Wheel weights getting high

[shooting on a shoestring]

I stopped at 3 of my best tire stores yesterday, netted only a handful of raw material. One guy told me the price of scrap lead was skyrocketing and a 5 gallon bucket full was $100 now. Another guy was sitting on his WW to see just how high the price would go.

Now I'm wondering about buying new wheel weights, they might be as cheap as previously owned. I also wonder does anyone know where or how to buy lead wholesale?

I priced a box of .357 Gold Dots at Sportsmans Warehouse - $16 per hundred. That means there is still lots of room price wise in lead before its cheaper to buy jacketed (I suppose that will always be the case).

[Ed K]

Lead (not scrap) is now about $0.85-0.90/lb and has been roughly at this level for about 2 months. A bucket of WW being worth $100 is absurd. Still, I don't know any sources of free WW's so I'm buying what I can reasonably afford from a local recycler for between $0.15-0.20/lb. I feel a little bad about buying scrap lead but as you pointed out I'm only paying approx 55 cents/100 158gr 35 cal SWC boolits and that's a far cry from the price of gold dots.

So while it is not free - if your time invested in smelting and casting is worth anything at all, the cost of WWs is still so small as to qualify for "shooting on a shoestring"!

[imashooter2]

I've posted several times that free WW don't exist here in the squalid suburbs of Philadelphia, and haven't for some time.

These are the good old days. If you can get any sort of alloy free, or even cheap, you would be wise to put it on the shelf.

[jawjaboy]

About how much does a 5 gallon bucket FULL of ww's weigh anyway?

[felix]

120 pounds of refined metal. ... felix

[hunter64]

Just as Felix said 115-125lbs give or take a few. I recently did 8 buckets and that is the range that the weights were and you get about 75% of that as usable bullet material. WW haven't been free for years in my area, up till about 2 years ago you could buy them for 10 bucks a bucket then it went to 20 bucks. Now the going rate is 40 bucks a bucket. They have you over a barrel (pardon the pun) because the recycler gives them 15 bucks a bucket so they are making a nice tidy little "Coffee Money" for the boys. The last 8 buckets I did were from an import car dealership and lead has been banned in Europe for WW so there were alot of Zinc WW in there. I bought 4 buckets and when I drove around to the door the guys gave me the whole amount 8 1/4 buckets so I said "thank you" and I was off.

[Possum]

Hmmm....Got to keep my source a secret then. I get around a 5 gallon bucket every two weeks free. My source says "who knows, you might defend me one day with one of those .44 bullets". Got to respect a man like that! :-D

[monadnock#5]

The outlook on scrap lead isn't good in my area. I've just had my first run in with a car dealership that told me that wheelweights are hazardous material, and can't be allowed for any use other than for recycling. It's not just the big tire shops anymore. Meanwhile, five miles down the road, I had another dealership give me a five gallon bucket full. I found another shop where the management had no clue that the wheelweights had any worth, and were throwing them in the trash as fast as they came in. I left a bucket with my name and number on it for them.

I took a box of mixed range and plumbing brass to a local recycler and and traded it for 5/8 of a bucket of wheelweights. I also bought a bucket of "pure" lead at $0.45 a lb.

I'm with imashooter2, take whatever you can get NOW. Personally, whenever I take a trip, there will be 2 five gallon buckets in the trunk. No more missed opportunities.

Ken

[duke76]

I called the scrap dealer in my area to see what he is paying for lead and he said if I bring it he will pay .03 a pound (but I am not a dealer) and if I was to purchase it from him it would be .70 cents a pound. I had to find out market value as I purchased 5500 pounds of lead from CT machines and paid .12 cents and I picked it up.

[Orygun]

I called the scrap dealer in my area to see what he is paying for lead and he said if I bring it he will pay .03 a pound (but I am not a dealer) and if I was to purchase it from him it would be .70 cents a pound. I had to find out market value as I purchased 5500 pounds of lead from CT machines and paid .12 cents and I picked it up.

Duke, sounds like you did well. I recently scored about 175# of WW at .14/lb. and felt good about that. Ages ago I used to get it at .10 - .15/lb. and bought all I could. Now it's pretty tough to find for those kind of prices.

[duke76]

Alot of the lead is pure but there is some that is harder, the problem is they are in some pretty big chunks, I will probably have to cut them up with a sawzall here is a link to a picture of it.

http://loesshillsarmory.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=215

[garbageman]

Still free if you can get to it before the fishing sinker/lure makers do.

Asked a small shop the other day what they did with their's, the owner said he put them in a bucket for anyone that wanted them. He asked me if I was going to make sinkers or lure, I said, No, make bullets. He just looked at me funny and said no body else ever wanted them for that.

He had a 8 gallon bucket 1/2 full of WW and to the top with water, out back. Didn't have any place to put them in my car so I have to go back and get them later. Put some 3 gal buckets in the truck so it would be easier to carry.

I live in the mountains of Southwest Virginia.

Our local government is just starting the State mandated 25% recycling here.
It hasn't gotten around to forcing local shops to recycle anything but waste oil and wet-cell auto and marine batteries yet.

May be Years before they get around to WW's, Hopefully!!!!!

[bsibjr]

Im new to this whole casting thing ( actually i havent cast one bullet yet), been hanging around here to try to learn as much as possible befor i go make the investment on equipment, Im in bucks county, are there any places to buy scrap lead, I havent been able to find any. Any help for this newbie would be greatly apreciated.

BJ

[Cherokee]

bsibjr - Look in your phone book for scrap or recycling places. An auto junk yard probably has a bunch on the wheels of the junkers.

[Blammer]

around here they are TRYING to give away the WW's.... I can get all I want for nuthin!

I feel for you..

[medic44]

Where are you at? PM me and I'll see about taking it all off of their hands:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[imashooter2]

Im new to this whole casting thing ( actually i havent cast one bullet yet), been hanging around here to try to learn as much as possible befor i go make the investment on equipment, Im in bucks county, are there any places to buy scrap lead, I havent been able to find any. Any help for this newbie would be greatly apreciated.

BJ

I'm down here by the Philly airport, so my scrap dealers aren't what you want. Look in your local phone book as was mentioned above. Be prepared to clutch at your heart when they quote you a price per pound...

[bsibjr]

whats the average per pound price in the philly area ?

[imashooter2]

30 - 40 cents a pound when I last checked a month or so ago.

[Blammer]

I'm in Asheville NC.

[AKtinman]

Asked a small shop the other day what they did with their's, the owner said he put them in a bucket for anyone that wanted them. He asked me if I was going to make sinkers or lure, I said, No, make bullets. He just looked at me funny and said no body else ever wanted them for that.



If they ask, I just say I'm making fishing weights. In today's PC world, they might not want to sell them if it involves shooting. I just explain that I am retired, and on a fixed income, and just need something to keep busy.

I have been to a couple of local shops with little success. Recently I was in a town about 70 miles away picking up wheel weights for my tractor at the foundry that made them, and asked if they sold wheel weights. They replied that they did, but not to retail customers. I stopped in at a nearby tire shop and bought 3 buckets for $45. I thought that was a little steep, but I've GOT them. Only smelted down one bucket and have over 80 lb out of that one plus some stick-on weights left over.

Summer (HOT!!!) is coming, so I need to get busy and do some casting!

[dmftoy1]

Heck, around here I'd buy as many buckets as I could get at $15 apiece! :)