An observation on WWs

[Jim]

I went by my supplier this morning and he had about 3/4 of a bucket for me. It's a small high end wheel and tire shop, but the guy's faithful. I gave him the usual ransom and came home to sort. It occurred to me that the percentage of WWs is dropping and the percentage of lead stick-ons is rising. I'm also seeing a lot more zinc weights and some unidentifieds that won't pass the fingernail test. They go in the trash.
Usta was, it was all WWs. now, it's a lot more stick-ons. I can't help but wonder when the WWs will go the way of the matchlock. I'm thinking eventually, we're gonna hafta alloy these stick-ons with 95/5 solder. It's been said history repeats itself. How ironic it is that we'll be back in Lyman's manual to brush up on the "old fashioned" method.

[wiljen]

Plus metal :) Thats why I went looking to find an enrichment alloy.

[zipdog]

You guys are lucky. I bought a bucket of WWs from a local tire shop, and after sorting out the valve stems and stick-ons, I had about half a bucket left. The valve stems were approx. 45-50% by volume. I ended up with 81# of usable WWs which left me with 66# of ingots after removing the clips.

[jawjaboy]

You guys are lucky. I bought a bucket of WWs from a local tire shop, and after sorting out the valve stems and stick-ons, I had about half a bucket left. The valve stems were approx. 45-50% by volume. I ended up with 81# of usable WWs which left me with 66# of ingots after removing the clips.

That's where the beer/soda bait pay's off. Just tell them on your next visit that if the trash continues to be a problem, you will have to curtail the beer/soda in the future because you can't afford to pay that price for trash. It works for me. YMMV.

[Jim]

Given the availability of WWs around here, I'm more inclined to tell the guy "Thank you!", take what I can get and RUN!

[zipdog]

I guess when all's said and done, it wasn't all that bad a deal. The usable lead ended up costing me $0.303/lb.....not a great deal, but not all bad.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I currently have 15 5 gallon buckets stashed all around town at tire shops. We have a lot of LLantera's (Spanish tire shops) and I go harvest them about once every two weeks or so. Usually most are about 1/2 full by then. I have my name on the bucket with my phone number asking them to call when they are full. Yes I have noticed that more and more stick ons are in the buckets. I just dump it all into my smelter and watch my RCBS thermometer. When it gets to 675 degrees I start to stir up the pot. When it gets to 700 I remove everything that ain't melted and flux when all debris and dross has been removed. As zinc melts at 740 or so I do not worry about them as I keep the temp lower than that. Presently I have about 15 gals of ingots in the yard and I intend to build that up as fast as I can. I have not had to pay more than $5 a bucketfull yet and in most places I have found a shooter or two so I come with a few boxes of reloads in their caliber and my supply is always growing.

[hunter64]

Where I live the going rate for a 5 gallon bucket is 40 bucks, once in awhile you might get a deal on 2 for 50 bucks but not very often. They used to be free or a case of beer was all that was needed but alot of the tire shops will not even sell me them anymore. They say it is against company rules, which is BS because I used to buy them all the time but it is the environ nazi's that have got to them. One chain that I regularly would get at least 2 buckets a month from actually showed me a letter from there head office instructing that lead is only to be picked up by authorized recyclers. I also have started to see alot of zinc and metal WW lately. My last 9 buckets of WW's contained 1 full bucket of stick-on's and about 1/2 bucket of metal/zinc weights. I sort them out as I put them in the pot, stick-on's and questionable ones, and keep the temp to 650-700. I don't mind the pure lead as I shoot blackpowder. I can see in the near future that the enviro nazi's will push so hard as to outlaw lead bullets and have all the WW changed to steel/zinc like europe has.