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Old September 14, 2008, 04:09 PM   #1
Magnum Wheel Man
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long term lead storage... what do you do ???

I helped my father in law cast, stack & haul a ton ( litterally ) of lead ingots a year or two before he died... now 8-10 years later I'm moving it to the garage for better storage ( it was in the basement )... plastic buckets are too heavy, & get too brittle to store anything like that... father in law used mostly 2 lb coffee cans which work pretty well, aren't too heavy... but I did run into a couple cans that the bottoms rusted out from sitting on the concrete floor...

just curious of those that are sitting on several years worth of lead...

... what do you store it in ???
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Old September 14, 2008, 04:36 PM   #2
HOGGHEAD
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Lead

I have been hording lead for the last two years. I have been getting it wherever I can, and whenever I can. I built a very large set of heavy duty shelvers out of Hickory lumber. The sheves are 12 inches wide. Unfortunately the set of shelfs is full(weight wise). I have 700 or 800 pounds of WW in buckets that need smelted. I will wait til winter before I smelt it down into ingots. I am going to have to get another set of shelfs built first. And I am, hoping I can pick up another 700 or 800 pounds before and during winter.

I have had to move my lead once or twice over the years. And I have had to store it before. What I found to work best was the shorter soda pop type crates(like the milk crates). They will not rot, and they stack very nice. Tom.
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Old September 14, 2008, 06:03 PM   #3
45Marlin carbine
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if you can find old refigerators that have the deep metal storage drawers in the bottom they do well. most are enameled coated.
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Old September 14, 2008, 06:48 PM   #4
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I pick the spot where the lead is going to stay for at least the foreseeable future, and steal the empty cat litter buckets to store it in. You don't want to try and pick one up though; you'll live on Motrin for a week or so.
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Old September 14, 2008, 07:49 PM   #5
Smokie
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Hey people, I'm new to this web site , but could you tell me where you go to collect your lead?
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Old September 14, 2008, 08:55 PM   #6
mikenbarb
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I get tons of lead from the local scrap yard and tire places. After I melt them down and pour ingots, I stack them in a nice dry spot in the old heavy wire milk crates or the square plastic ones on a couple wheeled dollies because that way you dont break your back trying to move them. It dont matter if their in the weather or not because lead will make its own protection by oxidizing on the outside and when melted down again the junk will need to be skimmed off.
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Old September 19, 2008, 12:59 AM   #7
REDTAIL
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saving lead

I've been collecting and saving lead for the past 20+ yrs mostely print shop linotype & ludlow ingots and bars, years ago there were pleanty of printing shops in NYC that still at that time set their type with linotype machines i use to visit these shops & they were glad to get rid of the extra stuff that they had , for some reason they did not re melt the lead back down to re use , so I use to take it off their hands and low & behold was my casting lead for my bullets & fishing sinkers,this stuff stays good and has no shelf life, still using the same old lead today.
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Old September 19, 2008, 02:06 AM   #8
zippy13
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These days, the gun shop retail price of lead shot is around $2 per pound! Does that give you any ideas?
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Old September 19, 2008, 09:41 AM   #9
Usaro4
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I have about 3 tons in ww stored in plastic containers 2'x1'x1' bought at walmart. I have 1 ton processed into ingots 2"x2"x6" stacked on the concrete floor of my garage. Four tons of lead does not take up a whole lot of space.
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Old September 19, 2008, 10:14 AM   #10
brickeyee
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I just put the ingots on the floor in and out of the way location.
There are not a lot of things that will harm them.
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Old September 21, 2008, 11:40 AM   #11
jmorris
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Quote:
I just put the ingots on the floor in and out of the way location.
There are not a lot of things that will harm them.
I’ll have to agree, Lead is extremely corrosion resistant (it can be used to contain sulfuric acid). It will likely outlast anything you put it in.
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Old September 22, 2008, 09:23 PM   #12
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I place mine on top of powder....brass....and primer.

I've thought of casting but I'm sure the boss would not approve.
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Old September 22, 2008, 10:05 PM   #13
Csspecs
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I store them in the form of lead 7/8 slugs for my shotgun
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