Bill
 
I've found a couple of shops around that will save their wheelweights. Unfortunately, most of the places around here RE USE OLD WHEEL WEIGHTS!!! I just about crapped dwhen i heard that...

One place charges $20 for a full 5 gallon bucket, but they don't save them for anyone in particular, i just have to get lucky and go when they have some (usually about 1/4 bucket). Found a couple others that give them to me for free, big truck weights too. Fourth place i just have to buy the shop manager a timmies and he lets me go through the shop and take whatever i can find.

So if you go by that...say i get 2 full buckets, averaging about 130lbs each of ww lead after i melt them all and remove the iron, zinc, clips, valve stems etc... I pay about 8 cents per pound of ww scrap. Less if you factor in what i get for taking the seperated iron, zinc, valve stems, and steel clips to the scrap guy.
 
JBD said:
hardened wheelweights can be driven to 30-30 levels with a gas check.
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You can get quicker than 30-30 speed, just ask one of my Garand’s that shoots cast almost exclusively.

Yes the days of getting free WW's are gone, you might get lucky with one offs but by and large a thing of the past.

If you do get the privilege of buying a bucket of WW's most of them are non-useable (about 45%) as compared to the good old days of about 85-90% good lead. The only exception is truck stop tire shops; you get a much higher percentage of lead/ WW's.

I have about 2.5 tons of lead in 25lb bricks stashed and actually for the last 2 years I have been buying my pistol bullets to conserve the lead I have and to save some time which I have very little of lately.

All my rifles I cast for and I figure I have enough for two generations of shooters in the family.
 
I would talk to some roofing companies in your area. the old cast plumbing flashing still use lead flashings. If you can get them to save the old ones for you then all is well. Worth a shot as there is alot of lead in one of those 12"x12" pieces and the big ones would be even better I do believe they are 24"x24"
 
SCORED !!!! I found a guy with a 45 gallon drum of wheel weights today. He told me he'd sell them to me for 25 cents a pound !!! 5 years ago, I wouldn't have been too thrilled with that, but with the availability today, and the last place I checked asking $1.25/lb, this is a score to me. Looks like I'll finally have my "ton of lead" guys !!!! :dancingbanana:
 
I'm a happy camper tonight. I bought a total of 700lbs of lead today and melted it down into 4ish pound muffin tray bricks. Came out with a total of 546 pounds. 70 bricks of wheel weight lead and 60 bricks of softer stuff for making shotgun slugs. I'm positive this puts me over the top for my "ton of lead" and about 90% of it is made from wheel weights. That's it kids...I'm done. That's pretty much a lifetime (what's left of my lifetime anyway) supply for me !! :D :dancingbanana:
 
not to sound to cheap but our clubs asks for help to clean up the range lead and you get to keep it. 600 lbs last year and 200 lbs so far this year, only problems is to get all the fine sand out of it, flux, flux and more flux.
 
I could only pray for that 375 Rum. Both of the ranges that I'm a member of are outdoors and it's against the rules at both to dig into or even climb on the burms. The range I was a member of when I was in Ontario got a company in to clean out the bullet trap. The company would then write the club a check for the scrap. Buying it directly from the club wasn't even an option, and when I asked, nobody seemed to know what the name of the company was. I think the longer term members have had that supply locked down for a lot longer than I was a member. Anyway...for 25 cents a pound, to be able to just grab it, and have one big melt like we did last night makes it a fairly quick process.
 
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