Prices since the election...

peter nap · Nov 12, 2012

tcmech said:
I also reload for most of my shooting needs. i have started casting my own buckshot and been considering buying bullet molds for my handgun caliber needs. I think I will go ahead and order the molds in the morning.

Even if prices and availability of components don't soar, you won't regret casting. I've been doing it for years and make more suitable bullets for what I do, at almost no cost. Work out a deal with whoever you get tires from to save their wheel weights. I buy them from the scrap yards in 55 gallon barrels.

Also, learn to tell the zinc ones from lead alloy. There is a push by the EPA to replace all lead weights with Zinc so hording now is a good idea.

mpguy · Nov 12, 2012

peter nap said:
Even if prices and availability of components don't soar, you won't regret casting. I've been doing it for years and make more suitable bullets for what I do, at almost no cost. Work out a deal with whoever you get tires from to save their wheel weights. I buy them from the scrap yards in 55 gallon barrels.

Also, learn to tell the zinc ones from lead alloy. There is a push by the EPA to replace all lead weights with Zinc so hording now is a good idea.

Think Zinc will be the "next" lead replacement for ammo?

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paramedic · Nov 12, 2012

I really want to get into reloading, what are the best sources for equipment, and what is casting?????

peter nap · Nov 12, 2012

mpguy said:
Think Zinc will be the "next" lead replacement for ammo?

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It hasit's uses but a very poor ballistic coefficient. It will sure screw up a pot of lead so keep your emps below 600 degrees and the Zinc will float up.

peter nap · Nov 12, 2012

paramedic said:
I really want to get into reloading, what are the best sources for equipment, and what is casting?????

It depends on what you're going to reload. Rifle, pistol or shotgun and in what quantities.

I have at least ten presses that I use for different things.

For a starter press that will stay with you the rest of your life, I recommend an RCBS Rockchucker or for a little less money and almost as strong, a Lee Cast press.
Midway is a good place to look but check the sales.
Get a GOOD set of scales. I like the RCBS 10-10-10

For a beginner Shotgun press, MEC 600 Jr.

If you're going to load a lot of pistol ammo, a Dillon progressive.

Casting is casting your own bullets. After you get god at that look at some swaging equipment so you can make unusual stuff as well as make jacketed bullets easier.

I use .40 cases (The only use I ever found for a 40:lol

to make jackets for my 45/70 STT (shoot through trees) bullets.

mpguy · Nov 12, 2012

peter nap said:
It depends on what you're going to reload. Rifle, pistol or shotgun and in what quantities.

I have at least ten presses that I use for different things.

For a starter press that will stay with you the rest of your life, I recommend an RCBS Rockchucker or for a little less money and almost as strong, a Lee Cast press.
Midway is a good place to look but check the sales.
Get a GOOD set of scales. I like the RCBS 10-10-10

For a beginner Shotgun press, MEC 600 Jr.

If you're going to load a lot of pistol ammo, a Dillon progressive.

Casting is casting your own bullets. After you get god at that look at some swaging equipment so you can make unusual stuff as well as make jacketed bullets easier.

I use .40 cases (The only use I ever found for a 40:lol to make jackets for my 45/70 STT (shoot through trees) bullets.

I'm looking to into it, for my handgun first. With all the talk of the epa going after lead, I didn't know if Zinc would be soft enough like lead to do the same role. How much is the 55 gal. drum costing? If it's OK to ask, don't want to seem I'm prying in personal business.

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peter nap · Nov 12, 2012

mpguy said:
I'm looking to into it, for my handgun first. With all the talk of the epa going after lead, I didn't know if Zinc would be soft enough like lead to do the same role. How much is the 55 gal. drum costing? If it's OK to ask, don't want to seem I'm prying in personal business.

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35 to 45 cents a pound. See if you can get a fisherman that makes his own sinkers to go in with you. He can use all the zinc and you can use the lead.

WalkingWolf · Nov 12, 2012

Some junk yards will let you have the lead for free. You just have to get it yourself. Wheel weights are about the right alloy for bullets.

peter nap · Nov 12, 2012

WalkingWolf said:
Some junk yards will let you have the lead for free. You just have to get it yourself. Wheel weights are about the right alloy for bullets.

I need to find those places WW. But.....the last batch I got was when the Chinese were still buying up everything harder than silly putty.

WalkingWolf · Nov 12, 2012

peter nap said:
I need to find those places WW. But.....the last batch I got was when the Chinese were still buying up everything harder than silly putty.

I have not gone junk yard shopping for some time. But a lot of tire shops have buckets for the old weights that have broken tabs. As long as you pay them what the scrap yard does they might sell them.

Plus I used to buy aluminum plate from the scrap yard, they had piles of lead but I never needed to buy it. I believe there will be sources of lead for some time. Shoot, one only needs to get permission from the police range to clean up the lead to have lead for life. It was my source of lead when I was young.

Grapeshot · Nov 12, 2012

A 55 gal drum of water weighs 458 pounds plus.

A 55 gal drum of lead wheel weights will potentially top 2000 pounds!

You might want more than a half ton truck and a very strong back :uhoh:

WalkingWolf · Nov 12, 2012

Grapeshot said:
A 55 gal drum of water weighs 458 pounds plus.

A 55 gal drum of lead wheel weights will potentially top 2000 pounds!

You might want more than a half ton truck and a very strong back :uhoh:

My truck weighs 26,000 pounds empty, but can carry 54,000 pounds. But I don't use it for lead, I used to get lead by the bucket when I was young, that was still heavy. I would imagine unless one went to a scrap yard it would be hard to scavenge a 55 gal drum.

peter nap · Nov 12, 2012

Grapeshot said:
A 55 gal drum of water weighs 458 pounds plus.

A 55 gal drum of lead wheel weights will potentially top 2000 pounds!

You might want more than a half ton truck and a very strong back :uhoh:

That's when a 7000 lb trailer and tractor comes in handy

scouser · Nov 12, 2012

peter nap said:
.. snip ..
I use .40 cases (The only use I ever found for a 40:lol to make jackets for my 45/70 STT (shoot through trees) bullets.

Maybe Riverrat needs to add a line to his signature

"40 cal because peter nap needs the empty cases"

W.E.G. · Nov 12, 2012

There may be some lead wheel-weights still on junked vehicles in the hinterlands.

NONE of the tire stores I visited recently in northern VA use lead wheel weights anymore.
All wheel weights are STEEL now.

Lead wheel weights are illegal in some states, under state law already.

Your days of collecting wheel weights to make bullets are over.
Its not law across the US yet, but soon it will be.

Grapeshot · Nov 12, 2012

W.E.G. said:
There may be some lead wheel-weights still on junked vehicles in the hinterlands.

NONE of the tire stores I visited recently in northern VA use lead wheel weights anymore.
All wheel weights are STEEL now.

Lead wheel weights are illegal in some states, under state law already.

Your days of collecting wheel weights to make bullets are over.
Its not law across the US yet, but soon it will be.

Strange that problem with lead......unless you intend to eat it :uhoh:

Lead does not migrate. Lead occurs naturally in the soil, it is a basic element.

IMHO - it is just another solution looking for a problem.

WalkingWolf · Nov 12, 2012

Grapeshot said:
Strange that problem with lead......unless you intend to eat it :uhoh:

Lead does not migrate. Lead occurs naturally in the soil, it is a basic element.

IMHO - it is just another solution looking for a problem.

Government run amok. 2009 gee who was president in 2009, and people claim Obama did not affect gun rights. You think EPA and anti gun people do not know that wheel weights are perfect bullet casting media?

peter nap · Nov 12, 2012

W.E.G. said:
There may be some lead wheel-weights still on junked vehicles in the hinterlands.

NONE of the tire stores I visited recently in northern VA use lead wheel weights anymore.
All wheel weights are STEEL now.

Lead wheel weights are illegal in some states, under state law already.

Your days of collecting wheel weights to make bullets are over.
Its not law across the US yet, but soon it will be.

Not hardly over, just limited. First, I don't live in some states (Especially California where they are illegal) I live in Virginia where they are legal still.

Second there are many tons of them still in use and at scrap yards. Just have to look.

They said the same thing about Linotype when they quit using it many years ago and I still find supplies of it dirt cheap or free.

There will be sources of cheap casting lead well past my lifetime and it ain't my problem after that.

Prices since the election...

peter nap

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mpguy

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paramedic

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peter nap

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peter nap

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mpguy

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peter nap

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WalkingWolf

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peter nap

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Grapeshot

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WalkingWolf

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peter nap

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scouser

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W.E.G.

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peter nap

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