Lead

[yrralguthrie]

Trying to prove I don't troll.

Those of you that do cast your own bullets. Are you able to scrounge enough lead to make bullets cheaper or is this like the rest of the hobby and most hobbies in general, just done because it's fun. It seems to me that the scrap value of lead is so high that there little economic value in casting. Some cheaper, but not much especially on the smaller bullets.

I do understand the intrinsic value of casting. Able to make something from scratch exactly like you want, and then finding it might be better than "boughtin"

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Yes it is worth it to cast. I get used wheel weights from a tire shop my buddy owns. They cost me nothing. I get between 7 and 800 pounds a year. You can do the math...7000 grains in a pound. I am also lucky enoughto get my brass for free... friends that work at ranges, friends in LE. Take 45 acp for example. I can get primers for about $27 a brick of 1k. That is 2.7 cents each. Powder... I use tightgroup...at 4.4 grns. ...that is about 1 cent per round for powder. I have 3.7 cents per round...but I dont add my time in...it is a labor of love! box of 50....just under $2. The same goes for 9mm, 38spl, 357mag, 45 LC, 243win (little more expensive..gotta buy brass and more powder), and i even cast buckshot too. The intital setup is not too bad for casting and pays for itself quickly, especailly if you shoot a lot. And yes, cast boolits can shoot just as accurately, if not more accurate than factory.

[Unclenick]

I have a good enough relationship with the guys who do my automotive maintenance that I get wheelweights free, too. I suspect there are too many of us to count on getting metal that way, though. Now that the metals market has cooled off some, perhaps the scrap prices are not so unreasonable? I'll have to check and see? I like to keep the cost of bullets down to under a nickel, so, allowing a penny for energy consumption in melting alloy, that lets me spend up to $1.40 a pound for scrap alloy for 200 grain .45 SWC's. That's about half the cost of new alloy from Midway.

The other aspect of casting is getting a particular bullet nobody makes commercially available. Check the online catalog at NEI to see what you're missing?

[Sport45]

I don't cast, but I imagine the economics are about the same as reloading in general. It has to be considered a hobby and hobbies cost money. Even with free lead casting costs real dollars in fuel or electricity to melt the alloy at least twice. Throw in the solder you buy for its tin content or other ingredients you buy to get the alloy right and it deviates even more from "free".

I think casters cast because they enjoy making their own projectiles. Cost probably isn't an issue any more than fuel cost is when I gas up my truck. I gotta have it so I pay the going price.

[snuffy]

Tell everybody you know that you're looking for lead. It won't happen overnight, but you may luck into some lead where you least expect it. Case in point;



This was one of 15 weights that weighed 90 pounds each that came from an old multi spindle drill at work. It is a counterweight. Nearly pure lead, it makes great boolits with the addition of 30% linotype metal. A buddy that knows I cast boolits told me it was available for nothing, saved the company from disposing of "hazardous waste"!



Then I volunteered to clean out the bullet trap at my clubs indoor range. It is being rebuilt with stronger steel to handle the magnum revolvers.



Bullet cores, cast boolits, jackets, wood,(from target frames), rocks and sand from the trap. Yields about half lead for volume and ¾ for weight.





Fluxed, ready to pour into ingots. Got around 50 pounds for each melt, pretty close to a ton by the time we finished.

[darkgael]

It is definitely worth the time and trouble.

I have 3.7 cents per round...but I dont add my time in...it is a labor of love! box of 50....just under $2.

Think about that compared to what ammo has been running for in the stores - when you can find it.
My last few thousand rounds of .45s have cost me even less as the powder and primers were gifted to me from the estate of a friend. Lead and lead alloy I get for free and have a stockpile. Since I do not have to buy bullets, at this point and for the next couple of years, those rounds cost me only the time it takes to cast. Eventually, I will use up all those primers (abt. 20K) and powder; then it'll be back to whatever things cost by then.
Nowadays, if I had to buy cast bullets, with shipping and all, I'd be paying 8 -10 cents a bullet. Casting saves that expense.
The cost of a bottom pour Lee furnace, a six cavity Tumble Lube mold (or two), lube, and a Rowell ladle (a frill) are all amortized during the first year. The rest of the stuff - for cleaning range lead and casting ingots - I had. Even there, though, a second hand cast iron cooking pot, a second hand Coleman stove, and some muffin tins and you are good to go. Just need a source of lead/alloy.
Pete

[Whisper 300]

The answer to your question is not so simple as I see it. The variables include where you live,i.e. city or suburban or really rural-generally easier to score some lead if you live out a ways and not in either Calif. or a "progressive" northeast state that is trying to eliminate lead for whatever misguided reasoning.
Read some posts here and elsewhere about guys being told that the tire shops are no longer selling/giving lead but rather have to account for it and return it to the powers that be.
Contact plumbers and I think you will find very few do much if any work with lead anymore, that has been my experience anyway.

I also think that you will find that the "old timer's" have socked away many, many pounds to tons of lead. Some because they see what is on the horizon, others because they can.
If you are a newbie I believe it will be much more difficult to find free/cheap lead unless you are very lucky or very very persistent and have sources to mine.

I generally buy my lead from either scrap dealers or individuals who have surplus but I have gotten very little free. The rational for me to cast bullets is again multiple. First, like many reloaders I enjoy the creativity of I "rolling your own". Second, I shoot a lot of pistol and it is cheaper EVEN buying scrap lead than buying already cast boolits.
Third, I can see a time when bullets are either outlawed or so heavily taxed that it may become prohibitive to shoot, so there is an insurance aspect to it.
Fourth, I enjoy most all aspects of shooting and reloading but that relates back to my #1, doesn't it!

My advice is to try and find someone locally and pick his brains. Get a feel for what is involved and see if you are truly interested.

Good luck and enjoy!

Gary

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

I use maybe a gallon of gas going to get the lead and can melt close to 600 pounds with a full propane tank. So figure 2.50 in gas and 20 bucks for propane...$22.50. If you figure and average bullet weight of 170 grains, I can cast 24,705 boolits from my 600 pounds of lead. That comes to .0009 cents per bullet I forgot to figure in, plus the electricity to run my pot, which is gonna be less than this (we're not talking 220 here.. LOL). So, casting does definately save you considerable money.....if you can get your lead at a good price.