Where do you guys pick up your lead for melting?

[keenstalking22]

Im thinking about getting into 12g Buck and Slug reloading. Ive located where to pick up presses, moulds, wads and such but I have not figured out where to pick up some lead (unless its by the metric tonne) for melting.

Where do you guys get your lead?

[No1_49er]

Go here https://www.northernsmelters.com.au/

[Kelsey Cooter]

Go see your local scrap metal recycler and see how much they are selling lead for.

I've been looking into this as well, and blokes I shoot with who cast their own tend to say it's not worth casting your own if you have to pay full price for the lead.

I know my local scrappy will swap tractor batterys for lead.
I haven't bought any casting gear yet but I've collecting range lead, and have a couple of kgs already

[bladeracer]

Im thinking about getting into 12g Buck and Slug reloading. Ive located where to pick up presses, moulds, wads and such but I have not figured out where to pick up some lead (unless its by the metric tonne) for melting.

Where do you guys get your lead?

Mostly I recover my own bullets, but I also buy hard lead shot, pure lead sheet flashing from Bunnings, and bullet alloy from Northern Smelters. Look out for crazy deals on cast bullets and field loads too, sometimes you can find them cheaper than buying the bullet alloy. The cheapest lead shot is from Ballantines in Melbourne.

I dump hard shot from bulk field loads to use for bullets and swap in slugs cast from pure lead.
I adjust the alloy hardness using 60/40 solder sticks and/or hard shot.

[bladeracer]

You can dump the shot out of field loads, cast it into slugs, and load those back into the already-charged hulls, but the shot makes the slugs pretty hard. That's why I keep the shot for bullets and cast the slugs from pure lead. For buck loads I buy buck in 10kg bottles and swap that into the field loads. I would need to be shooting a hell of a lot of buckshot to bother casting my own, but I do cast some of the bigger round balls which I can load into shotshells if I want to.

[Noisydad]

Mine is nearly entirely range lead with some wheel weight lead too. It’s all Carefully hand sorted one piece at a time then melted into ingots and hardness tested and used accordingly.

[bladeracer]

Mine is nearly entirely range lead with some wheel weight lead too. It’s all Carefully hand sorted one piece at a time then melted into ingots and hardness tested and used accordingly.

I thought ranges nowadays don't allow shooters to collect the scrap lead, for safety reasons, and because they have contracts with companies that recycle it?

[Ziege]

do what my grandfathers used to do and pollute to atmosphere by burning batteries and getting the lead. lol

[ozzielee303]

Well,years ago,about 15 to 20 years I bought well over 400+kg from Simms metals in Melbourne,each time my mate went down to Melbourne(I live in Far East Gippsland)in his small truck,I would get him to buy me 100kg and it used to cost me $1 per kg,most of it was old print type lead,which I wanted for my rifles and revolvers that I had back then,also used to get pure lead and I have over 120kgs of Wheel Weights that I got from my nephew(Mechanic).
so try the recyclers if you want some there,I doubt it would be $1 kg though
I'm set for the rest of my shooting days with lead

good luck mate

[bladeracer]

do what my grandfathers used to do and pollute to atmosphere by burning batteries and getting the lead. lol

I was given a crate of lead from car batteries that melted in the fires here, still not sure whether to use it or not
The same guy also gave me a pile of lead conduit from an old building that was demolished due to fire damage but it's not melted. I have a heap of lead to last me a while!

[Noisydad]

Mine is nearly entirely range lead with some wheel weight lead too. It’s all Carefully hand sorted one piece at a time then melted into ingots and hardness tested and used accordingly.

I thought ranges nowadays don't allow shooters to collect the scrap lead, for safety reasons, and because they have contracts with companies that recycle it?

My clubs range is on private property and not open to the general public. The club views it as A clean up activity.

[bigpete]

Tyre shop plus i got a ****** of plumbers lead

[Ziege]

bladeracer, just smelt it enough to get the tins and s**t out of it...

[bladeracer]

bladeracer, just smelt it enough to get the tins and s**t out of it...

I'm guessing you mean melt it?
I would think anything toxic in it would've been well cooked away in the bushfire, but the melted lead is pretty dirty, pea gravel, carbonised plastic, just crud from being burned.

[Ziege]

it will be full of impurities, you will need to melt it down (dont make is so hot it boils as the vapour is the most toxic exposure wise) and continually remove the impurities.

[bladeracer]

it will be full of impurities, you will need to melt it down (dont make is so hot it boils as the vapour is the most toxic exposure wise) and continually remove the impurities.

Yep, that's why I'm unlikely to go adding it to my alloys anytime soon

[TassieTiger]

A lot of contractor electronics shops that work in radio communications will have an absolute crap load of old “huge” batteries sitting about that they are likely to give you. Some of the remote radio sites, Telstra / Optus towers that have battery back up are serviced by some of these guys and last year I picked up 3 x 70kg 4v cells - ex Telstra thst were showing 12.5 settled voltage. Not good enough as back up mobile tower units but good enough to run some lighting...they gave these away to me and had mountains more. There would be enough lead plates in these cells to make a LOT of cast.

[Blr243]

Roof tilers use lead sometimes. But it’s very soft. Offer a roof tiler a six pack on a hot day

[bladeracer]

Roof tilers use lead sometimes. But it’s very soft. Offer a roof tiler a six pack on a hot day

Even the smallest roll of lead is pretty damned expensive, about $10/kg.
But it is pure.

[Farmerpete]

I got like a pellet of tractor batteries laying in the shed been meaning to get them to the scrapyard is there an easy way to get the lead out?

[TassieTiger]

^ not hard but messy.
Drain acid, bust open top plastic case (chisel ) - plates will be looking at you - self explanatory. I then saturate plates in baking Soda water to neutralise acid. There is usually some black build up / contamination on plates that can be scraped off pretty easily.

[Farmerpete]

Thanks Tas, I went through that process for 1 it yielded about a kg from memory and took a long time to do. I was kinda hoping someone had a secret (easier) method.

I was thinking of starting a fire in a 44 and seeing if I could just burn them and sift through the ashes (it might work) i was just hoping someone had tried something similar before I lit the fire and ended up with 40kg of lead and plastic mixed together

[boingk]

Go see the local tyre fitters mate. They'll have buckets of wheel weights, probably be happy to give you some.

[Ziege]

burning batteries will put elemental lead into the smoke and vapour, making it VERY bio available, I dont suggest doing it

[keenstalking22]

Go see your local scrap metal recycler and see how much they are selling lead for.

I've been looking into this as well, and blokes I shoot with who cast their own tend to say it's not worth casting your own if you have to pay full price for the lead.

I know my local scrappy will swap tractor batterys for lead.
I haven't bought any casting gear yet but I've collecting range lead, and have a couple of kgs already

Yeah it appears scrap will be the most economic option, but given that loaded slugs cost over 2 dollars per shot it may yet be cheaper melting down full priced lead for a slug. Lets just say you get 1kg for 10 bucks, thats over 30 1 ounce slugs for 10 bucks and then I re use hulls, add in primers powder and wads.... Id see that as not worthwhile for bird shot or if you can pickup cheap buckshot.

[bigpete]

Roof tilers use lead sometimes. But it’s very soft. Offer a roof tiler a six pack on a hot day

Even the smallest roll of lead is pretty damned expensive, about $10/kg.
But it is pure.

I probably have 2k worth then lol

[bladeracer]

Roof tilers use lead sometimes. But it’s very soft. Offer a roof tiler a six pack on a hot day

Even the smallest roll of lead is pretty damned expensive, about $10/kg.
But it is pure.

I probably have 2k worth then lol

Yep, it adds up quick
I keep my lead shot in 2L Coke bottles so I can see what size it is and how much I have, but a 15kg Coke bottle is damned awkward to handle

[bigpete]

I was given a ute Ioad of it at one stage...i need to melt it down soon

[bladeracer]

I got like a pellet of tractor batteries laying in the shed been meaning to get them to the scrapyard is there an easy way to get the lead out?

Take them to Sims Metal and put the money toward some fresh lead - either a roll of pure lead from Bunnings (about $65 for a 6.75kg roll), a 10kg bag or bottle of hard shot (about $110), or some bullet alloy ingots from Northern Smelters (about $50 per 5kg ingot). I even saw a great deal once from a dive shop offloading lead weight belts for well under $10/kg.

Or buy a case of cheap .22LR ammo and spend a few hours shooting, then recover the bullets and use those. A case of 5000rds with 40gn bullets (about $400-$600) gives you 200,000gn of lead, about 450 1oz shotgun loads, on top of hours of .22LR fun.

Lead would have to be very scarce before I'd bother hacking up car batteries.

[Larry]

[

Lead would have to be very scarce before I'd bother hacking up car batteries.

Youve lost your inner kid. busting and burning was the fun part more than ever the prospect of obtaining the lead for whatever purpose we were getting it for