Wheel weights ended- how next?

[Paul Tummers]

I tried to get some wheel weight lead from my old source were I go for new tyres for 0ver 30 years now, bad luck, only about 20 kg he had for me; wheel weights are nowadays made of zinc over here, only trucks do use still lead weights.
Looks, an aera of easy obtaining good bullet casting material has come to an end.
What will be a good alternative for wheel weights, not only from the point of shooting qualities but also from shrinking and weight?
Looks like we will have to find something different that works well without having to buy all new moulds to keep size OK.

[ktw]

The lead containers they ship medical radio-isotopes in are a great source. As good as or better than wheelweights.

-ktw

[bowfin]

I am not sure where you are in the Netherlands, but check for ballast in and around harbors and marinas. Also check at gun ranges and see if they trap their lead for resell.

[Trey45]

Dive shops might have used weight belts. Those are lead. Dentists use lead backed xray film, might be a source for some lead there. It's dead soft lead though. Rof flashing is sometimes lead in old houses and structures, maybe check demolition sites. Old water pipe might be lead too, maybe check with a plumber to see what they do with old lead pipe, if they even come across it. Scrap yards might be a place to check for lead too.

[exile]

Where would one look to find the containers that medical-radiological isotopes are shipped in? Any special precautions needed?

exile

[XWrench3]

well, i am kind of wondering about the same thing. i went to the place i was getting them from, and he also sold out to the big guys, signing a contract to sell all of his lead to a battery manufacturer. so the one place that i did have for wheel weights, has just dried up! i suppose i can buy unknown "lead" from flea bay, but i really hate the thought of that. not knowing what i am buying in the first place, and paying rediculous prices at that.

[geargnasher]

A word about the containers used for radioacive isotopes in nuclear medicine: They are a great source of good clean lead/tin/antimony alloy, but contain no arsenic, so boolits made from them take much longer to age-harden, about twice as long as wheel weights. The dangers from the products they are intended to contain are slight once the appropriate time has been given for them to decay, which at most is just a few months. Muddy Creek Sam has info links posted on his Vendor Sponsor page relating to this.

I suppose lead boolit casting alloy could still be purchased, unless lead becomes a controlled substance it will always be available, just expensive.

My solution is to build traps so I can recycle all my boolits.

Gear

[tayous1]

A word about the containers used for radioacive isotopes in nuclear medicine: They are a great source of good clean lead/tin/antimony alloy, but contain no arsenic, so boolits made from them take much longer to age-harden, about twice as long as wheel weights. The dangers from the products they are intended to contain are slight once the appropriate time has been given for them to decay, which at most is just a few months. Muddy Creek Sam has info links posted on his Vendor Sponsor page relating to this.

I suppose lead boolit casting alloy could still be purchased, unless lead becomes a controlled substance it will always be available, just expensive.

My solution is to build traps so I can recycle all my boolits.

Gear

I'd like to see how you can do that?

[runfiverun]

do a search here in the classics and stickies.
there are some plans about.
snail traps ,crumb rubber, etc.

[edler7]

Where would one look to find the containers that medical-radiological isotopes are shipped in? Any special precautions needed?

Go to any hospital and look up the people in nuclear medicine- it's usually part of the diagnostic imaging (used to be called x-ray) services. The nuc-med people are the ones who will have the isotope vials. The vials get dropped and deform, so they will probably have a few around. If you really turn on the charm, they might give you a couple lead bricks if they have any around anymore. Most of that has been replaced by lead/acrylic sheeting, but if they generated their own isotopes at some point in the past, they might have some old bricks laying around. You might hit the radiation therapy department, too. They may have some old shielding laying around.

No precautions needed, as they were just shields for isotopes that were in vials...and most of the isotopes they use have a very short (hours-days) half life.

[geargnasher]

Tayous, I make wooden boxes and fill them with used #5 blasting sand. They are constructed from three yellow pine 2x8s and a sheet of 7/16" OSB. I make two seven foot legs, span between them with a four-footer, and use the other half to make a center partition. The OSB is cut in half to make a front and back, so I have a four-foot-square box on three-foot legs with a center partition, making two 2'x4'x8" compartments. I put a half-sheet of black asphalt sheathing on the front panel as a target backer and to help stop the sand leaks through the boolit holes, and put a piece of ridge tin across the top for a roof to keep the sand dry. When it's shot up to the point that the sand starts really pouring out, I park a wheelbarrow under it and unscrew the front panel, allowing the sand to pour through a sifter screen and into the barrow. I replace the front with fresh panels and shovel the sifted sand back into the top, and screw the tin back on. The boolits are resmelted, fluxed, ingotized, and recast. It costs about $35 to make one if the sand is free, and you won't shoot through it with a .30-'06 unless you hit the same place more than three times.

Gear

[bowfin]

Oh, one more place to look, if you are near the sea, is old fishing nets, or nose around fishing boats.

[exile]

Thanks for the tip. I can just see the looks on the faces of the folks at our small, local hospital when I ask them for the stuff! Having heard people talk about asking for lead where you do business, I went to a car dealership where I spent almost $ 10,000 (I know, not much but for me it's a lot). They looked at me like I was crazy.

exile

[smorin2]

I recently found an unusual lead source: shot put balls and the hammer toss (ball with tether). I work for a local university and when the shot put balls finally wear out(crack) they are discarded,i asked for them and well they contain lead shot! it is somewhat powdery from repeated throws so i open them outside but they weigh anywhere from 8 to 35 lbs. apiece. You might want to try your local schools to see what they do with theirs,good luck,Steve

[watkibe]

The handwriting has come down from the wall as of today, and it is on one of my checks. I actually BOUGHT bullet casting alloy, a hundred dollars worth, so that the shipping was free.
I hate the idea of buying lead, but my rural circumstances and the changing attitudes about lead mean that I just don't have the time and money to search for "free" lead anymore. The alloy I bought is called "Hardball", 2% Sn, 6% Sb, 92% Pb; they call it an improved Lyman's No.2 (which they also sell...)
I did buy it from a Cast Boolit Sponsor, Roto-Metals, so I figure not only am I supporting this site by supporting a sponsor, but I will be getting a product made under the supervision of a metallurgist. And it should be a lot cleaner casting process, no smoke, no sorting, etc. Do I sound like I'm justifying having to buy something that I used to scrounge for free ? Of course I am !!!

[idahoron]

I have been using Rotometal lead for a few years now. I like their pure lead and I know how it works on game in my muzzleloader.
I will take "free" lead when it falls in my lap. I can't afford to chase down "free" lead with 4.00$ a gallon gas. Most of the wheel weights I am getting now are not lead. The last 5 gal bucket I got was about 50% lead maybe less. I melted a bunch down a while back that had mostly zinc and made that into fishing weights. Ron

[Three44s]

NOW ...... the folks that made fun of my lead hording can eat their words!


I got lead and steel saved back to build traps!

The libs ain't gonna break my spirit ........


Three 44s

[XWrench3]

unless you know someone at a hospital, i can not imagine them giving anyone lead that has ANY radiativity in it at all. (i have tried several times) the possibility of a resulting law suit could be crippling for them. plus, a good lawyer could probable even get the actual person with some kind of litigation for personal injury. it is sad that our society has become this way, but it has. that is what happens when the country graduates 3 times as many lawyers every year, as engineers!

[mongo]

Looks like range lead from an indoor range is going to be my new supply, The tire shops in my neck of the woods dont want to give up any old wheel weights. Maybe they are re-useing them so they can put off buying the more expensive steel weights.

[prs]

The guys to ask at the hospital are not the Docs or para-professionals. Ask the honcho of house keeping. He or she is the one who has to deal with the waste. He or she likely can offer you an even greater bounty of pure lead, the scrap sheet lead they have to discard of after tearing down X-ray rooms. You know hospitals, it is an endless build it and tear it down process. Now, at your dentist office, you may have to aske the Doc or maybe the handiman.

prs

[moptop]

Here's the target stand/boolit trap the my buddy built. We use it inside his barn/arena for all of our hangun rounds, .22LF, 9mm, .38spl, .45ACP, .44BPRB, and .22LF shot from rifles at 25 yds. as well. Haven't shot thru it yet.

[michiganvet]

@watkibe; Real lyman #2 has equal amounts of tin and antimony, BY VOLUME, not weight. Specific gravity is the key. If our essential alloys are really drying up I need to make another run to the junkyard and see if they still have ww's. Years ago I bought most of a pallet of boxed swaged bullets with really dirty lube at scrap prices. I guess I need to save or share that also.

[MT Gianni]

unless you know someone at a hospital, i can not imagine them giving anyone lead that has ANY radiativity in it at all. (i have tried several times) the possibility of a resulting law suit could be crippling for them. plus, a good lawyer could probable even get the actual person with some kind of litigation for personal injury. it is sad that our society has become this way, but it has. that is what happens when the country graduates 3 times as many lawyers every year, as engineers!

I bought 50 lbs or so of it at the scrap yards 10 years ago. Those that deal with it know that it sheilds radiation not absorbs it.