How to find free & cheap lead for bullet casting and reloading ammo
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- The secrets to my success at finding lead for bullet casting. In less than one year I have collected tons of lead. Scrap Lead is getting much harder to come by these days and the cost of buying it has skyrocketed. The traditional source for bullet casters, wheel weights, has just about dried up due to bans on lead. New Zinc and Steel wheel weights are not useful for bullet casting. I cover many sources for finding lead including but not limited to:
Boatyards
Junk Sailboats
Wheel Weights
Dental Lead
Pharmaceutical Lead
Scuba Diving Gear
Roof Flashing
Construction Companies
Range Scrap
Yard Sales
Flea Markets
Junk Shops
Scrap Yards
Scrappers.
And More.
DON'T SMELT BATTERIES. If you decide to then at least read this link first...
castboolits.gun...
As a person with hopefully 40+ years of casting in my future I wanted to "get while the gettin's good" so I don't have to ever go lead hunting again. Don't be afraid to ask at automotive and tire shops, yard sales, flea markets, junk shops, etc. You will likely be surprised on a number of occasions.
I also discuss alloys and the benefits of pure lead for cutting your harder alloys and for black powder shooting. Antimonious lead is good for most pistol bullets, you may require harder alloys for rifle casting. Pewter is a good source of tin that can be acquired cheap at thrift stores and yard sales. For the purposes of bullet casting pewter can be calculated in as pure tin, because it's pretty close. Tin is necessary to help your mold fill out better.
It may also benefit you to talk to professional scrappers. They are used to the scrap yards paying them dirt cheap prices, if you offered them a little more you could have them finding and delivering lead to you at very reasonable prices... win-win.
One key for me was to put the word out to everyone that you are looking for lead. It will eventually start finding you. People talk to people who talk to people and word gets around.
Don't go around with the expectation of getting it for free. Keep some cash in your pocket to pickup bargains. If you show up and there is 100 lbs of lead, and the guy wants $20 then you don't want to look like a fool and not have any money to begin with. Some will cost, some will be free. Don't snub people, you never know who will end up being a great source. Be friendly, no one wants to help out a jerk. If you are denied then thank them kindly for their time and move on, don't pester people trying to run a business. Come up with a quick and easy to understand introduction and request, people are busy so get to the point.
Some people may not be keen on you making bullets. I am in a fairly rural area where shooting is very common, people like that I am making bullets and often are curious and glad to provide lead. In a city it may be best not to mention your reason or say it is for fishing lures. Buy a fishing lure mold and carry it in your car to show them, or a sample.
Tell potential sources that you are just a hobbyist and not a scrapper. Tell them that you are having trouble finding lead for your hobby because scrappers are snapping it all up. They may take pitty on you and favor you over the scrap guys.
Don't drive around with boxes of oxidized lead in your car, you don't want to breath the dust from it, use a pickup or a container with a seal-able lid. Always carry a 5 gallon bucket or two and some gloves everywhere you go. You never know when you will stumble upon some lead and you want to be prepared to seize the moment. Wash your hands ASAP.
Donuts or Pizza goes a long way to win over a tire shops workers.
I also have a 3M respirator that I wear when doing dirty work with lead. Your health is more valuable than some lead.
Information on Iso lead:
www.fellingfami...
Wikipedia article on lead:
en.wikipedia.or...
Lead safety and health effects:
www.osha.gov/SL...
Building a wood burning lead smelter:
• Building a wood burnin...
Reclaiming lead from range scrap:
• Melting jacketed bulle...
Sorting Wheel Weights:
• My OFFICIAL guide to s...
Cutting lead with a Chainsaw:
• Cutting Lead with a Ch...
Hauling heavy lead blocks:
• Salvaging & hauling he...
Photo of a solid copper bullet... ammo.ar15.com/p...
It is a hobby, and there is also the independence factor that I can produce what I need when I need it of the quantity desired. I spent a year scrounging lead here and there, now I'm set for life... priceless. :)
My right ear enjoyed this
Never realised that till i seen you're comment :o
I am glad one ear enjoyed this and the other was left unharmed. I have since learned to combine audio channels and adjust volume. :) Thanks for watching.
Huh, both my ears enjoyed it.
4
lul mine too
lead is everywhere if you look for it. I scrap for a living and clean out foreclosed houses and old barns sometimes and have found strange things made from lead such as lamps, lamp shades, and even find many ingots left behind or thrown in the bushes. I also work part time as building maintenance and we have a tire place next to us so I find lots of weights when I pick up the parking lot. I find a lot of fishing weights and kite weights (I assume) when metal detecting and I have an old timer friend that finds lots of lead at yard sales. it is out there, I have a few hundred pounds saved up to one day start molding for my 45lc and 357's, to start.
I cast 45acp with what I find I appreciate the info about the yard sales I'm going to definetly keep a eye out from now on
Also,lead sewer pipe is a good source.I recently scored almost 800 pounds of lead almost pure sewer pipe. It had been power hosed out,and cut into smaller chunks with the plumbers chop saw. After I got it home I used a wood splitter to cut it smaller,then made my ingots.
Never thought of fishing piers, great idea. The hippies will love you for picking up the lead too!
lol just about to comment that
According to the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, third edition (from 1980) it is not safe to use battery lead. The reason is that maintenance free battery lead contains both calcium & strontium and when they combine with the antimony & arsenic, found in many other sources of lead such as wheel weights, the dross plus moist air or water produces poisonous gases stibine & arsine. Stibine is used as a fumigating agent and 10 parts per million are lethal to mice. Much more on the subject in the book.
Good question! The answer is simple, you don't remove the clips before smelting. When you melt them the steel clips float to the top and you skim them off. Thanks for watching!
Correct! Lots of good tips from viewers... Shielding lead, medical, dentist, lead pipes and fittings, etc. Thanks folks.
Absolutely my friend, thank YOu for watching it! May your search for lead be successful.
Hi, great question. Often times the number 2% is thrown around. If your mold is not filling out nice and sharp then adding tin will help the lead flow, then pretty boolits are born!
I get all of my lead from the ocean, so much lead is thrown away every day. Some places it is just handfuls and it also cleans up the the environment.
Cheers
Brad
If an old hospital closes up, seek out the owner, and ask if you can have the lead lining in the X-ray room walls. Old hospitals are full of other cool stuff, too. Almost any old building, for that matter. +1 on leaded glass windows. Better, if you remove the glass intact, if you or someone you know has a stained glass hobby.
Looks like you have enough lead there to build a Lead Zeppelin!
Thanks pard…You get the "all time best scroungers" badge of honor !
And to think they used to give you a lead pipe in the game Clue. My how times have changed. Thanks for the video.
'Ethicalwoman1' thanks for your un-ethical banter accusing me of being ignorant, irresponsible, selfish, and stupid. Do you know me? You assume I don’t safely handle lead or protect my children? Do you think I spew lead all over the environment? To use your own words, it would seem that perhaps your ‘emotional intelligence isn't sufficiently high’ to make sure you know what you are talking about before you comment. I’m glad you are here but ask me some questions before jumping to conclusions.
Yeah, sounds reasonable $0.75 is a little cheaper than the going rate for lead. I would still suggest having a couple hundred pounds on hand at any given time as a buffer against economic uncertainty. Also a years worth of powder and primers perhaps? This will help you ride out tough time (like now). :)
Fast forward lol wish I could reload
September 2012, I would say you can find all you want for $1/lb, I wouldn't want to pay that though. $0.75/lb is reasonable. $0.50/lb is a bargain. $0.25/lb is a steal. Nothing beats free though!
I guess I'm going to look for a scrapyard sailboat! What a find
When I was younger,I worked for a plating company that did electroplating ,for electrical connections. They used pure tin anodes,in plating tanks. There is always scrap involved in the proccess.
This is a great video - I'm collecting lead myself, just have about 150 lbs (free) but had to drop some cash, about $1.20 a pound with shipping to get some monotype and linotype for alloying wheel weights to a harder alloy. I also found Tin in the form of pewter from the Goodwill, enough to add 2% to my alloy. Once I get a quarter ton, I will be satisfied....
same boat here lol. i dont cast bullets. but i do have a lee casting pot, and molds. for what? fishing sinkers. i catfish alot. and here in il they have banned lead wheel weights. that sucked. cause i had a tire shop close to me and i would get a case of beer for the guys and get a 80-100 lb bucket of tire weights in return. thats dried up. i do have about 40 lbs of sinkers made now and about 100 lbs of lead in clean ingots around. i used to cast them and sell on ebay. not now since it dried up.
thanks for posting. i am a roofing contractor and i do save my old vent pipe flanges too.
wow what a score on the keel!!!
I scored about 250 lbs. lead from the sole plates in an old factory they poured lead over the nuts on the anchor bolts to keep them from vibrating loose. 6 nuts per sole plate 6 lbs lead in each hole. Really soft used an air chisel to cut it out.
There is another. Old pipes are lead. Sometimes when they do the reno they just jam the lead pipe back into the floor just enough space to run the new pipes.
Good question. Lead is soft and will not ruin the barrel. On the other hand a solid steel projectile could be catastrophic to the firearm and operator.
Neutralize the acid with baking soda and then rinse very well. Each battery should yield about 15 to 20 pounds of useable lead.
Chrysler products use a lead weight in the steering wheel on cars with adjustable steering wheels. The lead makes the wheel drop easier. On rear wheel drive Ford and Mercury cars like Crown Vics have a tin can full of lead shot mounted on the tailhousing of the transmission to reduce vibration. Some models also have steel shot, so beware of mixing the two. Take a magnet to the scrap yard with you.
You can jacket bullets with used brass, but you need the proper dies to complete the process. A lot of people cast bullets for 38sp/357Mag, 45cal, or 44sp/44Mag. Traditionally bullets were made exclusively out of lead alloys, but after the invention of smokeless powder, bullets began to be jacketed with copper, which permitted bullet velocities of greater an 2,000 ft/sec - a speed with is exceeded with all modern military rifle cartridges. At high velocities, lead is deposited in the barrel.
Yeah, you should always be safe around lead. If it is on your hands then you might touch food, rub your eyes, pick your nose, etc. No such a big deal if it only happens once in a great while but if this becomes a hobby then frequent exposure can add up. Best to play it safe. I wash my hands numerous times immediately after handling lead. Bravo on thinking of a respirator too. I use a 3M one, they are reasonably priced.
As a kid, I used to go through the junkyards with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers knocking wheel weights off of junk cars. I used to fill up small coffee cans full of them and melt it right in the can on the stove. Just dipped an eye bolt with a big washer into the molten lead, and instant trot line weight! I threw about a dozen of them away 6-7 years ago when my dad retired and sold the house.
The first technicality with lead is to get the correct hardness but I am not trying to tell anyone this as I expect you all to know. When casting lead I always melt down outside so that the breeze carries away the fumes which are potentially insidiously dangerous. I have a great time making so many bullets that I don't know what to do with them. Being in England this is a summer job so it is also pleasant to be in the sunshine. I make it a once a year job.
Thanks brother! Gave me lots of ideas! Called a roofer friend of mine while watching the video... he's gonna bring by a load of the lead vent gaskets! Great vid!
I have seen a photos of a few solid copper projectiles, I would image they are not good for the bore. Steel core ammo usually has a soft jacket around it or a thin layer of lead behind the jacket. This allows the jacket to conform to the bore. Check my videos description, I will add a link to the photo of the copper bullet for you to see. Thanks for watching!
Very good video , old x-ray machines had sheet llead in them. I use it for muzzle loading guns.
Another good source for me has been older Victorian homes, that have in the past, had a rainwater storage tank in the attic, filled from a cistern with a hand op force pump and gravity fed to supply soft water to the laundry. Huge sheets of pure lead, with the seams soldered with 50/50 lead tin solder joints about 1" wide right angle triangle. The solder is easily torn from the lead sheets intact with vicegrips and melted separately.
Ass CoolCat replied above, Pewter is mostly tin and can be found at yard sales and thrift stores. Ugly dented up pewter can usually be had at bargain prices. For our purposes you can almost consider pewter to be pure tin although there may be a little lead, copper, etc. in there too.
Good idea, shielding lead from xray room walls, etc.
Hi, I have a video about sorting wheel weights. The link is in the description of this video. Thanks for watching and have fun!
Yes, good idea. I recent;y had samples of my lead XRF analyzed so I know the exact composition. This should allow me to mix the desired alloy by doing a little math.
You have unlimited sources of lead at the range if you range scrap, the alloys are already bullet quality and its a lot easier then chain sawing a chunk of lead
What happened to this dude?
This is really, really cool. I personally don't need lead for bullets, but I have a few uses around the house which could really use this. Thanks!
Hi there, actually, lead doesn't vaporize at anything close to these temperatures. The dangerous fumes, if any, would be from contaminates in the lead burning off, lead poisoning would likely occur by ingestion from touching the lead and then your face without first washing your hands. That is why it is important to learn about lead, its dangers, handling, and safety, especially around children. Take care.
I use to get lead from a printing shop when I younger. I used it to make fishing jigs & snagging hooks. Your city water department uses lead for seals on water meters.
This video is EXTREMELY informative and helpful! Thanks man!
Hi, check the description of this video for a link that explains why you shouldn't use batteries. Thanks.
It might be worthwhile to cast a bunch of bars of an appropriate lead alloy for bullets out of all your scrap. Then it will be ready for use in casting whichever bullets you want whenever you want. They could also be useful for selling or bartering with others.
I can recover the lead of the battery plates too. I heat it to 1200-1500F covered with Sodium Carbonate (sodium Bicarbonate - baking soda works ok, it turns into carbonate as it gets heated up) in a closed stainless steel crucible (old cocktail shaker with the cap on it) in a 5 gallon bucket DIY foundry. You know it is working and nearly done when you start getting get a whiff of sulfur as the lead sulfate starts breaking down. Either dispose of the crucible or chip out the tough slag that is left after you pour out the lead. I buy the shakers cheap at Goodwill and have a needle scaler from Harbor Freight that works pretty good to clean it out for reuse. I get more lead from the plates then I get from just the post etc.
Yea i m a plumber we use lead shower pads u can buy a sheet of lead @ any plumbing supply house or for any junk yard for that matter .
That's pretty cool, but I just don't know if having a nearly endless supply of lead to cast bullets outweighs the dangers of gathering and storing it. When you talked about using a chainsaw on the keel, my jaw dropped. I hope you stay healthy and I wish you luck.
old cast iron sewer pipe was sealed at each joint with lead. about 8 pounds each joint
for example my local caster charges 42 dollars for 500 158 grain 38 bullets. that is just over 11 pounds of bullets. when i buy lead i pay 50 cents a pound. so thats 5.5 dollars of lead to make 42 dollars worth of bullets. that leaves 36.5 for gas, electric, lube and effort. to me it's worth it.
Good question, to make your own jacketed bullets you would use a technique called swaging. Swaging uses pressure to press lead into a jacket. I haven't tried it yet but hope to someday. Thanks for watching.
How many chains did you go through sawing that keel weight with your chain saw?
probably only one because lead is very soft
How do you go about breaking down huge chunks of lead for casting? I picked up several 1,000 lb ingots and a few 250 lb bar weights at an auction. The larger weights are basically just lead that was poured into a small steel drum, the smaller weights were from a railway station that we tore down years ago. I'm not sure of the purity of the lead but it seems pretty soft. I also have a bunch of lead that I got from an old guy who was melting down old plumbing pipes into 10" cooking pots. When he died he had the one whole wall of his garage stacked to the ceiling with 10" round by 4" thick lead ingots. His wife was afraid it would topple on someone so she told me to haul it all away. Each round ingot is about 40 lbs each and it took me about 30 trips with my small pickup and a homemade trailer to move them all. I've got them stacked in the corner of my garage now. I counted 1,096 of the 6" round chunks that vary slighty in thickness. The big rounds I have were cast in metal barrels, the are out of the barrels but i can see the rings where they were cast. My guess is they peeled the barrels away after they hardened. They're roughly 12x21" with a huge iron eye bolt sticking out of one end. I think there's 16 of them in all. They were tough to move, I brought them here with my truck from work, I basically backed up past my driveway and rolled each one off the truck onto the grass then rolled them into the garage eventually stacking them up three high two deep along one wall. I have a small bullet mold, and I tried knocking chunks off with a splitting maul and a sledge hammer but it takes forever. I didn't want to use a saw and make lots of lead dust that would be hard to clean up. A buddy took one and tried busting it up in chunks with a log splitter but it only made huge odd shaped curls still too big to melt in anything small.
Yes they will work for Lee slugs. I recommend the 7/8 Oz because less lead and more accurate from the data. because they are front heavy like a dart. I got 800lbs of lead for 40 cents a pound but that was luck. 60 to 80 is good. But what I discovered recently was that I buy Walmart cheap loads. cut them open with a awesome tool I got from mountain storm. melt the lead then reload with the slugs I make from the lead. then I can go to the local range and shoot slugs for the price of a box of 9mm. I have a Vepr 12 and she is thirsty. happy reloading to ya.
Thanks. Great video. Happy Father's Day
Nolan,
It depends on what you are using it for. For casting sinkers, nothing. For bullits.... depends on speed and caliber. There are a lot of tutorials out there on this if you look, but for standard rifle I just use wheel weights at low speed.
My right ear enjoyed this video
my left ear says hello
That explains why the video is silent lol. I only have a left ear bud
Sebastian Torres haha i also listen with only my Right ear
Stolen comment
The word gets out - I published a vid on range scrap and now other shooters at our local range are picking up the scrap. Now there is less for me!! I used to pick up 10-11 pounds @ trip to range, now I can only get 5. Gotta find some of those scuba weights!! Don't know if I want to mess around with radioactive though unless I get a Geiger counter. Thanks for you vid - best one yet on lead sources.
Great channel. Have you ever salvaged lead from a car battery? Drain and safely dispose of the acid, rinse w/ water mixed w/. some baking soda, take apart the case and harvest the lead plates.
Good call, lead is everywhere.
you replied that tight lad, haha love you. wanted to tell you, that also car batteries are a good source
I like your sense of humour
you forgot a valuable source for the tin . Often in the same bin at our recycling center we find solder and sometimes 25 lbs bars of it. They call it lead, i call it 60 percent tin. its often *marked* what the tin content is on the bar, and if you decide to melt it into ignots, do be prepared for a lot of smoke if the stuff has flux, this is generally restricted to 5- to 1 lb rolls. it does flux the pot very nicely though. also be very careful when making the ingots as this stuff stays liquid longer and you can get burned very badly as the centers of the 2 lb ingots can be liquid, while the edges are not, same for pewter.
i saw a video about a battery recycling place and they said they wash all the lead plates and melt them into ingiots and sold to ammo makers,, it was just a thought because it is so easy to get,,
but i am a marine repair tech and i can get sailboat ballast too easy
i see tons of lead go to scrap yards from local boat yards,, allot of these sail boats have 1 plus tons of lead so i can get ie real easy,,
I don't think the acid is the major concern, I researched this online awhile back so take this as second hand info but I believe it is toxic elements such as cadmium that are the problem. I also saw a TV show on car batteries, many are made with a thin lead mesh that covered in a paste of other chemicals. The same show however showed them pulverizing old batteries, separating the material, and smelting clean lead bars... on a filthy industrial scale. Really interesting show.
If there are hospitals/clinics in your area, see if any construction is being done. When old xray rooms are being demolished, there could be lead backed drywall being disposed of. There is a 1/8" thick 4x7' sheet of lead glued to the back of leaded drywall. just an fyi.
Thanks you!
This very usefuf,since the EU-nanny,now bann lead in everything.As kid I did some bulet by teeth,and I think at over 50 years old, I m very alife...
Hey can I ask I’ve just picked up some pure lead/ roof flashing, as you said it’s too soft for bullets but I also have some plumbers lead bars would you suggest adding a certain amount of this to the mix as I think these bars contain a good amount of tin,if so how should I add? Nice informative video thanks.
Another source is scrap hand set metal type used in letterpress printing.
Letterpress printing is commercially obsolete. I've been collecting printing equipment for some time now, and have several hundred pounds of scrap lead type. I use it for casting sling shot ammo. Type contains a percentage of Antimony and Tin.
More information can be found by google "Type Metal". There are charts for Brinell hardness.
However hobby printers are not so willing to part with it because its value is known.
Car batteries are usually recycled automatically. However, one can sometimes find old ones tossed out. One has to be careful with the acid, baking soda is a good neutralizer. Seems like a lot of work to get the lead, but a car battery does have quite a bit in it and it could be worth the trouble especially if one is having a hard time finding other sources. Right now it seems to be my only source other than the berm at the shooting range.
another good source of lead are discarded spark plugs. the shaft all the way to the igniter is lead, just bust the ceramic off. you can find an endless amount at junkyards, and even go to those quick lube joints that also do quick spark plugs changes and ask to take their waste off their hands. they can add up pretty quickly, are extremely plentiful, and most don't think there is any use to have them around and just throw them away.
If a car battery is being tossed, generally is junk (won't hold a charge.) The acid is usually weak, most being bound up in the lead itself. (Charging is by definition, a separation of lead and acid, into the water.) To remove acid bound by lead, dump the weak acid and add ammonia, charge the battery for 30 minutes. Sulfates in the lead are attracted to the ammonia, forming a salt (ammonium sulfate); rinse & repeat a few times. Strain the liquid thru coffee filters to recover lead particles.
I just got some of the iso things and there is alot of them I am going to try and get them all. I recognized them right away and grabbed it for casting
Leaded glass windows ( the doors or windows with gray metal separating the panes in a design) are pretty easy to work with. I just busted up the glass and pulled off lead with pliers.
like the old style stained glass out of a church?
leaded glass windows are very valuable often hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars per window. why the fuck would you bust them for a few cents of lead?
toomanyaccounts I was thinking the same thing.
Just went down to my local scrap metal recycling place and bought 22 pounds worth of lead bars for like 16 dollars. Pretty sweet deal if u ask me
hey MJ i took ur advice and stopped by a small local tire shop today and got about 40-50lbs of wheel weights for free. it was only a 1/2 of a 5 gal bucket them thangs are heavy. he said come back in 3 weeks to get more if i want. now just if i could find powders/primers id be set! thx!
wow, your set for life man...
I really do appreciate the info and for you taking your time to make this video. Question... How do I know the purity of the lead? I wish to add tin and/or antimony to my lead to harden it as much as practical. I do quench directly into a bucket of water directly out of the mold. Thanks.
Our founding father's would dig it up.
Did some searching range scrap and roofing tile from demolition works great
Thanks for the great video and it has certainly motivated me, It will be a nice addition to being self sufficient in reloading. Thumbs Up !!
You can also add the weights for fishing to the list.. those lead weights for fishing line are pretty cheap and you can probably find those in tons of peoples old fishing gear, or just buy them at stores for next to nothing.
My friend and I used to go to the shooting range to gather lead bullets. I was about 8 yrs old. We gave them to his brother who melted them down in the middle of their yard in a coffee can over a fire. After the lead melted, any copper would stay in the coffee can, and the lead could be poured out into another can. He sold the lead to somebody, and gave us a few pennies out of what he got.
The lead from batteries is generally lead oxide, the most toxic type of lead. You do not want to be messing with it at all.
The lead rubs off easy in the barrel and fouls it real quick the copper goes down smoother and doesnt chip off into your rifling.
I just sold 3200 pounds of it today for 75 cents a pound.I have one 40 pound ingot left and some lead sheeting that weighs around 200 pounds.i am in lake mary 12 miles north of orlando and i will be getting aprox 2000 more pounds of lead in the next few weeks
The iso cores would never be "hot", not unless the contents spilled in the interior of the vessel. Exposure to radiation doesnt cause something to be radioactive. Radioactive dust or debris is a problem if ingested or inhaled is a big problem however. Thats not at all likely in this case though.
great video on sources for lead that i had not thought of and did not know of. check with your roofing company source for free tin off of old roofs or trimmed pieces from new ones.
Hi, I don't buy lead at the scrapyard, not sure what the prices would be. You can regularly buy various lead alloys for about $1/lb shipped online through various sources.
forgot to mention, I saw a show on Discovery channel or somewhere a while ago that lead shot for shotgun shells is made from recycled car batteries. the melted lead is poured through different size holes depending on shot size being made, into cold water and the it causes it to for into perfect round shot. that's how I remember at least. thought I'd bring that up seeing how everyone is asking about car batteries.
Out under an old bench I have some old time lead pipe.When I get low on lead I will cut off a couple feet of one.
So it looks like the one you found is in the business of selling lead. The two that I found last year were simply having a recycler haul it off. Times are changing! Businesses are trying to find all revenue sources available, which is logical.
Obviously inhaling the lead and tin fumes from soldering electronics all day long in Asian sweatshops is damaging the workers' abilities to reproduce like rabbits...
Carry on, uploader, thank you for the responsible and informative video!
I called my local scrap yard and they told me 75 cents a pound for pure lead. There is a 7000 grains in a pound I think. For that price I figure I will just pay for and it is always there when I need it.
Another source for lead flashing's are plumbers,and plumbing supply company's. I did plumbing for a number of years and we always gave the roofers the flashing to put up. But when storing them the lead is so damn soft its not uncommon for a lot of them to be bent or flattened beyond use. My boss usually melted them down and stored for scrapping. he had buckets upon buckets. The supply company we went through didn't melt the scraps but they just tossed them in a big bin.
Plumbers are more worried about saving copper and brass so talking them out of lead should be easy :)
Did you ever test your isotope containers with a Geiger counter?
Good soft lead!