Sources of lead?

[cannonmn]

Does anyone know of a reasonable source of soft lead for making projectiles?  Due to shipping cost would like to find something within an hour drive of a line between Washington DC and Marietta OH, if possible. 

Hopefully this topic is permitted, I saw an earlier post on zinc so I thought this would be OK.

[Double D]

If you wanted to buy pure lead and yiou were looking for a someone to sell you some this would have to go in the classified WTB.  Since you only want to discsuss where lead might be found in the area we will let it stand.  Fine gray line I know.

When I lived in Herndon, there was a place over by the Dulles Convention Center that made stained glass windows.  I got a 5 gallon bucket full of their trimmings for less than scrap price.  I don't know if it was pure lead, but it was soft.   Also check with roofing and remodeling companies.  They pull a lot of lead roofing and flashing off doing their work.    I got some of that from an outfit down Fredricksberg just to take it away.   

Tire shops are good sources also for wheel weight lead but they are starting to use more and more zinc weights. 

I would also try plumbing shops and scrap yards.

[Cat Whisperer]

There is an art to scrounging lead.

Some folks wil take an empty 5 gallon bucket to each tire shop in the area.

The bucket is marked with your name and phone # AND the word "DONUTS".

By bringing a dozen donuts in with the bucket you provide incentive for them to call and by bringing in an empty bucket you solve a problem for them.

You can force the issue when you negotiate for price on a new set of tires too.

[lance]

 One of my most unusual friends lives in Meadows Of Dan, Virginia. he has a mountain of lead in various size ingots. He's known as the lead scrounger..........one of his ways is to clean up the area's turkey shoot ranges. A couple of hundred men blasting away with scatter guns each week makes for a pile of lead.

[Victor3]

 I used to work for a company that used a lot of lead for radiation shielding as well as 50# blocks of it as counterweights for the doors on the machines we built. When lead processing became an expensive environmental health and safety concern in CA, our company outsourced lead processing. I was fortunate enough to be able take all remaining lead off of the company's hands (About 1500#) for free. They didn't want to mess with scrapping it and I was glad to help them be rid of it.

 I know of a few aircraft, medical device and electronic companies that have been outsourcing product to Asia and have a whole lot of lead laying around. I suspect that with a bit of inquiry a lot could be had cheap or free.

[Rickk]

Scrapyards will have it. If you want really soft lead, ask for lead pipe. If you don't care, ask for wheelweights (much cheaper than lead pipe). They may have bullet range stuff there as well, mixed in with the wheelweights. Scrap yards are in business to make money, and right now lead is going for a fair amount.

If you can find a local range with a "Snail" trap (made by Savage Arms), ask if you can clean their traps once in a while. The bullets will be nice and clean, and you just shovel the stuff out. There may be some anti-freeze mixed in with it, so melt it the first time outdoors on a windy day if possible. Range lead tends to be a little on the soft side on the average. Jacketed bullets are pretty much pure lead (the jackets float to the top when you melt it and are easy to skim off). Cast or swaged lead bullets are harder. A mixture of the two is a somewhat soft alloy. It is probably too hard for muzzleloading rifles/handguns, but fine for cannon projectiles with adequate windage.

You could try e-mailing Savage Arms to see if they can point you in the direction of one of their bullet traps installed in your area.

[cannonmn]

Thanks again, those are good ideas.  So far I have locked in 300# of the ex-isotope container lead, in SC at 30 cents per lb., delivered to a mutual friend in OH so I can pick it up later.  Am following up with Lance on his source in VA.  I wonder how that guy picks up lead shot at turkey shoots?  Hopefully not with tweezers!

[Cannon caster]

I know this is off topic but I didn't want to start a new thread for it. I need bronze or brass. Does anyone know where I can find it (beside scrap yards)?

[rifleshooter2]

How about some toys from China Sorry I couldn't help my self

Andy

[GGaskill]

Does anyone know where I can find it (beside scrap yards)?

If you can't get it locally, the shipping will kill you.

[lance]

Thanks again, those are good ideas.  So far I have locked in 300# of the ex-isotope container lead, in SC at 30 cents per lb., delivered to a mutual friend in OH so I can pick it up later.  Am following up with Lance on his source in VA.  I wonder how that guy picks up lead shot at turkey shoots?  Hopefully not with tweezers!

My friend uses a shovel to pick up the lead pellets at the turkey shoots. the shoots around here use steel plate with a 5"x5" window for the paper card. most of the pellets hit the plate and drop in big piles, the pellets that make it through the window hit stacked cross ties. steel plate cause the guy standing behind it putting cards in the window don't want to catch a round of bird shot anyway, someone has to clean it up and my lead scrounging friend is glad to do it.

[Don Krag]

If you live near a major university, call the radiation safety office and ask if they have any decommissioned liquid scintillation counters (LSCs for short). These have about 300-500 lbs of pure lead in them. It's often problematic for universities to get rid of it and they are happy to see it go. Due to state contracting and such, we weren't allowed to sell it. We couldn't remelt it into shielding blocks due to safety requirements, either...so the piles just grew, and grew and grew. I have close to 2000 lbs now of lead from my days as an RSO.

[cannonmn]

Thanks for the tip, am calling around to some of the larger univ's here in the DC area.

[cannonmn]

Bingo, the second place I called says "yeah we've got a bunch of LSO's, aprons, bricks, scrap, how much would you charge to take it away?  When I said "free" I was "in."   

[SHOOTALL]

Don KRAG , how safe is that stuff ? I have had jobs in hospitals and it was hazardous waste ! Just asking

[Double D]

It's not hazardous because it's radioactive--it ain't.  It hazardous material because it's lead.

[SHOOTALL]

It was before i cast bullets , bet 20-30 tons of lead core Sheetrock went away , some walls had 7 layers on them !

[Don Krag]

Like Double D said, it's just lead. It's used to shield out background radiation and light from the samples and sensitive detecctors. By having 400 lbs of lead, the surplus instrument becomes "regulated waste" instead of the usual "trash". We used to have tons of small lead shipping pigs (little containers radionuclides get shipped in). If you get offered those make sure they come with documentation that they are clean.

[Tropico]

We just melted a 60lb block of lead that came to us from a scrappin' friend. He says the counter weights on larger older cranes are usually filled with lead., 20 ., 40 ., and 60 pound blocks . He says the Cast Iron is thinner on the inside by the Rotex ., once you cut thru that .,  "You've Got Lead"  . We cut our bar into meltable chunks by hitting an axe with an 8lb mawl . couple wacks and there ya go !

   
We got ALOT of 1" Cannon Balls and ALOT of .454 Balls out of  1 60 pounder.