What do you pay for lead from a scrap metal dealer?

You might want to ask around at local ranges, especially indoor ones. There's usually a lot of lead hanging around that they have to dispose of. I assume they'd be happy to have someone take it off their hands.

If you really need 'clean' or otherwise processed lead please disregard.
 
I get my wheel weights for free. It's been a while since I have bought any pure lead but I think it was around 25 cents per pound - that was about 4 years ago and prices have gone up.
 
I have never paid for any of it. If you check around there are places that will gladly give you their wheelweights just to get rid of them. Garages, Car lots, tire places, etc.
 
It's getting more difficult to find free wheelweights.

When I pay, it's about $0.10/lb ($20 for a full, "clean" 5 gallon bucket - about 175 lbs that yields about 125 lbs of ingots). By clean, I mean other than dirt, some paper, and rubber valves, there are no brake calipers, large bolts, etc., and no moisture to speak of. I once got a free bucket that had a couple of inches of water in the bottom and at some point had a bunch of oil poured into it. Not a pleasant experience smelting that, even when it was free.

P.S. the best times to score are Oct-Nov and Apr-May, i.e. "Tire Season". Most large tire shops have contracts to have their wheelweights taken away, but most general purpose shops don't. I find it best to offer to pay up-front starting at $10/5 gallons - sometimes I walk away with it for free. When asked "what for?" - sinkers, toy soldiers, or bullets for competitive target shooting.
 
Andy said:
It's getting more difficult to find free wheelweights.
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There are a few shops around here that I can get WW for free but not to many. Seems most know they are worth something.

From the scrap metal guy I should be able to get 100lbs of pure lead for $40 (2500 bullets) and 100lbs of wheel weights for $25 (1500 shotgun slugs). To save $65 it seems like a lot of driving around and possible buying a pail of junk.
 
If anyone near Winnipeg (cause shipping cost would be killer :))ever needs clean lead just fire me a PM. I usually have access to fairly large quantitites of clean stuff.
 
The last lead I got came for free from a stone mason. There was a guy rebuilding the limestone steps in front of a government building. He had sheets of it as a barrier layer between the blocks and some sort of concrete supports. Don't know if it was working, but he was taking it out. So I talked him out of several lengths of sheet lead! It went to my favourite cast bullet maker.
 
I ended up paying $0.47/lb. for pure but they had just shipped all thier wheel weights so I will have to wait until next week for some.

Not a steal so I may shop around and see what some other guys are selling for. It does look like good stuff.
 
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