Hi,
Five cents a pound? Outrageous! Guy at the local tire shop gave 'em away...
But those days are gone, as are the lead weights themselves. So I've tried buying commercial lead a couple of ways.
Rotometals sells a hardball alloy, at rather dear prices (if memory serves, my last batch ran somewhere over $2/lb, and that's been several years ago.) But it's clean and already melted into ingots, so I guess we're paying for something there. For about half their price, reclaimed lead shot from trap and skeet ranges is a hair over $1/lb at my supplier of shotshell components. It's about the same alloy as hardball (it might be a tiny bit softer, as clay target shooters are using more of the less expensive target shell varieties, which use a lesser grade of shot than the premium varieties), and is all ready to load in shotshells. Which means it's been cleaned, tumbled to round it out a little, and graphited (to pour well thru the loading tubes.) The graphite makes for a lot of dross to skim off the melting pot, and it takes a bit hotter pot than wheelweights to get good fill out of the mold without wrinkles, but otherwise it'll do. I think I'll try Missouri Bullets' hardball alloy next. It's not a giveaway, but better than Rotometals on price last I looked.
Rick C