Indians For Guns

Not very sure this is the right place for the post, but I am looking for some lead to make slingshot ammo, so seemed appropriate. I do not need a huge quantity so its not fare to travel long to a metal dealer (none in my part of the city). I tried few junkyards I could find, car mechanics and welders but no go.
Please post if you have any ideas, any at all.
I thought about lead batteries but that's hazardous to open and treat and I read there are government rules for safe disposal so had to drop that.

shashank: no, do not use lead from car batteries. You can never get all of the acid solution out of the plates, and when it gets hot enough to turn to steam, there are unfortunate consequences.

The typical sources are automobile wheel weights. If a tire shop or repair shop won't give you any, can you go to a wrecking yard and take them from the wheels yourself?

Old plumbing was made of lead -- lead in the pipes and also the wiped joints. You might try to talk to a plumber to see if he knows where old pipes were torn out of a building, for instance. One thing - you might find that getting these pipes hot can give off a delicate aroma. But the lead is not affected by this, so if you can melt it outside, you will be better off.

Another source is the telephone company. Old telephone cables were sheathed in lead. If you can find a place where a repair is going on, or where construction is tearing up a street under which cables are run, you might find some lead. For your slingshot need, a 30 cm piece of 600 pair cable could set you up with enough lead to last awhile.

Another source is a newspaper printing shop. In the old days, newspapers were printed with linotype -- this is a lead alloy. It was melted and made into the printing dies for newspapers. This is old technology, so if you can find it in a place like this, it will be an old newspaper print shop.

Don't forget the shooting range. If you can go to a shooting range with a trowel and bucket, maybe you can convince someone there to let you dig into the dirt backstops behind the target. I was a member of a very old shooting range years ago. I would go out and dig up range lead quite often, and it was enough to supply all of my needs. Right under the surface, there were so many 45 ACP bullets that they looked like buried bunches of grapes! Melting that down, the copper jackets would float to the top of the melt like corks, and I would skim that off with an old spoon. It worked great!

Other places you might try would be a fishing tackle shop -- they often cast sinkers and the like from lead. Asking around these shops or with fishermen might get you a lead on some lead.

Finally, lead can also be used as ballast: the bases of old lamps or furniture, or anything else that needed to be weighted could contain some lead. It has become expensive, like all metals, but if you can find old stuff, you might get lucky and find a hunk of it. In this sense, remember the old saying of miners from the Western USA: miners mine "gold by the ounce, copper by the pound, and lead by the ton."

These are some ideas; maybe they will help you.

Timmy has pretty much covered the subject completely. If you have a tire shop local you can ask them if they can sell you some scrap wheel weights. However, some shops I have known re-use them so they may not want to sell you any. Otherwise the best way I have found to find a new market is to call a scrapyard and ask if they have scrap lead, and ask if you can purchase a few kilos. Another thing I have done is scrap electric motors or scrap aluminum are both worth more than lead, and I have traded old motors for a like amount of lead.

Thank you so much Timmy for your detailed post. It has a lot of use full info. I tried reading earlier on other forums but was not able to find much which is available in India, at least in Hyderabad.
For instance, I checked at a place but they were not aware of lead being used in wheel weights. They allowed me to take a look at the tires but I couldn't find any lead wheel weights, so I chose to assume we do not use it here.
I tried few shops which dealt with sinks and hardware but they to don't sell lead pipes. I am sure the hardware stores I checked would have something made of lead but I think they are aware of it being lead.
One of the shopkeeper got me few palace but they are metal dealers and only cell 25 kg chunks.
Its quite different here and also when it comes to shooting ranges, there aren't many.
I have been hard on luck till now. I couldn't find a scrapyard anywhere easily drivable. I just need some and is not the time of year when I can spend much.

Hope someone would have an idea on scoring cheap lead in India, if any info on Hyderabad, that would be awesome.

Thanks Mark,
I am not sure they use lead weights in India. Neither am I sure of ever seeing a scrapyard. Can't be sure. Anyone please enlighten me...

I think it just works different in India

I agree things may be different in India, but I am darn certain there will be a huge trade in scrap lead somewhere!

Here is what a wheelweight looks like:


At a tire shop or a scrap yard you will find a 5 gallon bucket with them in it:



If you are still lost, try this approach- There must be a place that buys scrap aluminum cans that is local to you? Go to a pub and ask them who purchases all their empty cans and glass bottles, and then ask that person. They will either be the buyer themselves or they will know who it is, around here the scrap community is quite interwoven.

The only people who deal with lead regularly in India to the point of breathing in toxic lead fumes are the "car battery repair" or "used automobile battery shops. They are becoming less easy to find nowadays, but they exist. In Bangalore the best area would be JC road - full of automotive spares and scrap shops. Scrap metals dealers don't usually get the lead because old batteries are exchanged for new with a small price being paid for the old lead. I guess lead will be available only at the going rate for the metal - but still a battery shop is your best bet. The guy will give you washed/clean plates for a price.

Incidentally I used to think I was a very good shot using a slingshot many years ago. I never thought of lead as a boy although I used to dream of using ball bearings. Are those any good?

PS if you do find you lead could you please tell me how you fashion it for your slingshot. I have usually have a kilo or two of used air rifle pellets lying about waiting to be given to the scrap dealer.

I did check about the lead weight and was prepared to find some at the place but trust me out tires are different and I could not see any weights added on the car tires.
Keeping a slow pace, just trying to get the lead first. Got few ideas for molding but that depends on the quantity I get and other things. I would be trying few places today. Let's see if i am lucky to find a battery repair shop. I thought its not allowed but got few friends who might be helpful. Would keep posted. In the mean time if anyone has any other sources for lead easily available in a city like Hyderabad, do let know...


Almost forgot, lead around half an inch of diameter is a wonderful ammo for slingshots and are used by hunters. The higher mass ratio than iron or any other regular metal makes it a leathel projectile. Do not want to keep searching for small rocks or break marbles everywhere.....

If you have trouble finding a battery repair shop the next best bet is an "Automobile electrical repair" shop or a car electrician who is invariably attached to a car/lorry repair workshop. These guys are accustomed to diagnosing electrical problems in cars and get involved in repair/refurbishment and will surely have a battery repair contact.

bennedose wrote:If you have trouble finding a battery repair shop the next best bet is an "Automobile electrical repair" shop or a car electrician who is invariably attached to a car/lorry repair workshop. These guys are accustomed to diagnosing electrical problems in cars and get involved in repair/refurbishment and will surely have a battery repair contact.

That's for today then. Will keep posted.

Shashank, why don't you ask around for airgunners? There should be a few over here from Hyderabad. If you were in Mumbai, I could have given you at least half a kilo or so. Failing that, you can buy a cheap grade of AR pellets from a gun shop and melt the lead. The additives / alloying elements (if any) will usually float, or they will remain at the bottom.

Thanks Essdee, unfortunately for no friend shooter. I am the one of the kind in my friends circle Will try for cheap pillets from the airgun shop but first let me try the cheaper ways.

Hey Discover.... airgun pellets are made of zinc mostly and not lead! (At least the bunch of P10 pellets that I tried to melt were!) Here in Aizawl, most hardware shops stock lead (No Idea what they are used for) What about army shooting ranges? If you are really desperate, In my younger days we used to 'scavenge' lead and brass from the sand backstops of army shooting ranges and make a fortune from them ;-P Otherwise, since we used to sell them to our local Raddi wallahs I guess thats your best bet for lead

Well today has been a total waste I checked around in battery repair shops, hardware stores, kabadis, welders TV repair, car mechanics but no go.
I did had an airgun as a kid and my dad got a pack of 1 kg lead pallets for about 70 bucks, I am sure that was lead as I remember melting it on a spoon. I do not have a shooting store near by but would take a drive soon. Being in Hyderabad now and this being 15-20 years ago, I am sure its gonna be lot costlier now.

BTW my new sling is here, was looking for a simple design for some time.
http://db.tt/oy819TEZ

Hye Shaashank, well i feel sorry for you, because if you are near to me i can help you as i am in Lead business, but you can get recycled lead from local battery manufacturer around Rs. 160 per kg, hope it helps.

Regards, Amitgzb