Good Soft Clean Lead For Casting

Crow Choker · November 10, 2023, 07:53:08 PM

If anyone is having problem finding good soft clean lead for casting, there are several sellers on 'The Muzzleloading Forum' that offer lead pipe, roof sheeting, X-Ray room lead etc quite often cast into ingots. One seller Justin44 seems to have an inexhaustible supply of lead pipe and roof sheeting all cast into ingots, sells quite regularly offering 20, 30, 45,55# boxes shipped to your door. Average around $2.20-2.30 per pound shipped. I've bought three times from him. I've plenty of lead for hardcast bullets, but in my area soft lead has become hard to find. Casts wonderful ball and soft lead bullets. BHN is 5-6 on my tester, scratches very well with thumbnail. Ya must be a member though to order.

Coffinmaker · November 11, 2023, 08:19:24 AM

Crow Choker

Thanks a bunch for the lead. Good information to know for us Front Stuffer Shooters.

Another tip, find a boat yard that "breaks" old sail boats. Most save the keel lead and sell it for reasonable.

Crow Choker · November 11, 2023, 01:51:03 PM

I've heard of that. Only problem I only live near rivers (and two fine rivers they are). There is a small lake around 25 miles west of me, a few sail boats on it, not sure if there is a sailboat junkyard. Something to check out. Good, soft pure lead used to be pretty available around my area. Towns tearing up old streets and installing new pipes under and into buildings, what was in buildings, but that sort of runs out. Roof sheets also, but anymore the three or so outfits that do roofing in my area keep that for themselves and won't sell them much less give it away.

There is a scrapyard near me that buys lead but won't sell it, sells to some big outfit of some kind. Same with wheel weights for vehicle tires. Most weights anymore have alot of zinc in them and most tire outfits now save them as they can exchange them when buying new weights and receive a discount. I recall when tire shops use to beg casters to take the wheel weights off of their hands. If I recall right, the guy I mentioned selling soft lead advised me he has a connection to a roofing business and plumbing also down in Mazzoura' (MO) where he lives.

Professor Marvel · November 16, 2023, 12:57:14 PM

Quote from: Coffinmaker on November 11, 2023, 08:19:24 AM

Another tip, find a boat yard that "breaks" old sail boats. Most save the keel lead and sell it for reasonable.

One does want to be careful of keel weights. One feller bought an old saleboat real cheap figuring he would make a fortune on all that "lead in the keel".
Turned out it was a terrible mix of lead, rocks, concrete and epoxy...

Bubba Keel.

Yhs
Prf mumbles

Coffinmaker · November 17, 2023, 09:12:52 AM

Yikes

I remember (and that don't happen often) when I first started reloading and casting my own. I went to the local tyre shops hoping to "buy" some lead. It was a very short search. First shop I went to, the proprietor exclaimed "oh thank goodness" and promptly "gave" me over 250 pounds of wheel weights in 5 gallon buckets.

Crow Choker · November 17, 2023, 04:09:26 PM

Dem ver da days!!! In one of the communities where I wore a gold badge fighting crime and corruption one of the local tire shops in their third generation of ownership had wheel weights in abundance. First time I was given some I took home four five gallon buckets of them. Don't think that is some weight. Got some more later on.

When I was going to move back to my area I grew up in the owner asked me if I would take some more. I drove my El Camino out back of the shop and was going to load some up, there were probably 20 buckets out back in the weeds. The first three or four metal buckets of them as I picked em up were so rusted from water getting in them over the years that when I grabbed the handle all I got was the shell of the bucket, wheel weights in a pile. Had alot to do moving, advised him I would come back later.

Sad story is by the time I did, the owner had passed away and his son had cleaned out all of the lead. Advised some scrapper had taken it. Snooze ya lose!!!! I've checked several tire shops over the years and now they can trade used weights in for new. Alot of the new weights anymore aren't fit for casting, to much zinc and other metals that aren't harmonious to casting.

Froogal · November 18, 2023, 08:06:19 AM

I tried just one time to get those wheel weights from a local tire shop. Got a 5 gallon bucket that was about 1/2 full, and only about 1/2 of those were actual LEAD wheel weights. The rest were plastic or something. I gave up on that idea and just bought what I wanted from roto-metals.