Lead is an important resource in the game, you might not think so if you’re a melee character, but if you ever start crafting your own ammo you’ll soon find yourself running low.
The best source of lead is the junk you’ll find lying around the map. The list at the bottom of the page is all the lead-bearing material to be found in the game together with its yield. This list is copied from the official game guide then updated based on my own experiences. It’s a useful guide to the kind of materials you can expect to give up the grey stuff (I know you can ask the game to identify junk that contains the materials you want, but if you have more than one or two things tagged, it can get confusing).
As you’ll see, the best sources of lead are the weights you find in gym equipment, and the best place to find those are in gymnasiums . You’ll usually come across these at educational facilities and army bases, but one early game source is the gym in the Green Country Lodge in Flatwood. The Charleston Fire Department has another, as does the Prison Yard of the Eastern Regional Penitentiary.
The next best lead sources are paint cans (except for ‘empty paint cans’ as these give up only steel) and rat poison, but the commonest lead-bearing items are toys and cans. Basically any toy will contain one lead as will any type of can.
You’ll notice that lead ore contains zero lead,. This is because you can’t scrap ore, you have to smelt it at a Chemistry Workstation (a process that uses acid) to extract the metal.
You can find lead ore in some of the many mineral pits scattered over the map, but there are five Public Workstations that have lead deposits:
The Forest: Lakeside Cabins and Poseidon Energy Plant
Toic Valley: Grafton Steel
Savage Divide: Converted Munitions Factory
The Mire: Berkeley Springs West
The Lucky Hole Mine (south of the Monorail Elevator) is also a great source for lead ore (especially if you have the Excavator Armour). But you’ll have to fight the local enemies to get it.
Junk with Lead (ranked by yield)
Ten 160lb Barbell.
Seven 80lb Barbell; 80lb Curlbar.
Five 10lb Weight; 20lb Dumbbell; 40lb Barbell; 25lb Weight; Rat Poison; Paint Can; Red Paint; Blue Paint; Yellow Paint; Ignition Core.
Two 5lb Weight; Combination Wrench; Makeshift Battery.
One .44 Casing; .50 Casing; 10mm Casing, 5mm Casing; Energy Cell; Wooden Block - N & S; Baby Rattle; Lead Scrap; Pencil; Spooky Mr. Fuzzy Pencil; Wooden Block; Can; Tin Can; Aluminum Can; Toy Alien; New Toy Car; Souvenir Toy Car; Toy Car; Toy Rocketship; Toy Truck; Souvenir Sloth Toy; New Toy Truck.
Zero Lead Ore!