Had a friend call tonight wanted to know what good price was to pay for some lead. He is going to pouring some jigs and sinkers and was shopping around .Knew I pour most my own jigs and sinkers.. Said he had seen people asking everything from $1.00 pound up to $3.00 a pound.
I have to admit I haven't bought any for long time and last I recall was 20 cents a pound. For years now I've just saved and scrounged and have people who always find me lead..
So what is going rate for lead these days in everyone area..Can you still get it? I know here I can't just go to the salvage yard and buy it from them like I used to. They will buy lead from me if I take it in scrap but no longer sell it back out to public.

Mac

That's were I purchase mine when I need to make snagging weights. they charge 15c a lb more then they buy it for. which it totals around a buck or a tad more 3 a lb is high way robbery! Fyi older forklift weights were pure lead jacketed by1/4" steel

I got a five gallon bucket full of wheel weights. plus part of a bucket. loaned a guy a bullet mold last summer and in return got a bunch of plumbers lead. easiest way to get plumbers lead used to be go the lumber yard and buy a 50 pound roll of lead flashing. I don't think anybody sells lead flashing anymore. pretty hard to get wheel weights now too and a lot of them are zinc so you have to sort through them. you can bust open old car batteries and melt the lead plates. scrap yards will buy the zinc plates but unless you have a wheelbarrow full they are not to interested.

problem, like a lot of stuff, is government regulation. we should probably all be hoarding plumbers lead.

I normal go to salvage yard to get soft lead. I been a few years that I got it . But at the time I paid .60 a pound. I use it for mainly cast bullets. and get some alloy from a company from CA. for my mix for the BHN I want.

All the lead mines in the US have been shut down. My father in law looked into lead scrap price because the marina has literally tons from sailboat ballast. Current price is 50 cents/pound scrap. If you have lead I would not part with it as it is going to be harder and harder to get. The Dumacrats are working on banning all lead.

I just checked the scrap yard price the other day it was .60cents a lb the last I herd, but is now down to .50lb

I got a pretty good stash probably couple hundred pounds. I also have a lot tied up in dive weights. I've got several belts all at different weight to go with different ways I dress. So if I really need to pour some jigs I can always sacrifice a dive weight if i run out of the good stuff..
Years ago I got a bunch of lead junction boxes from a guy that worked at phone company. they were up grading under ground lines and the boxes were all lead shielded. Nice stuff. But like others the few they lead boxes they run into now they can't or won't let out.
The youg guy that called me is just first getting into making his own jigs and stuff. He said he had a guy he could get some from for 80 cents a lb. but he'd have to run out of town or wait until his guy came here. I told him I thought that was a decent price from what I'd heard. Last big bucket of wheel weights I got from friend of my sons works in a truck shop. They had only couple dozen lead weights in it rest were zinc. Told him was worth him saving them for me unless he was sure was lead. Bucket weigh like 60-70 lbs was maybe 1 lb lead weights on it..I did geta couple bucks scrap for the zinc wheel weights they scrap in with what they called breaker aluminum.

Mac

Just a little correction; lead mines haven't been shut down, but I believe lead smelters and refineries have been shut down. Most lead/silver and lead and zinc concentrates from US mines are being shipped overseas and north to Canada for smelting.

Here's a link to information on the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho, the deepest mine in the USA (9,600 feet).
Ore from the mine averages about 7% lead (140 pounds per ton) and is shipped to Canada for processing.
https://www.hecla-mining.com/lucky-friday/