Casting cost

[S.A. Boggs]

After the first of the year I need to cast about 15,000 .45 bullets for next season's shooting. I did some calculation on the cost of the material and was astounded. In stock I have about 300 lbs of Lyman #2 which I use for all loads. I need close to 500 lbs of melt so I did some shopping around. I use WW mixed with linotype to bring it up to speed, can't do that anymore as WW are questionable. Tried to check into local indoor firing ranges, no dice as it was already presold. Talked to my police buddies about their range lead, no go as this is considered "Mining" and the environmental regs I can't meet.
Checking with the guys in Mexico, Missouri I can order bullets delivered as cheap as I can do it myself. I plan on doing this and then recovering the lead from my traps to recycle...times they are a changing!
Sam

[lyman]

lead has gotten a bit high,

I looked into doing some casting years ago, and realized then for the little bit I was shooting it was not worth the cost of equipment, and time, much less scrounging the lead,


my brother and I have a side business of buying and then reselling shooters estates,
we buy everything, firearms (I have a FFL\SOT) and all the accessories, reloading gear, etc,

we pay a fair price, and resell the reloading supplies rather quickly,

I've gotten good prices for boxes (usually a small flat rate box) of pulled or mixed up bullets,
both lead and copper clad stuff, that one usually finds in every reloading area (piece boxes, pulled stuff etc)

surprised me, since the buyer will have to sift and sort thru them to figure out what they are

[Allen]

Tire weights make excellent bullets. The mix seems to be dead on--not too brittle nor too soft. Go around to the area service centers that change tires and ask for their old weights. Most of them will say "we have someone come around and pick them up". If so ask them if he pays and offer to buy. Getting your cop buddies to ask may pull more weight. Around here I can get them for about $20 per 5gal plastic bucket. It is best to take them a brand new $3 Walmart buckets when making a purchase because they will be giving up their buckets. BTW you may not be able to pick that bucket up w/o it breaking.

Just a reminder to those of you who may be getting into casting: Store the lead inside someplace where it will not be exposed to moisture. The least bit of H2O (even a drop) will empty your melted lead pot (with a bang) usually with a lot of burns/injuries.

Indeed though, sometimes cast, sized and lubed bullets can be bought as cheap or cheaper than doing it yourself especially if you don't already have the dies, pot and source of lead.

[Tuna]

Lead wheel weights are now a thing of the past. Now they are made out of Zinc as it's less toxic to the environment then lead. And to think of all the wheel weights I used to get for free years ago. Repair shops didn't want them.

[Allen]

Lead wheel weights are now a thing of the past. Now they are made out of Zinc as it's less toxic to the environment then lead. And to think of all the wheel weights I used to get for free years ago. Repair shops didn't want them.

I knew things were heading that way but didn't know we were already there. Are these the stick-on type?