Dkrad1935 Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 I am planning to get into reloading this year. And thought If I could cast some portion of my bullets I could lower overall costs per round. So I went by the WM Tire and Lube and asked for the wheel weights. They said they couldn't give them to me and they weren't lead anymore anyway.... So...Where do you get scrap lead for casting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBunniFuFu Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Depending on location wheel weights can be made of zinc, steel or lead. Good video on the different kinds and he has one on how to sort quickly. Some people I know it is just easier to order ready casting lead. Don't save as much but every little bit helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeRush Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 I was able to get quite a bit from tire shops in the not too distant past, however I have been told that CA legislation has changed this, and haven't been successful lately. Scuba dive weights, stained glass solder, and plenty of other items can sometimes be found at garage sales or on craigslist, but may need you to add other metals to reach sufficient hardness. Casting was the only way I could shoot in college, so I definitely understand- especially if you shoot a 45. Personally I have found if I have to buy lead ingots ready to cast, by the time I add my time to cast, lube, and size it is no longer cost effective. Maybe if you were casting for milsurp rifles or something that doesn't have bullets readily available it would make more financial sense, but if you can't get free or cheap lead it may be better to spend your time on a second source of income and buy bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyK Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 (edited) Unless you shoot thousands and thousands of rounds a year the cost savings may not be worth it, even if the lead is cheap. We buy bulk lead for ballast at about $2 a lb last time I looked and currently there are about 18 50lb ingots in my shop right now. Yes that would make a lot of bullets... But consider that the batch of Plated rounds I just bought were $3.56 a lb (225 grn Xtreme Flat points for my 45) and this is plated rounds that can be used anywhere and are better for your gun. And Xtreme pays the shipping cost, great company to deal with. Yes it would save money but cost you time to make them, time that might be worth the extra cost of the factory made lead. Casting your own might be worth it if you enjoy that part of this crazy hobby but I doubt the savings would be worth the trade off. Edited February 2, 2014 by TonyK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyD Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Check out forums like Castboolits. I've picked up lead for $1-1.25 delivered a pound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolverJockey Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Umm... The shooters in my area are foolish enough to leave it in the berms. I use a explained metal screen and can pull about 100 pounds an hour of useable lead. I use a turkey cooker and a cast iron Dutch oven to smelt down into ingots. Takes about 2 hours total time to process the range lead into usable lead. Cost around $3 for every 4,000 bullets I make. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBunniFuFu Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Jockey, not all of us are blessed with ranges where we can dig up the berms. But this does make me jealous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolverJockey Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 (edited) Now I feel like a jerk. The range I use has been there since 1926. More than enough lead to go around and the EPA is a big fan of lead reclaimation. Lee Edited February 4, 2014 by RevolverJockey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSH Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I am planning to get into reloading this year. And thought If I could cast some portion of my bullets I could lower overall costs per round. So I went by the WM Tire and Lube and asked for the wheel weights. They said they couldn't give them to me and they weren't lead anymore anyway.... So...Where do you get scrap lead for casting? Depending where you are at you can get wheel weights, but you will need to go to mom and pop shops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuyC Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Dig the bullets out of the berm. I sorted out the cast bullets and smelted those sepretley to have the harder lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolverJockey Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Dig the bullets out of the berm. I sorted out the cast bullets and smelted those sepretley to have the harder lead. Another option is to cast into water to increase the surface hardness of the bullets. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyD Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I wish I could mine a berm every now and then...though I guess I've never asked. I do pick up chunks of lead when resetting steel if its just sitting there. I'm not a member at any club currently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttolliver Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I don't want to discourage you, but...well...yes I do Seriously though, I love to shoot cast bullets but have been through the whole casting thing and come out the other side deciding life is too short to spend the time and all of the additional lead exposure opportunities on casting. But here are a few resources and thoughts as you kick casting around -- http://www.lasc.us/ has an amazing casting guide that you should check out. If you decide to alloy your lead the best source for different metals is Rotometals.com. If you decide to buy ready made bullet alloy MissouriBullet.com is the best deal I found. Also know that you will be constantly frustrated with your efforts until you spend the money on a thermostatically controlled furnace (~$350). Go ahead and buy something like the Lyman Big Dipper to learn casting mechanics with, though, because a second small pot is good to have alongside your big one. Now this is a personal issue I know, but I also found that I simply didn't care for the process of casting. I can spend hours at the reloading press and it doesn't feel like work at all. But once I got past the challenge of learning how to cast well, I just found it wasn't that appealing of an activity to me to sit down and turn out piles of cast bullets. Now that's me and maybe not you at all. But from experience I can guarantee you'll spend approaching $1000 to get to that point where you can sit down and produce mass quantities of cast bullets. If you get there and decide it's not for you...you may find yourself saying you wished you had just bought $1000 in bullets instead, hehehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earplug Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Call some of your local recycle metal yards. Mine sells scrap lead for $1.00 a pound. Ebay has some decent deals at times. Casting you own gives you better control of your supply. I have traded bullets for primers if that is meaningful to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agalindo Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I have deal with one of my son's friends, he works at a tire shop. 18pk of beer for a 5gal bucket of WW. I currently have 6 buckets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Live near Southern CA? Got some dive weights I'll give you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinz Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Jimmy, sent ya a PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayhkr Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Wheel weights ARE still lead. I have a fishing sinker business that I make all of my sinkers from lead wheel weights. I have a guy who owns a tire shop. 5 gallon bucket runs me $50, I usually get 110-125 pounds of USABLE lead from each bucket. Just today I bought 2 buckets worth (fishing season is here!) and less than 1/4 of a bucket from the 2 of them were iron wheel weights! I'll be smelting them down this sunday to see how many pounds I actually got, but it averages to .40 cents per pound I pay. When in a bind my local scrap yard will sell me soft lead pipes for $1 per pound. However you will need to add TIN to the softer pipe lead. It took me about a week of constantly e-mailing, calling, and "shopping" around for me to find this ONE tire shop that was willing to sell to me. It's not in the city, but more of an outlying business in a smaller town. All the city tire shops said they had a contract with a recycling company already. I tried bribing them with "12 packs" and they still couldn't give up a bucket or two. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 I have not settled my boolit recipe. here is where I get the other metals that make for better bullets http://www.rotometals.com/ I visit tire shops and have a scrounger friend. when you add for all the effort, commercial lead bullets are not an extravagant expense. miranda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTOGuy06 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 I get mine from a local scrapyard. They charge a fair price and let you pick out what you want. So I just either find nuggets that fit in my pot or larger pure pieces that I can cut down to size. Granted I am using a lee 20lb bottom drop pot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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