How much lead??

[Mitty38]

Brad had made a comment about cleaning up around the shop and getting 200 lbs of scraps to remelt.
Got me thinking.
I keep a leger of lead in and out,etc.
Just kinda wondering how much lead do some of you fellows use.

By use I mean, actually hose thru the barrels of your personal guns?
Not the amount traded or ammunition put back. Or The 2000 lbs of cast bullets cast by you, on the shelf.

But weight in lead actually shot thru the year in your guns?

Also how much do you recover to your stash a year?

I know that I fair pale In comparison to some of you. Also disciplines like shotgunning and competition may greatly increase that.
Also do you notice a change in the amount of certain types of lead alloy as years go by?



Ok let me start. With my measly pittance.
I mostly shoot pistol, or bolt action. In the last 5 years.The lead amount shot thru, my barrels is an average of 21 lbs a year. 7 .5 lbs last year because I was sick thru the time of the year that I use the range the most.
I recover-obtain about 40 lbs a year.
25 lbs of range scrap and 15 lbs of acquired, on average per year. Over the last five years.
So my stash grows by about 19 lbs a year.
Problem is it is propagating to becoming mostly range scrap eventually.

 

[Tomme boy]

I used to shoot 15K-20K bullets in various pistols a year until my health went south. My $ flow took a hit at the same times as I could not work anymore. So take that by 200grs as i was shooting mainly 45acp at the time. Last several years it has been about 15lbs each year.

I just gifted about 40lbs of bullets to a lifelong friend a couple of weeks ago. So I could add that in there

 

[RicinYakima]

When I was shooting competition in the CBA, about 150 pounds a year down the barrels. And maybe 10 pounds plinking handgun. Now about 25 pounds a year of big bore single shot and 20 pounds of plinking. Mostly I am still shooting up the 2500 pounds of WW's from Costco harvested from 1996 through 2004. Bought 40 pounds of lead for the single shots last year.

 

[Brad]

I shoot roughly 100 pounds a year. Depends on work and what time I have to get to the range.

I can gather 500 pounds of range scrap in a year with little effort and at no cost.

I figure I have roughly 3000 pounds on hand- enough to last the rest of my life

 

[358156 hp]

Brad had made a comment about cleaning up around the shop and getting 200 lbs of scraps to remelt.
Got me thinking.

200 lbs? I think we're missing a digit in that number somewhere. That's only two buckets.

 

[Mitty38]

If we count what bullets we give away. I believe CW and Fiver have a lot of us bested.

 

[richhodg66]

Short answer; not nearly as many as I'd like to.

I shoot on my own place now. Eventually, I will mine this berm, but not for a long time. When that happens, though, i'm going to keep careful track of how many pounds of lead I get back out of that berm. Curious ti know.

 

[Glaciers]

Well the short answer is not nearly enough. Hopefully that will change this summer. Yeah I know, I’ve said that before, but this time for sure.

 

[fiver]

if you count home made/store bought shot 400+ lbs. would be where i start counting from.
i throw a lot of lead in the lakes around here too, maybe 20-25lbs, between everyone [which reminds me siiigh]
after that?
depends, i've gone through over 1-K lbs. before, and 3+1 rounds in a whole year for a total of 208grs. of cast lead.

 

[bruce381]

I shoot all cast pistol so if you only count 45 acp about 274 lbs per year

 

[JonB]

2022 was probably 28 lbs.
Years prior to my 2015 gun auction, I'd think that annual weight was 5 to 10 times that.
Currently, I ain't really recovering anything...at most was a soup can's worth in 2022

My thoughts guessing those above numbers.
average bullet weight in what I shoot is probably 200gr
with 7000 grs per lb, that's 35 shots.
I am guessing I shot 1000 rounds in 2022
1000/35 = 28lbs

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I really have no idea. But severely less in the last year has been fired. I have given away far far more than shot in last year or so.

Before 2020 I was shooting 3/4x a week. Between matches & practice & fun. Summer was 300 & 900 bullseye & at least one combat & 3gun a month. Sometimes a plate match as well. Usually, 200 rnds in bullseye practice a week. Who knows in fun shoots but easily couple hundred. Plate & 3gun where usually 80 ish rnds. If not many bonus targets. Bullseye was 30-90 rnds +.
Winter was practice & a 300 Bullseye weekly. Plate match weekly & maybe a 3gun or Plate shoot a month. Sectionals & seasonal championship plus team rivalry shoot was yearly once.

Covid & my knee stopped most of that.

CW

 

[Winelover]

Since I have my own private range, I recover most of my lead.

Typical year of shooting.



After smelting into ingots.................two years of accumulation.




That's just my RBA (recovered bullet alloy)................BHN usually runs 14-15.

Earlier this week, I received an order of pure and lino, in 5# bars, from RotoMetals. To make up either 3-1 alloy or 20-1, depending on what I want/need for a known alloy. That order was 70 pounds, total. Watched for the mail lady, so I could unload it for her. Told her that if ever I'm not around, just roll it out of her SUV. It's just lead. You can't hurt it.

Couldn't hazard a guess on how many cast bullets are on hand in my shop. The containers on the shelf are four to five rows deep.

Couple of five gallon pails of bullets, on the floor. Working my way though one with RCBS 240 SWC-GC bullets I cast over thirty years ago.

 

[Bret4207]

Haven't been shooting much cast, or much of anything over the past few years. Go back 10 years or more and using Jons formula probably 75-100 lbs a year, depending on if I was really into smaller stuff like the 32 S+W Long or 25-20 or playing with the 35's and 45's. A 60 gr bullet makes the lead last a lot longer than a 405 grainer!

I haven't done a lot of reclaiming. I want to build a snail trap of some sort, or something in that line though.

 

[RBHarter]

I didn't shoot much for about 3 years. I've already shot as much this year as last . Not much pistol , mostly rifles . Average weight...... That's tough , the one that's really bending the average isn't 222 or 223 it's on the other end 50 rounds of 45-70-530s to 150 rounds of 257 Roberts,25-06 , 7 mm Mauser 120 & 180 . Those can be sent at 3-1 for the 45-70 . So I guess if use 300 rounds as a constant at 150 gr that gives me 46/# .....24-25# stepping up to pistol uses about the same but at about 200 rounds . 50#/yr .

 

[L Ross]

Since the first of the year I think I have shot, hmmmmm, let's see, four .22 shorts, so 4 x 29= 116 grains. Oh oh.

 

[fiver]

wine.
you gotta watch those shelves, i just split one down the middle.
luckily i could hear the bullets rattling around in the cups when they started to tip and could get everything cleared off pretty quickly.
only had to pick up a couple of hand fulls.

 

[Winelover]

Those shelves have been there for over ten years, without issue. I purchased the HD ones.

 

[dannyd]

So far in the door and the barrel 3,299 pounds of bullets I have casted.
( using 158 grain as an average)

 

[Mitty38]

Yep, everytime I settle on less then I want for shelving or storage. Regrets.