IM JUST CURIOUS,HOW MUCH OF LEAD STOCKPILE DO YOU OTHER CASTERS FEEL IS ADEQUATE? IVE BEEN CASTING FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND IM CONSTANTLY SCROUNGING LEAD. MY WIFE THINKS IM OBSESSED BY IT,MAYBE I AM BUT ITS FUN. MY PERSONAL HOARD CONSISTS OF 1500LB OF WW, 700LB OF HOSPTITAL SHEET LEAD AND 200LB OF LINOTYPE. THE ONLY STUFF IVE PAYED FOR IS LINOTYPE AT 75 CENTS A LB AND 500LB OF WW AT 10-15 CENTS A LB. I SHOOT A FAIR AMOUNT AND I STILL WONT PASS UP A GOOD DEAL ON LEAD.

It all depends on how much you shoot and how consistant you want your alloys to be.

If I were to cast cannon balls in lead (I don't yet, just concrete filled PVC pipe) I would need much more than I have now. But since I shoot only a thousand rounds or so per year my needs are less. I'm more interested in working up a few loads that I can cast for using the same alloy today as 5 or ten years from now.

There is no such thing as too much lead, get all you can. Sooner or later EPA is going to make it difficult for us. No, I'm not a member of the black helicopter crowd, but in today's environmental wacko climate it is only a matter of time before the pack of criminals known by the name of Congress will pass a flock of laws to "protect" us. Then the regulatory agencies will issue a morass of regulations for the purest of motives, more government jobs! If this seems far-fetched remember that when prohibition was repealed, it was replaced by the 1934 Federal Firearms Act so that the former enforcers of the Volstead Act could seamlessly transition into the ATTU, forerunner of today's ATF. Government never runs out of "needs" for agents, it just changes the job titles. "Those who do not remember history are condemned to be overwhelmed by bureaucrats." Apologies to George Santayana, curmudgeon

i think that curmudgon has it right , it you like to cast get it while you can. some would be sources are going "green" ...its not safe for you civilians to have...corp policy....discount tires for one. the europeans and the various goodie two shoes here in the states are looking out for "our best interests"....
while in california...a fed open land range was shut down because ms clintons little boy thought the shooters were poluting the land with lead....
i dont shoot lead much...but have a source and will never turn it down....i only have 500 bls or so of ww, but my source produces about 125 lbs every couple months or so....all for the cost of some fishing weights i cast for them.

USARO4,my stockpiling depends on how much I am shooting at this moment and how frecuently I want cast.

My stock consists of bullets for shooting during 2 months and lead and antimony for 2 months more, so, a total position of 4 months aprox.
(In Logistic and Supply it is called Months Supply, MOS , could we call it Months Shooting?.It would be a funny coincidence)

Rational for 2 months pattern is the pot capacity,it lets me cast in one day bullets for shooting two months.
When bullet stock drops to two weeks, it is time to cast. This two weeks let hardness stabilization of the new bullet batch.
All is approximate,it is only important to not run out bullet stock.

Hope this helps and answers of other members to learn a little more.

BA Shooter

curmudgeon

I was pleasently surprized to read your reference to Santayana. A household name around here (my father was a philosopher). Santayana was one of those people he respected for what he said and thought as well as how he treated people.

Tim K

Curmudgeon is right on target! So far in the Pacific NW, wheel weights and lead scrap are both plentiful and cheap, but I have noticed some sources are "drying up" due to EPA and DOE concerns. At least that's the line I've been given at a few places. One way to protect your supply is shooting into the same sand bank or dirt pile and then recovering your spent slugs for re-melting. Yes, they are dirty, but the dirt and crud floats to the top and is easily skimmed off.--Shuz

I agree with the, get while you can attitude. I used to buy 5 gallon pails from a tire store that I've bought a few sets of tires from. Now they no longer sell em. A buddy I cast for used to be able to get me ww's no problem, but then his source left that tire shop. He did later on find another buddy that set me up w/ six 5 gallon pails, and that is my stash, minus the one I already used up.

I'd like to have at least a 5 gallon bucket on hand.

Curmudgeon - A buddy of mine flys around in those black helicopters. If he is any indication of the rest of them, they would like every American to be armed.
Keep hoarding those WW's!

No such thing as too much lead, brass, powder, primers, moulds, presses, pistols, rifles, shotguns, fusils, gorts, muskets, fowlers, flints or caps. The limiting factor is the amount of bitchin' that you can tolerate froom your wife for being rabid about the hobby.........

I AGREE WITH CURMUDGEON AND ALL YOU OTHERS OUT THERE. DURING MY SCROUNGING IVE COME ACROSS CORPORATE TIRE SHOPS THAT EYE ME REAL SUSPICIOUSLY WHEN I ASK FOR WW. ONE EVEN LECTURED ME ON THE HAZARDS OF LEAD AND THAT IT MUST BE RECYCLED PROPERLY AND RECORDED ON THEIR HAZMAT LOG. GUESS I WONT BE BUYING ANY TIRES THERE.IVE HEARD THE LIBERALS SAY IF THEY CANT BAN GUNS THEY CAN TAX BULLETS TO THE POINT THEY'RE UNAFFORDABLE. IVE EVEN HEARD THE ARMY IS LOOKING INTO LEAD FREE BULLETS. SURE WOULDNT WANT TO CONTAMINATE THE BATTLEFIELD WITH LEAD AND MAKE ALL THEM BADGUYS SICK. I WILL COINTINUE TO STOCKPILE LEAD,PRIMERS,POWDER,ETC. THANK THE GOOD LORD IM A HANDLOADER AND CASTER, I WANT MY GRANDCHILDREN TO KNOW THE FUN ,SASTIFACTION AND FREEDOM THE SHOOTING SPORTS PROVIDE US. GOD BLESS THE SECOND AMMENDMENT.

USAR04: Just got the new 10th Edition of "Handloaders Digest" from Krause Publishers. There is an article I just read (pp. 477-8) stating that Army and NG ranges have been closed to lead-bearing bullets, and that the "green" M855 M16 rounds now have a core of powdered tungsten in a plastic matrix that is SUPPOSED to duplicate the older copper-jacketed ones with steel "penetrator" and lead filler. SUPPOSED TO! Now they're focussing on lead-free primers.

Get your lead while you can! If you don't mind paying smelter prices for certified pure lead, Bill Ferguson has a good deal going on 200+ lb. lots, and also sells of tin and antimony (and a good, low-temp. antimony mixing flux) if you want to make up your own mixes instead of using WW#'s, lino, etc.

floodgate

All you can get is just barely enough. At scrap prices, a ton is under $200. You'll use it eventually and having it is cheap insurance against the supply drying up. Be plumb silly to find ourselves with thousands of dollars in guns and no bullets.

I've been shooting into the same hillside for 25 years, and if things ever get really tight, I'll mine it. There's bound to be over a ton in the top 12" of an area about 12' by 30'.

btw, I cleaned up a bucket of WW this afternoon. The clean ingots weighed 126 pounds and there's five or six pounds left in the smelting pot. Clips and slag weigh 22 pounds.

[ 10-11-2003, 01:54: Message edited by: Leftoverdj ]

I'd go for the grab as much as you can.

I have just started started making lead shot for shotgun cartridges.

It's a long story and started out along the lines of "This'll save some money"

I went to a scrap metal delaer only to find I had to buy 250 tons, YES 250 TONS, and have some sort of licence etc etc.

Needless to say I scrounging wheels weights.

I think it was the scrounging things for nothing that drew me to making lead shot.

Anything for nothing has to be a bargain!!!!!!!!

bltsandwedge,
OK, ya got me going with this:
"No such thing as too much lead, brass, powder, primers, moulds, presses, pistols, rifles, shotguns, fusils, gorts, muskets, fowlers, flints or caps. The limiting factor is the amount of bitchin' that you can tolerate froom your wife for being rabid about the hobby........."
Just what the heck, is a GORT?
Fearing a zinger...............Bug.

I just finally carried in a wheelweight out of the car I've been carrying around for a good while. I was walking into the hospital with my wife, who was going in for surgery. She bent down and picked me up a wheelweight off the parking lot, bless her heart!

Good woman, Not.

You gotta spread the word that you are looking for lead. There's a lot of it out there, but folks have to know you want it.

I wanna cry when I hear someone say "Last week we hauled a load to the junk yard and they did not pay enough to cover the hauling. You coulda had it if I'd know'd you were looking."