Sources to buy lead?

Dang Ryan, I just got mine! I am going to have to think about another order :thumbsup:
I have been spreading your company name like bad weed seed. Hope you don't mind :grin: Thanks Ron

I just picked up 57 lbs. at the local scrapyard today. It set me back $11.40 and was almost clean enough to eat off of! If my math is right at .20/ lb., my cost per 100 for .535 balls is a financial disaster at nearly 66 cents a hundred. I can buy Hornadys at the local gun shop for $12.99/ hundred. Did someone say its just about as cheap to buy them??? Let me sell you some balls, Mister!!!!!! :rotf:

When I make bullets I don't want something that just goes bang. I want accuracy with my rifles that is under 2" groups at 100 yards, and I try to get 1" groups. I can't get that with scrap lead. You never know how hard it is. Each type pours a different weight. Each different type is a little different hardness and they harder bullets don't go down very good.
Scrap is not consistant enough for me. Ya it is cheep so is dryer lint. Ron

Idaho Ron said:

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Scrap is not consistant enough for me. Ya it is cheep so is dryer lint. Ron

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I've heard dryer lint doesn't cast very well.

I mean.. I've made analogies too, but that one was just silly.

If you're worried over 2 or 3 grains variation per ball and you're shooting offhand- Even for a bench shooter- you are way too much of a Purist for muzzleloading......... I shoot competitively, and so do 6 or 8 other guys in my club and we ALL buy salvaged lead and cast our own... :shake:

If you sort the balls by weight, the alloy used is not very important. They may shoot to a slightly different point of aim, and if they are real hard, they will be larger in diameter, which you will instantly tell trying to seat the ball in the muzzle, and you may need to go to a smaller thickness patch for those harder balls. But, they should be just as accurate as pure lead balls, if sorted by weight, and by diameter. You can always have a few ingots of pure lead to add to a pot that is producing balls that are too hard.

When I was a kid, Dad had us scrounging led from backstops, from the railroad tracks, or anywhere else we could find lead. He did get some ingots of pure lead, and when preparing to make a run of bullets or balls. would take the first few castings and dump them in water to cool down quickly. Then he would put them on a scale to get an average weight . If they weighed too little ( usually more than 5 grains less than his standard) he would calculate how much pure lead he needed to add to the alloy to bring it down within his target weight. Then he would cut off enough lead off the ingot, scale it, and then add it to the mix. I was given the job of cutting off pieces of lead to meet the goal. He feed them into the pot, and waited for them to melt, and for the lead mix to come up to temperature for casting. After a few bullets or balls were cast, he would again cool a couple down, weight them and check them for diameter, using his vernier caliper, before proceeding on, if his calculations achieved the desired mix. We enjoyed the challenge of making " Free " scrap lead work for us.

Wow that's a good deal. I don't mind using scrap for target shooting, but stay with the pure stuff for hunting. I also find that some scrap casts up a little lighter, and if really hard will be a little larger. If you cast ball like this just keep them segregated for consistency.

woodbutcher29483, Purist? Now that is the first time anyone called me that. I would call me picky, but not a purist. I shoot off a bench, in field positions, and off hand.
Am I worried about 2 to 3 grains? I weigh mine and keep them within +- .3 of a grain. I am making bullets, and conicals, not round balls.
Paul, I will disagree. I have been testing different hardness of lead and it does make a difference. Maybe you can't tell a difference with a RB at 50 yards between the different types of lead. I do see the difference. I am using 45-70 bullets out of my 45. I shoot targets from 100 yards out to 300 yards. At those ranges I do see a difference. Some bullets I like a little harder. Others I like butter soft. The bullets I am using now are paper patched, and I want them soft. Sounds like you and you Dad had fun finding lead and making it work.
I find the fun in the accuracy side, not the scrounging. That is what makes the list fun to read, the different opinions. It would be a dull list if we all did it the same way. Ron

We may be talking apples and oranges, Ron. With most ML rifles, we are casting round ball and shooting out to 100 yds. Not 100-300 as you are doing with those .45-70 bullets. Of course, at those ranges, the difference in weight can show an affect on group size and scores.

Because My father enjoyed shooting his revolvers more than his rifle, we turned most of the scrapped lead into pistol bullets, but I remember casting a bunch of .62 cal. round ball for a Tower Flintlock pistol one year. We weighed every ball, and those that were over the average got the sprued filed down to see if we could not get them to weight the average weight. Otherwise, they went back into the pop to be re melted and re-cast.

I would love to get into shooting a BP revolver. My son and I shot a revolver a guy had at the range. It was a great shooting pistol. He was using Lee real bullets I think. Ron

Have to agree with one of the previous posters as to buying from a plumbing wholesaler .
I own a business that deals with plumbing wholesalers , asked them about pure lead , can buy it in 5lb ingots . Currently it costs $1.49 a lb. Used to be $0.89 (ya I know everything used to be less) When it went up to $1.00 I bought 500 lbs . If you can't buy it from the wholesaler , talk to your plumber he can .
Hope this helps .

Idaho Ron said:

When I make bullets I don't want something that just goes bang. I want accuracy with my rifles that is under 2" groups at 100 yards, and I try to get 1" groups. I can't get that with scrap lead. You never know how hard it is. Each type pours a different weight. Each different type is a little different hardness and they harder bullets don't go down very good.
Scrap is not consistant enough for me. Ya it is cheep so is dryer lint. Ron

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I'm going to have to agree with Ron, Pure lead is the only thing going down my barrels.
weather it's my 36 to 54 Roundball barrels or my Rigby .451
I bought 50 lbs of what was supposed be pure lead at a garage sale for dirt. The lead was molded into ingots all pretty and everything. I still don't know what all is in the bars but pure it ain't and shows up big time at 100yrds. Over the years I have tried everything under the sun that was dang near pure, from wheel weight to roof lead(lead flashing) And still haven't found anything that prints like pure lead.
So I don't mind paying extra to know that the neck or head shot I'm about to take is dead nuts.
If you want to throw balls all over the paper with inpure lead that's your right, but out west here in the open country, hunting shots at 100yrds are not uncommon so IMHO you owe it to the animal you are about to harvest to be the best you can be and that starts with pure lead.
:hatsoff:

woodbutcher29483 said:

If you're worried over 2 or 3 grains variation per ball and you're shooting offhand- Even for a bench shooter- you are way too much of a Purist for muzzleloading......... I shoot competitively, and so do 6 or 8 other guys in my club and we ALL buy salvaged lead and cast our own... :shake:

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I compete off hand and cull my balls down to half a grain or under. I also weigh my powder when benching at distance. Every body's different we all are as anal as we want to be.
I'm super anal ask Coyote Joe. But the results are in the pudding

I have never went as far as weighing the powder. I might have to see what happens. If I did it I would use my powder measure to see what it throws. Then use the scale to match it every time, Sounds interesting.
Pulaski, I tried to get lead form local plumbing companies. The women I talked to acted as if I was talking in tongues. They didn't know anything about lead for plumbing. Ron

Idaho Ron said:

I tried to get lead form local plumbing companies. The women I talked to acted as if I was talking in tongues. They didn't know anything about lead for plumbing. Ron

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Jeesh! The plumbers don't know anything about lead? Lead for plumbing? Why would anyone associate lead with plumbing?, Well, MAYBE because "plumbing" comes from "plumbium", Latin for lead! (Need a tongue-in-cheek smiley here.) :wink:

Seriously though, I don't think plumbers use lead much at all anymore.

You know that stuff will just jump up and grab you and force itself down your throat and kill you first chance it gets. Same as having floor tiles with 5% asbestos will kill you as you walk on them. :grin:

Idaho Ron said:

I have never went as far as weighing the powder. I might have to see what happens. If I did it I would use my powder measure to see what it throws. Then use the scale to match it every time, Sounds interesting.
Pulaski, I tried to get lead form local plumbing companies. The women I talked to acted as if I was talking in tongues. They didn't know anything about lead for plumbing. Ron

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basically the same load as my previous post but I didnt weigh my powder.
The last thing I figured out for consistent accuracy at 100yrds.


Ya Ron try weighing,
I have got as much as a grain weighed difference when just measuring powder.
And you should see the difference between a full can of ffg and an almost empty one.
here is the difference on paper between weighed and just measured. Serious stringing.

Weighed powder

Are these groups that I'm seeing fired from off hand or from a sandbag bench rest?