Source for casting lead in San Jose?

[jbilling85]

I got into casting an reloading out of state and have recently moved to the San Jose area. Yesterday I stopped by a tire shop to see if I could buy some used wheel weights, and the guy explained to me that they stopped using lead in wheel weights as of about a year ago.. Say what?! According to him, they're only steel now... Is what he told me true? If so, Where's the closest area I can get lead weights?

[jbilling85]

Oh, side note: I've heard there are some laws about shooting lead in this area to save the baby whales or what have you. I only punch paper and plan on shooting indoors. ^^

[anyracoon]

Might what to check with smaller tire shops. I scored about 200 #s in a small tire shop in Chular for $60.00 a couple of months back.

[dustoff31]

I got into casting an reloading out of state and have recently moved to the San Jose area. Yesterday I stopped by a tire shop to see if I could buy some used wheel weights, and the guy explained to me that they stopped using lead in wheel weights as of about a year ago.. Say what?! According to him, they're only steel now... Is what he told me true? If so, Where's the closest area I can get lead weights?

Yep. As of Jan 2010 wheel weights with more than 0.1% lead are illegal in CA. They are usually a zinc alloy now. And of course as you know you don't want zinc anywhere near your casting pot.

You might check ebay, I've seen lead ingots advertised there for 1.00 to 1.50 each. But then you got shipping to deal with. Shipping lead can't be cheap.

Might also check with a local range if you have one nearby. I get my lead from the local gun club. It's been there for 30 years of so, so I can pick lead up off the ground or root around in the backstop and can collect a 3 lb coffe can full in a couple of hours. And what better alloy to use for casting bullets, than melted bullets?

[bumpo628]

I have bought lead several times from the castboolits website. You can find it in the following two sub-forums for about $1 per pound delivered.

Vendor Sponsors: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=52
- http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=86491
- http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=63886

Swapping & Selling: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

[jbilling85]

Hm, I guess I can try some smaller shops but seeing that lead has been made illegal a year and a half ago, I'd expect limited success.

I've heard of people trying zinc bullets, I don't think they worked well though, too brittle?

1$ a pound isn't too bad compared to going and buying jacketed stuff. Example:

In a perfect world 1 pound of alloy will make 56 124 grain 9mm bullets. Supposing that the caster bought that pound for 1$, thats slightly more than 2 cents per bullet. Compared to buying a pack of 100 jacketed bullets at about 11$, or 11 cents a bullet, still not bad.

Still though, I love going and buying a big bucket o wheelweights for 20$ and making a crap ton of ingots with them. .Sniffle.