mfsnook Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Looking to buy lead for making my own jigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsac Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Do a search, there's a few different options. Start with this thread. Lot's of good info on where to get lead. http://www.tackleunderground.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=492&highlight=buy+lead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siebler_custom_baits Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 yea i cant get lead from tireshops here. Really sucks. I got 100lbs of old printers press letters delievered for 10.00 Where yall get softest lead from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfsnook Posted December 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 found some tire weights, sounds like the thing to do with them is melt them down to clean them up and pour into ingots. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basskat Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Make sure there's no moisture close. One little drop makes quiet an explosion. Wear eye protection and good heavy long sleeves (leather if you have it), and good gloves. Also be in a well ventilated area. Chaulk the explosion part up frp experience! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.J. Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Try Ebay. Look under fishing and then type in molds. There was a lot of lead for sale the last time I looked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIGMAKER Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 I had the ole water explosion experience myself when I started. Try Plumbers supply shops and Recyclers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siebler_custom_baits Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Yea im just figuring that if i can find some soft stuff locally for really cheap ill mix with my lead i have to get something a little softer. I know a few plumbers and forgot about asking them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chirmy Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Construction workers who demolish medical buildings. I have rolls of lead (big rolls) that I got when they demolished an xray room. The walls are lined with lead and a buddy just rolled it up when they tore it down. have some if anyone wants to pay for shipping or pick it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basskat Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 I have a cone shaped piece that came from the hospital. It weighs 275 pounds. Now I have to figure out how to cut it up in small enough chunks to pour one pound blocks! May have to find a cutting torch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIGMAKER Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 basskat, try using a three inch bladed stone chisel and a three pound hammer. You should be able to cut off pieces small enough to work with. Just remember to wear eye protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaery Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 I use a saws all to cut large pieces of lead. I use the wood/metal blade with bigger teeth. Smaller teeth clogs up. I have use a chain saw. I works good but you have to wear full face shield and long sleeve shirt because it thows little pieces of hot lead on your face and arms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basskat Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 I have a saws all. Never thought about using it! Thanks for the tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finlander Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Stamina has 1 lb bars for sale in their catalog, but not on their website. Maximum is 5 per order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishrap Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 Check with local gun shops, sometimes they buy surplus lead in ingots from the boys who are shooting lead slugs at metal targets, especially trick shooters. seems to be a big sport. Generally someone picks up all the slugs and melts them down and sells to gun shops. Real soft lead and works great. If you know where one of these shooting ranges are might be able to pick them up yourself. Pick a day they are not shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Microsal Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 I have bought lead from a battery recycling place that was of fairly high quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhurocy34 Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I bought 10 pounds of lead ONCE, and only once, if you feel you would rather buy it then go ahead. Here's what you can do if your inclined. My situation, I'm a Police Officer in North County Missouri (the hood north of St. Louis). Cops shoot guns, and shoot them a lot! A neighboring police department has a Mobile Range Trailer, and they train there quite often. This scrap from the firing days is sorted, and usually tossed, with the exception of the brass. If you know any police in your town, and they have a firing range, I'm sure that they will be happy to drop some of the spent lead for you. Usually find out who the firearms instructor is, because he is responsible for disposal or means of disposal with this stuff. The more you take off his hands, the more he will give you. I usually run by the trailer once every 2 weeks, get a bucket full of spent lead, and I'm set. JUST SORT THE STUFF! My only bad experience... One evening I was melting my prize , and during the sorting event the night before, an unfired round got overlooked (this can happen). I put about 3 cups of the bullet remains into the pot, and allowed it to melt down. I heard a bit of hissing, so I stepped to the driveway from my workbench, (about 20 feet away), lit up a smoke, and assumed there was going to be a moisture pop, because the lead was dug out from under snow. I did dry it with a heat gun before dropping it, but assumed I was not that thorough in the process. Well anyways, I heard a little "pop", and felt it safe to return. I went back to my bench, and no less than 2 seconds after putting my faceshield back down, there was one loud burst, and almost every drop of lead that was in the pot blew out, spraying me across the jaw portion of my faceshield, and coating the front of my military jacket (luckily) I did not get any injuries, I had some neat patterns sprayed on the wall, bench, and even the ceiling. I immediately unplugged the pot, and took a seat on my front porch thanking God that I did not burn half my face off. After the lead began to cool, I started straining the remains out, all that was found was a brass casing to a Federal Hyrdashock .40 calliber round. The bullet was gone, the primer was still intact, and there was a huge bulge on the side with a BB sized puncture which indicated that the material inside (gunpowder) had been blown out. There was a small dent on the inside of the pot after I scraped it out, and I recovered the spent bullet portion on the floor while sweeping up. So in other words, if you get lucky enough to get free lead from a police department, search it wisely. Anyways, it is a good way to go. I still get my free lead, but take much more precaution in the process. Mik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9erhater Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 well if you are only going to make jigs for your personal use, just go to your local tackle shop and buy a few big sinkers and melt them down. I was desperate once and bought a downrigger weight. just a my 2 cents. dont have that problem anymore had a friend of mine who raced cars give me a bunch of lead that he melted into valve covers, that he used to distribute weight in his cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LedHed Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Mik Talk about lucky ? someone is watching over you. CJ If you ever get up here, got a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights and a sheet (about 24lbs.) of soft lead you can have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitcheal Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 The stories about exploding rounds while melting lead bullets are interesting. Just to add some color, while serving with Special Forces in Vietnam, after each operation, we would take all of our unused ammo, generally 5.56 and 7.62 mm. and discard it, as we didn't want to carry any stuff that had been exposed to the elements too long, especially 5.56mm. as this could cause stoppage of operation on the M-16's. We would generally dump the unused ammo into a 55 gal. drum placed away from our camp, then pour in several gallons of diesel fuel mixed with a little regular gasoline. Using a fuze igniter, we would start the diesel burning and cook off the ammo. I never remember any holes put into the barrels or rounds flying around. Without the gas constriction like that caused by a rifle breech, the ammo seemed to merely pop and the bullet would fall out of the casing. I do recall a number of dents to the inside of the barrel. Sort of sounded like when you microwave popcorn. Could be that higher heat used when melting lead can actually cause the powder to react as if the primer had been crushed. We didn't use many 9 mm. or .45 cal. pistol rounds, so I can't say much about how they reacted in the fire. I do know that big stuff, like 20 and 40 mm had a bit more umphh to it. On the cable show, Mythbusters, they disproved the story of the guy who used a .22 long rifle cartridge to replace one of the fuses in his car. Supposedly, the round got hot, cooked off and shot the guy in the leg. All they could do on the show was get the round hot enough to harmlessly pop open. The danger here is not in the bullet, but in the explosion spraying lead. I remelt all suspicious lead in an old iron plumbers pot on my turkey fryer outside my shop. my .02 cents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overkill Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 my guess would be that the weight of the melted lead around the casing allowed enough gas pressure to build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitcheal Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 That is probably an excellent diagnosis my friend. Many people take the lead melting processs as a ho-hum operation but it can be very nasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perchbustersd Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 i got lucky, my father-in-law is a retired plumber. he had 1000 pounds of 5 lb. plumber bars in his garage he gave me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badfish03 Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Dont know if this one got brought up or not before. Befriend several dental offices and ask for the pieces of lead that go with the x-ray sheets. These are small very thin sheets of high quality lead they usually get rid of slightly larger than a guarter and rectangular. I asked a local Dentist to save me some as I used them to make baitfish bodys for mylar epoxy flys. He gave me a box of about 4 lbs after about two weeks, nice thing is that being as thin as they are they would melt down very easily and as I said they are medical grade so very pure. If anyone is interested I can post a picture or send them a few to see what I am talking about. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
