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lylejb
08-04-2009, 05:01 PM
About how many pounds are in a full 5 gal bucket of WW?

i know it will vary somewhat with the size of the weight / clips, and of course the amount of stems / junk, but does anyone have a good average or "rule of thumb"?

i asked my 2 local tire stores today, both want $10 / gal of weights. i.e. 5gal = $50
not so sure that's a good deal:???:

thanks

LB

Matt_G
08-04-2009, 05:07 PM
Anywhere from a 120 to 150 pounds.
Call it 135 average.
50 bucks is really steep.

Last bucket I got was 4/5's full. Cost was a 20 pack of Coors Light.

leadman
08-04-2009, 05:53 PM
Mattt Gs' estimate is right on. I have weighed numerous buckets.

waksupi
08-04-2009, 06:57 PM
Man, I wish I had a bucket of wheel weights for every time this question has been asked here!

Welcome aboard!

fredj338
08-04-2009, 07:19 PM
More than I can lift. The place I get mine uses 3gal, they weigh in about 100#-110# depending on composition. I give him $20 max a bucket, sometimes he gives them to me free.

462
08-04-2009, 07:23 PM
Just finished smelting a 5-gallon bucket of culled clip-on weights and not counting the 30+ pounds of clips ended up with 104 ingots...so 135-pounds is pretty darn close.

HORNET
08-04-2009, 07:29 PM
How many pounds of wheelweights in a 5 gallon bucket? Nowhere near enough.........

HammerMTB
08-04-2009, 07:44 PM
I just bought one yesterday. Took my bathroom scale to show 'em. 163 lbs, heaping over the top of the bucket. Doncha know THAT was a task to lift into the truck. Made me want my little rice grinder back..... :roll:
Then I got home to find one of my tire shop buddies had dropped one off for free!
I'll make sure he doesn't buy beer for a while....8-)

lylejb
08-05-2009, 12:38 AM
thanks for the info. That's interesting, guess wheel weights don't pack down as much as i would have thought.

i did the math, and a 5 gal solid ingot of pure lead would be 472 lb. (i'd take it if i could get it, just not sure how...)

i know WW is slightly less dense that pure lead, and i know there will be loss of clips, junk, and dross, but still i was expecting more useable weight than that.

Thanks for the info.

to Waksupi, i looked it the "sticky" threads, couldn't find it. Maybe you could make a sticky with this answer if you get asked this question alot.:-D

Thanks all

LB

Marlin Hunter
08-05-2009, 01:50 AM
Man, I wish I had a bucket of wheel weights for every time this question has been asked here!



If you did get a bucket of wheel weights every time the question was asked, how much would each bucket weigh? :kidding:

snaggdit
08-05-2009, 02:05 AM
Yeah, this gets asked about once a month. +1 on 135 ave. big weights net more, less clips. Once you separate out stick ons you should expect to get 120+ from a FULL 5 gallon pail. I always carry some 3 gallon pails in my jeep. If a source has some I will dump them into my buckets so I don't strain my back as much loading them. Also helps with the goodwill if they don't lose their buckets.

shotman
08-05-2009, 02:39 AM
How much does a 5gal bucket of 1lb ingots weigh? How much does a 5gal bucket of No 7 1/2 shot weigh? You cant pick up either one . The bail/handle will strip out.

shotman
08-05-2009, 02:43 AM
Surprizing but answer is very close to the same for the ingots and the shot 325#

TheCaptain
08-05-2009, 04:16 AM
When I buy my wheel weights (I have several tire dealership accounts - and I travel to them), I weigh each bucket since I do this as a business. I notice different kinds of "5 gallon" buckets. Not all the buckets I run into are like the Home Depot's 5 gallon bucket. I am sure you all have seen what I have seen. Some buckets are a bit taller than Home Depot's, some a bit shorter and squattier, etc.

On Saturday, here is how the "5 gallon" buckets weighed in (and they were not all like Home Depot's): 125.5, 127.5, 180, 164, 168.8, 71.7 and 54.4

On another run, the buckets weighed in at: 100.2, 125.8, 150.4, 106.9, 143.2, 123.9, 155.5 , 105.7, 152.8, and 151.7

HammerMTB has the right idea about bringing a scale. I think looks can be deceiving! I bring industrial trays to the shops - and after the buckets are weighed, the wheel weights are off-loaded to my trays. And, yes, you do get other stuff mixed in like lug nuts, valve stems, cigarette buts, screws, nuts, valve caps, pieces of latex gloves, pieces of moldings, washers, candy wrappers, etc.

When back at my shop, I do a preliminary sort when I offload from the trays to smaller containers for storage for a future casting session. I remove most of the above mentioned debris prior to putting the weights into the smaller containers. I don't bother removing the "non-lead" weights. I do not run a hot pot, so the zinc, steel, and other alloys are skimmed off the top of the pot.

I keep the batches separate, so as to track my yield and propane usage. I average about 3500 pounds of ingots for a 100 pound tank.

Some examples:
366.7 Raw WW in - - - 299.1 WW ingots out - - approx yield: 81.6 %

770.7 Raw WW in - - - 673.6 WW ingots out - - approx yield: 87.4 %

320.1 Raw WW in - - - 245.0 WW ingots out - - approx yield: 77 %

Hopefully the yield will not decrease too rapidly... but the push is on to ban lead wheel weights.

WW's are already banned in Europe (since 2005); and being phased out in Japan and Korea. California has SB 757, which the Senate passed, that makes lead wheel weights illegal next year. I obtained this information from a blog that is tracking the progress of this bill: http://www.changecalifornia.org/2009/05/leadwheelweights.html

So, scoop up all you can, while you can!

With kind regards to all,

~ Kathie
:Fire:

JMtoolman
08-05-2009, 09:37 AM
I weighed the one that I got the other day, it was overflowing with wheelweights. It weighed 180 lbs. Hope to smelt it down today. Best regards the toolman.

TAWILDCATT
08-05-2009, 11:12 AM
I wonder what they will do with the mines.I do believe they get more than lead out.it may even turn out better as if they cant sell there may be a low cost market ,that casters can take advantage of.:coffee:[smilie=1:

ghh3rd
08-05-2009, 12:23 PM
Heavy enough that if the bucket handle gives out, you might be missing a few toes :-)

evan price
08-06-2009, 07:08 AM
I figure that after I pull out the steel and zinc and all the trash, and melt the clips out, I get 100# of actual lead per 5-gallon bucket. So far that's been pretty close to right on. I have been paying $10 per bucket full.

There's regular buckets, tall skinny buckets, and short fat buckets. In general I've been getting the standard bucket. I always carry a skinny 3-gallon inside a fat 5-gallon in my Jeep for just in case. It really helps you get weights when you have your own buckets. Just don't get attached to them, it's eaiser to just trade buckets than it is to dump 5-gallons of weights.

redbear705
08-08-2009, 07:15 AM
Well I think I hit a jackpot of some kind today.

I was at the range trying to clean up a bunch of junk that was making an eyesore of the place.

I found three pieces of steel covering up a plastic barrell so I when I looked into the 55 gal drum I see a couple of mouse nests and an old birds nest so I get that stuff off the top and wholly cow!

I find the barrel 2/3s full of used lead bullets and fragments plus some shredded rubber! not much rubber but some.

So far I got out two six gallon buckets...so now I got to go back and get the rest before anyone else finds my treasure! [smilie=1:

From what I can tell this is from a backstop that used shredded rubber and most of the big stuff has been removed and only the small shreds are mixed in with the lead. At some time someone must have thought that they would store this stuff outside out of mind and they never came back to pick it up.

I hope the alloy of the bullets will be useful enough that I wont have to put too much tin in to get a good fill an or hardness.

Finally a break on the price of lead! :drinks:

jawjaboy
08-08-2009, 07:26 AM
But what if the entire bucket is full of nothing but 4(minimum) to 16 ounce truck weights? [smilie=1:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g194/jawjaboy/IM000652.jpg

redbear705
08-13-2009, 09:42 PM
more lead=less crud! :lol:

JR

sleeper1428
08-14-2009, 03:28 PM
I live in Southern Oregon just a few miles from the Kalifornia/Oregon border and after my most recent experience with WW melting, I have to say that one's locaton may well dictate the yield that one gets from each 5 gal bucket of WWs. I say this because I just finished melting down about 25 gallons of WWs - six 5gal buckets, each filled to about 80+ % of capacity - with a total yield of 250lbs of 1lb ingots from clip-on WWs and an additional 59lbs of 1lb ingots from stick-on WWs. So my total yield was just about 310lbs which is a good deal less than what others commenting on this thread seem to be getting.

The reason I think my yield was so much lower was the fact that a lot of Kalifornia drivers come to Southern Oregon to buy their new tires just to avoid the sales taxes that are imposed in Kalifornia. And since Kalifornia has gone almost completely to zinc or steel WWs - deadline for the change is Dec 31 of this year - I'm beginning to see a lot more of those mixed into the buckets of WWs that I get via my family member who works for Les Schwab who, by the way, has stopped using any lead based WWs and is now using only zinc or steel. I was just amazed how many of those useless - as far as boolit making is concerned - WWs I had to scoop out of the pot along with the steel clips from the lead WWs. About twice as many as I saw when I did my last melting about 4 months ago. And my guess is that the number will only increase as time goes on and more and more tire dealers cease using lead WWs in favor of zinc or steel. So that's why I'm getting all I can from anywhere I'm able 'cause it won't be long before the lead WW will have gone the way of the Dinosaurs!! But I guess there might be a bright side to this story since once the lead WW is gone, my ingots will do nothing but go up in value and pretty soon they'll really be worth a LOT of money!! But since I love casting boolits so much, I'll probably never even consider selling them so I guess it really doesn't matter how much they're worth.

I forgot to mention that my family member who gets me the WWs refuses to charge me anything - I used to take him hunting when he was a kid - but I still give him a few bucks each time as well as making sure that I get all my tires and brakes from the store where he works. Like they say, it pays to have a friend in the business!!

sleeper1428

bob208
08-14-2009, 04:06 PM
i would not pay that much for a bucket of wheel weights. the most i ever paid was $5. i have 2 buckets that i have to go pick up now for free.

Charlie Sometimes
08-14-2009, 05:29 PM
I've got a 5 gal bucket full of WW at 175 lbs.- can't get anymore into it than that.
I have said before that I thought a full bucket would weigh 300 lb. (because I couldn't lift it) but I can not get one to hold that much now.

Ingots on the other hand, WILL exceed my thresh hold, and bust a bucket, and a gut!

alamogunr
08-14-2009, 05:33 PM
You are lucky! Many of us have to compete with the sinker makers. For more information go to this recent thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40765

Here is the info I posted in that thread:

"As I said in my post yesterday, I finished sorting the 2nd bucket of WW this morning. I weighed each pile.

Misc Trash incl. non-lead weights----- 11 lbs 3.5%
Stick-on weights-------------------------- 45 lbs 14%
Clip-on weights---------------------------262 lbs 83%

Total 318 lbs"


By the way, one of these buckets was a plastic bucket of more than 5 gal capacity. It weighed 165 lbs before I sorted it.

Compared to the OP, these 2 buckets should have a good yield of WW ingots. Obviously, the Greenies haven't infected Tennessee to the extent that they have CA.

John
W.TN

largom
08-14-2009, 08:58 PM
My last bucket was a gem. Weighed 142 lbs. raw, After sorting [very little stick ons] I got 120 lbs. of smelted WW.
Larry

alamogunr
08-14-2009, 09:36 PM
In total, I have about 100 lbs of stick-ons and 250 lbs of operating room shielding. I know the shielding is "pure" lead. I plan to keep it separate from the stick-ons and compare hardness when I finish converting to ingots. Has anyone done this?

I know the normal assumption is that stick-ons are also "pure" lead but I'm not convinced yet. When I say pure, I'm not talking 99.99% pure, but within reason. I wouldn't know the difference anyway. If the hardness is within one unit of pure(5 bhn), I will assume pure. Any dissenters?

John
W.TN

RP
08-15-2009, 12:06 AM
always carry you a bucket the tire shops are not in the lead recycleing bus i have gotten buckets of wws and just swapped out a bucket to get home and find half the bucket was trash. And what i mean by trash is not clips but dirt so i got half a bucket full not a full bucket it they want 20 bucks for a bucket of wws they need to have a bucket full.

Tokarev
08-15-2009, 12:52 PM
A really full-full bucket can house 180 lb. I have two in the garage right now.

alamogunr
08-15-2009, 01:04 PM
always carry you a bucket the tire shops are not in the lead recycleing bus i have gotten buckets of wws and just swapped out a bucket to get home and find half the bucket was trash. And what i mean by trash is not clips but dirt so i got half a bucket full not a full bucket it they want 20 bucks for a bucket of wws they need to have a bucket full.

I got a bucket one time that had 4-6 inches of gear oil in the bottom. I was glad it didn't turn over in my truck. Didn't affect the weight too much but sure was a mess.

broylz
08-15-2009, 09:47 PM
if you cant find them at the tire shops or dealers, dont forget auto salvage yards. they charge 10/bucket here if they pull them. you can scavenge the yard and keep what you find if you pull them yourself. havent gotten that hard up for them yet.

steve01
08-22-2009, 03:01 PM
I just completed a 5 Gallon bucket ened up with 148 lbs:cbpour :cbpour:

bootsnthejeep
08-22-2009, 09:21 PM
Just got a full (and I mean FULL, heaped and rounded over on the top) five gallon pail that weighed in at 160 lbs. Very little trash in it, and only half a dozen zinc weights. I was very pleased.

FISH4BUGS
08-23-2009, 02:28 PM
But what if the entire bucket is full of nothing but 4(minimum) to 16 ounce truck weights? [smilie=1:



That will cause you to throw your ****** away!

mtnbkr
08-23-2009, 03:35 PM
A friend of mine brought me about half a 5gal bucket he picked up at a small tire shop (was waiting for his car to be finished and idly asked for WWs). It cooked down to about 42lbs of muffins and had fewer than 10 zinc/steel weights. There was a good amount of trash and dirt, but nothing too onerous.

This was my first exposure to zinc WW (I'm new to this). I was happy to learn that they're pretty obvious if you do the pliers squeeze test and that they're also pretty obvious as the lead melts.

Chris

mold maker
08-23-2009, 05:54 PM
A lesson for you young folks.
No use to have a ton of lead if ya can't sit or stand to shoot.
I used to be proud of how much I could lift. Now I'm proud if I can lift my butt out of a chair without a groan.
You will not be young and strong forever. If you abuse your back, it WILL make an old man out of you at an early age.
Take a couple buckets with ya to pick up the weights. High grade into them on sight, and don't lift over a half bucket. There's no point in hauling trash, and unless its free, no point in paying for trash either.

Russel Nash
08-24-2009, 11:40 AM
^^^^ good point.

The other reason I bring a lot of buckets along is that I can just load them half way.

I had a nearly full one go ka-putt on me one time. The wire type handle pulled right out of the plastic and if I didn't have those cat like reflexes like I do, it would have landed on my foot and broken it.

Talking about stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime.... how much work would I have missed out on if had broken my foot? 5 to 6 weeks worth of paychecks sure would have paid for a lot of those j-word bullets instead. :groner:

markinalpine
08-24-2009, 04:49 PM
One shop I visit is owned by a nice lady. I gave her one of my ingots cast in a corn bread cast iron mould, that I had painted bright yellow and covered the bottom with self-stick felt used by craft people to protect furniture.

At another shop, I brought the manager a set of rifle and revolver dummy (no primer or powder) rounds that I made while setting up the reloading dies. I also brought along extra dummy rounds to give the workers who were interested. One of the workers mentioned that he would be interest in fishing sinkers if I ever made any, so I gave him an unpainted corn bread ingot. He was quite happy and said he could use it to weight down a trot line for cat-fishing.

I drove away with two five gallon buckets! :bigsmyl2:

Mark [smilie=s:

GRAY GHOST
08-24-2009, 06:15 PM
WE HAVE 3 CARS WE BUY TIRES FOR. I HAVE BEEN DOING BUSNESS WITH THIS TIRE CO FOR OVER 20 YEARS.WHEN I GO BY THERE TO ROTATE OR BY TIRES I ASK
IF I CAN GET A BUCKET OF LEAD 5 GAL LAST TIME WAS $10.00 AND AFTER PROCESSING INT WT 140 Lbs CLEANED UP TO ABOUT 110 Lbs OF GREAT LEAD
? IS HOW MANY BULLETS CAN YOU GET OUT OF THAT!!!!
NEVER HURTS TO TALK SHOOTING OR HUNTING AND INVITING THEM OUT WHEN SEASON OPENS. KEEP IT IN THE 10 RING AND INJOY THE SPORT
GRAY GHOST

wittzo
08-24-2009, 06:30 PM
I lucked out, a large tire store in town gave me 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket of assorted wheelweights about a year ago. I picked out all the ribbon weights and was able to get 25 lbs of ingots out of them and about 25 lbs of ingots out of the clip-on weights. I still have a lot of the zinc and iron weights in the bucket that I'm going to sort out and sell for scrap, which might pay for the cost of some of my equipment. I thought it was about 30 or 40 lbs, based on the estimates I've read, it might have been more like 70 or 80. :)

stephen perry
10-25-2009, 09:27 PM
My last 5 gal plastic bucket weighed 144# half truck weights no zinc.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR :brokenima

RICHP
11-22-2009, 11:40 AM
I found a bucket at a flat fixing shop, it was too heavy to lift owner said he was going to make deep sea fishing weights out of them anyway. Went to the local recicler(spelling) and got ten pounds, hardly covered the bottom of the bucket, cost me almost ten dollars (ouch).

35 Whelen
11-22-2009, 11:57 AM
About how many pounds are in a full 5 gal bucket of WW?

i know it will vary somewhat with the size of the weight / clips, and of course the amount of stems / junk, but does anyone have a good average or "rule of thumb"?

i asked my 2 local tire stores today, both want $10 / gal of weights. i.e. 5gal = $50
not so sure that's a good deal:???:

thanks

LB

Due to my job I spend alot of time driving on the highway and through intersections. In doing so I've discovered where wheelweights are most likely to be found on the road. I keep a plastic 32 oz. drink cup in my cupholder in which to deposit wheelweights I find on the road. I've weighed a few of these cups and full they weigh between 8 and 9 lbs. That translates into 32-36 lbs. per gallon.
35W

RP
01-14-2010, 07:48 PM
It dont matter how many lbs in a bucket its how much the bucket cost you if its free thats great if you paid a few bucks or buy the guy a 6 pack still who cares. If you buying by the lb you know how much is in it and your not asking the ? But if you can give the guy 15 or 20 bucks and its full you did ok for the most part.

EMC45
01-22-2010, 04:06 PM
A lot. And for me they have always been free, aside from the burgers I get the mechanics. Thank God!

mold maker
01-22-2010, 06:15 PM
Too much to carry very far. Save your back and take a couple buckets along to split it up with. Your newly acquired WW wont be worth as much, scattered over the parking lot or if your laying on the ground waiting for the medics.
The cheap plastic buckets, available today, will tear the handle out if ya jerk on them any at all.

canyon-ghost
01-22-2010, 08:33 PM
So, depending on the weights in the bucket and area, we've established that the buckets weigh around 150# to 200#. I split the bucket full into two, I'm just not lugging over 100 pounds for entertainment.

RP
01-22-2010, 08:36 PM
I think alot of woman have sat on a 5 gal bucket the pounds went right to their backsides, what if they put their boobs in a bucket would they swell up as well?

alamogunr
01-22-2010, 10:47 PM
I salvaged a two wheel cart that had originally carried a pump of some sort. Had to crawl into the scrap trailer at work to get it. I also hammered together a platform that raised me up about 8-10 inches. lifted the buckets into the truck in two steps. Much easier on the back. Although usually the young guys working at the tire store wanted to show off and lifted the bucket for me. I'm glad none of them ever threw their back out.

John
W.TN

Vyrone
03-05-2010, 04:40 PM
Went to town today looking for WW. 1st tire shop, bought 25# $5.00
3 other tire shops refused to sell, said this was hazous materal and there is a new law that they could only sell to wholsesalers. (Tires Plus, Walmart and Fleet Farm), Stopped at another shop and bought a small box for $5.00, another for $20.00 and another for 10.00. Got home and weighed on bathroom scale for a total of 123# at a cost of $40.00. Average cost of ww's .325 per pound.
I getting a little worried that we will not be able to buy lead in a very short time.
I melted my 1st batch in my new Lee pot. 12# total in molds. (1 pot full)
Going to keep track of average cost and amount of finished lead.

Three44s
03-06-2010, 01:44 AM
Three full buckets for $20 each with two pizza's thrown in for a tip! Makes my WW's cost $27 for five gallons ...... it's more $$$$ but it's steady and my home state takes lead out of WW's by fiat in 2011 ......

The tire shop I deal with gleefully fill buckets just for me!

The owner does not drink or it would be WHISKEY! ........ Pizza works instead!


Three 44s

David2011
03-06-2010, 09:51 PM
The tire shop I buy from ocaissionally (fortunately not my only source) is wanting clean lead prices for scrap wheelweights. He wanted $80 for 150 lb this week. I doubt he even actually had 150 lb, based on the buckets I've weighed in the past. He claimed he could get $0.45/lb from a salvage yard for WW. Good for him. Most of my boolits go to IPSC shooting so it IS about the volume of boolits needed. While I enjoy casting, it does need to have some financial reward to be worthwhile to invest that much time casting- i.e., lower cost than commercially cast. This guy's scrap WW is literally half the price of the cheap (for today's prices) finished commercial cast boolits. Time is worth more than that!

David

mold maker
03-06-2010, 10:18 PM
Notice.
We ARE lead recyclers.
Get your self a magnetic sign and paint up an official looking company logo that states you reclaim hazardous heavy metals. Put an permit # at the bottom.
Now when they give ya that BS about it being hazardous material, Point to the sign, grab some buckets, and dune your gloves and apron.
Tell them you usually get $1.00, but will only charge $.80/lb to haul off their lead waste.
Keep a straight face and ya might get lucky. If not, what have ya lost?

Murphy
03-07-2010, 04:57 PM
How many pounds in a 5 gallon bucket?

In 20+ years of buying WW's in 5 gallon buckets, I've found exactly ZERO that weighed the same. That's right...ZERO. I've had 5 gallon buckets filled to the same level that in raw form weighed anywhere from 115 Lbs all the way up too 171 Lbs.

The only way to find out how many pounds a 5 gallon bucket is going to yield in smelted, usuable ingots, is to smelt them and then weigh them.

THAT...is the ONLY way to ever know how much was in THAT bucket.

:)

Murphy

fishhawk
03-07-2010, 05:09 PM
myself when i get a full bucket i could care less how many pounds i'm going to get. i need the WW so i bite the boolit so to speak and just get what i get. steve k

Fly
04-28-2010, 09:30 PM
Boy it seems scrap lead is going for 50 cents a lb here.Just today I stopped buy a gas station
tire shop.I ask the guy about his WW.He tells me $75 for a 5 gal bucket.

Thanks but no thanks & I get to thinking if that bucket has 150lb of lead than that, works
out to 50 cents a lb.I wish I could find a shop that would give me a deal as some of you
have.

I do have one guy that gave me about 10lb.But even so I had to shame him some
for I'm a good customer of his.

alamogunr
04-28-2010, 10:42 PM
I picked up 3 buckets today from a tire store that I have developed a relationship with(bought a set of tires for the truck). I didn't have any buckets to exchange so I just had them dump them in the back of the truck. This makes about 10 buckets I have gotten from this store.

I sort out stick-on lead, zinc, iron(steel) from the clip-ons. These had a lot of shiny ¼ oz stick-ons marked Fe. More than I have seen up to this point. I have always assumed they are iron or steel. First guess, I'll get about 100-110 lbs of clean WW metal per bucket. I save the stick-ons for muzzleloader and BP pistol balls. I can't complain since I paid $20/bucket for them. That is about as good as I can do in this area.

I'm going to try to get a couple of hundred pounds for a friend who is a retired minister. He does security work to supplement his retirement and the increased cost of ammunition has severely cut into his recreational shooting so he bought a Lee pot and mold for his .357. I'll throw in some solder for tin and give him some copies of good articles and clue him in to this site.

John
W.TN

Fly
04-28-2010, 11:05 PM
How do you tell the zinc clip on from the lead by just looking?

alamogunr
04-28-2010, 11:45 PM
I didn't mean to imply that all I do is look. I use a pair of side cutters to indent the weight in question. Zinc won't indent easily. Lead will. Use the side cutters and you won't wonder which is which.

John
W.TN

mold maker
04-29-2010, 07:40 PM
In the last haul from the tire store there were a big hand full of truck weights. I was tickeled till I noticed the ZN on them. That was well over 3 lbs of zinc. I don't know anyone that needs the zinc so it will be traded to the scrappy for lead. The exchange rate is in my favor.

alamogunr
04-29-2010, 08:47 PM
I didn't mean to imply that all I do is look. I use a pair of side cutters to indent the weight in question. Zinc won't indent easily. Lead will. Use the side cutters and you won't wonder which is which.

John
W.TN

I guess I could have edited my last post but thought more would see it if I submitted a new post. I have to back off on my self-righteous statement on the use of side cutters. After going through about 150# of WW, I find myself being less and less critical of the clip ons. I still use them occasionally but it sure does slow down the sorting process. I have a thermometer and keeping the temperature below 700ºF should keep all the zinc out of my alloy. It seems to have worked in the past although I didn't examine the weights that were fished out with the clips. If there is disagreement on this, I would appreciate hearing it.

The volume of iron or steel (Fe) weights doesn't seem as much as I originally thought. There seems to be more lead stick-ons than I used to find.

I should have plenty of WW ingots for my friend.

John
W.TN

alamogunr
04-30-2010, 09:21 PM
Finally finished sorting the 3 buckets of WW. Ended up with approx. 400# of clip on WW, 50# of stick ons and about 20# of steel(Fe), zinc and other non lead material(lug bolts, etc.). I doubt there was more than 1 or 2 lbs of various rubber items. These were some of the cleanest WW I've seen in sometime.

John
W.TN

stephen perry
06-12-2010, 05:48 PM
I do same with WW. Generally my 5 gallon bucket of car tire WW weigh 140-150lb.
When I get a bucket of truck wheel ww generally the 1 lb type the buckets weigh 100+. My melting temps stay below 700 more like 675. I have two trays and drop lead fast from my Saeco bottom pour. Probably have 400 bars and 5/6 5 gallon buckets of weights to melt, 200 lb of pure lead, and 4 antimony bars the 45 lb type. I have a tire shop that does car and big truck. have no problem getting a bucket full every 3/4 months, case of beer does the trick.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

Colt .45
06-13-2010, 10:18 AM
lucky you guys. I just bought a 5 gallon pail that was 3/4 full and weighed 90 lbs. Only got ~55 lbs of lead out of it and paid 50$ for it...

miestro_jerry
06-13-2010, 12:31 PM
How much does a bucket full of WWs weigh, a lot.

Jerry

BOOM BOOM
07-21-2010, 06:09 PM
HI,
Just sorted about 8 gal. worth of ww. seemed to me that it was near 50% junk.:groner: about +/-11 lbs of pure stick on type, perhaps 50 lbs. of clip on good ww. But it was free, so can not really complain.

DIRT Farmer
07-25-2010, 11:50 PM
Any body have any idea how much a 5 galon bucket of lead shot would weigh. I have been told I can buy a 55 galon drum at .80 lb and the drum will weigh between 2000 and 2500 lb so per the math between 180 to 225 lb roughly.

mold maker
07-26-2010, 08:03 AM
The last couple time I went to pick up weights the take was mostly junk.
In all about
11lbs good weights,
1/2 lb lead stick on,
2lb iron clip and stick on.
1 lb rubber stick on,
4 zinc weights.
Volume wise there was lots more paper, and unusable junk than good.
Like Boom Boom said "it was free", but hardly worth the gas and getting my hands filthy for it.

stephen perry
07-26-2010, 08:06 AM
farmer
This 5 gallon bucket yarn gets better each time I read it. I haven't done this yet but I will. I have 8-10 bags of shot maybe 12 or 14 somewhere. If I tuck the shot bags, probably 6 , 2 in the middle, into the 5 gallon bucket and lay a couple 3 or 4 on top that would give me 10 bags of 25 lb shot, say 300 lbs of near lead shot, a little antimony and arsenic added to boot.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

DIRT Farmer
07-26-2010, 01:25 PM
I was wondering if any had any idea what shot weighed to the cubic foot. I know this has some dirt and small stones in it, It is range recovery and I wanted to get some for shotgun reloading.

BOOM BOOM
08-01-2010, 08:41 PM
HI,
AS the shot would have much less air space I am sure wt. would exceed 100lbs. easily.

Digger
08-01-2010, 10:43 PM
BOOM BOOM is thinking along the right lines , as I slowly collect ww's and carefully weed out the ....# ! from the real lead....once in a while a large truck weight but mostly smaller car weights .
As a result the density in a five gal bucket much more so , filled to the top , level , I get 180 lbs per bucket .
(sure as heck ain't moving that one !)...:veryconfu
digger

BOOM BOOM
08-04-2010, 02:16 PM
HI,
Well just finished #2 project on this summers list. #1 was cut & stack 12 cords of firewood. Finished that on Tues.
So today was out of house by 6:30 A.M. drove up mt. built campfire, from about 3 -5 gal. buckets 90% full I got about 150lbs. of TW Pb.

DeadHandRed
10-01-2010, 07:57 AM
I got half a bucket today, after sorting out Fe's and Zn's it came to about 70 pounds

lead on the left.. rubbish on the right. longneck is for sizing.. was thirsty work

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/4316/p1020303.jpg

I used a pair of pliers to test indent on any unkowns, fairly time consuming but what the hell... beer and a movie and a whole lotta lead

badbob454
10-31-2010, 12:52 AM
About how many pounds are in a full 5 gal bucket of WW?

i know it will vary somewhat with the size of the weight / clips, and of course the amount of stems / junk, but does anyone have a good average or "rule of thumb"?

i asked my 2 local tire stores today, both want $10 / gal of weights. i.e. 5gal = $50
not so sure that's a good deal:???:

thanks

LB i have gotten some good wheelweights one bucket weighed 224 lbs all clip on weights all lead .... but average mix is @ 170- 180 lbs ... and now in kalifornia it is @ 30 percent lead and dwindeling fast, as the lead is now illegal the tire stores have given me the weights , and i recycle the fe or steel wheel weights, and the zn or zinc , and use the hammer on lead for magnum loads, water quenched ,... and the stick on , lead only for soft bullets or slug in the 12 ga. and if i shot black powder ,which i dont too messy , and for subsonic loads

the softer lead works well :cbpour::lovebooli

badbob454
10-31-2010, 12:52 AM
sorry if i carried on too much

badbob454
10-31-2010, 12:56 AM
I got half a bucket today, after sorting out Fe's and Zn's it came to about 70 pounds

lead on the left.. rubbish on the right. longneck is for sizing.. was thirsty work

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/4316/p1020303.jpg

I used a pair of pliers to test indent on any unkowns, fairly time consuming but what the hell... beer and a movie and a whole lotta lead

i save the zinc cast it in ingots and sell it to toy casters (e bay )or make fishing weights but mark them well so none go in the bullet pot . bad... my 2 c's worth

DeadHandRed
11-17-2010, 05:48 PM
badbobgerman, yeah since then ive made about 20 decent 'zinkers', i give them to a guy at work who fishes. recycling is so satisfying

daveefish
12-05-2010, 11:53 PM
don't NSSA cannon shoot cast zinc projectiles? dave

Jarhead68
12-09-2010, 06:15 PM
I just bought a bucket of WW for .50 per pound at a scrap metal yard and pure lead for .75 per pound not to bad,my son just found a place where he got WW for .20 per pound and I put my order in with my son!

mold maker
12-10-2010, 04:10 PM
Get um while you can. WWs are an endangered species.

wmitty
12-12-2010, 09:00 PM
Looks like to many variables to come up with weight of five gallons of wheel weights but lead shot might be easier. FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T INTERESTED IN THE MATH, THE ANSWER (I THINK) IS 240.22 POUNDS

visualize a basketball in a cube shaped box that is diameter of the ball. the volume of the basketball is V = 4/3 pi ( radius cubed) = 1.333 times 3.14159 ( r x r x r) ; with r being diameter divided by 2. say the basketball is ten inches in diameter; then r = 5" and 5 x 5 x 5 = 125 and volume of the ball is 1.333 x 3.14159 x 125 = 523.598 inches cubed. now the box contains 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000 inches cubed so the ball takes up 523.6 divided by 1000 or 52.36 % of the volume of the box it sets in. ( LOOKS LIKE IT IS MORE THAN THAT, BUT THATS WHAT IT FIGURES).

ANYWAY, THERE ARE 231 CUBIC INCHES IN A GALLON (TAKE MY WORD FOR IT) SO FIVE GALLONS = 1155 CUBIC INCHES

NOW I'M GONNA CHICKEN OUT AND LET SOMEONE ELSE DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENCES THAT DIFFERENT SHAPES OF BUCKETS ARE GOING TO MAKE. THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF LEAD IS ABOUT 11.0 , SO 11 X 62.4 LB / CUBIC FOOT OF WATER = 686.4 LB / CF ; WHICH IS ABOUT THE DENSITY OF LEAD. WE HAVE 1155 CUBIC INCHES ( FIVE GALLONS) OF LEAD WHICH IS ACTUALLY ONLY 52.36 %LEAD AND THE REST AIR. SO, 1155 C.I. DIVIDED BY 1728 C.I. = .6684 CUBIC FT TIMES 686.4 LB/CF = 458.79 LB TIMES .5236 = 240.22 LBS

SOMEONE CHECK ME ON THIS... I CAN SEE A PROBLEM AS THE SHOT SIZE GETS LARGER AND LARGER, BUT i THINK THIS SHOULD BE CLOSE.

Dthunter
12-12-2011, 01:12 PM
Wheel weights have been hard to come by in the past, but I was fortunate enough to get about 6.5 pails worth last friday for free!
Sometimes I get lucky!

Seems to be allot of zinc & Fe(iron) in the mix.

Loki610
01-16-2012, 05:40 PM
I got real lucky last week when I stopped in at a local fountain tire! They had 5 full buckets out back they wanted to get rid of, the guy showed em to me and I saw it was mostly steel and zinc with lots of rust (stored outside) I told him I probably wouldn't get much lead of it so I'd only give him $40 for the lot. I pulled around and one of the guys from the shop loaded me up (I have a broken back right now) I got home and dumped them out the back onto the garage floor. I was shocked to discover the only zinc and steel were the ones on the very top! I've now processed 3.5 buckets on the turkey cooker and have 2 full buckets of "muffins" and 1 bucket of scrap.
Considering most places in town want $40/bucket I think I got a great deal... I think I'll keep them supplied in doughnuts for a while!

Roundnoser
01-17-2012, 02:54 AM
Looks like to many variables to come up with weight of five gallons of wheel weights but lead shot might be easier. FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T INTERESTED IN THE MATH, THE ANSWER (I THINK) IS 240.22 POUNDS

visualize a basketball in a cube shaped box that is diameter of the ball. the volume of the basketball is V = 4/3 pi ( radius cubed) = 1.333 times 3.14159 ( r x r x r) ; with r being diameter divided by 2. say the basketball is ten inches in diameter; then r = 5" and 5 x 5 x 5 = 125 and volume of the ball is 1.333 x 3.14159 x 125 = 523.598 inches cubed. now the box contains 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000 inches cubed so the ball takes up 523.6 divided by 1000 or 52.36 % of the volume of the box it sets in. ( LOOKS LIKE IT IS MORE THAN THAT, BUT THATS WHAT IT FIGURES).

ANYWAY, THERE ARE 231 CUBIC INCHES IN A GALLON (TAKE MY WORD FOR IT) SO FIVE GALLONS = 1155 CUBIC INCHES

NOW I'M GONNA CHICKEN OUT AND LET SOMEONE ELSE DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENCES THAT DIFFERENT SHAPES OF BUCKETS ARE GOING TO MAKE. THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF LEAD IS ABOUT 11.0 , SO 11 X 62.4 LB / CUBIC FOOT OF WATER = 686.4 LB / CF ; WHICH IS ABOUT THE DENSITY OF LEAD. WE HAVE 1155 CUBIC INCHES ( FIVE GALLONS) OF LEAD WHICH IS ACTUALLY ONLY 52.36 %LEAD AND THE REST AIR. SO, 1155 C.I. DIVIDED BY 1728 C.I. = .6684 CUBIC FT TIMES 686.4 LB/CF = 458.79 LB TIMES .5236 = 240.22 LBS

SOMEONE CHECK ME ON THIS... I CAN SEE A PROBLEM AS THE SHOT SIZE GETS LARGER AND LARGER, BUT i THINK THIS SHOULD BE CLOSE.

I'M DIZZY! :veryconfu

mold maker
01-17-2012, 11:39 AM
All I can say for sure is, that if you were to give me a solid 5gal bucket of lead, I'd have to say no thanks.
At 70, my back is more valuable than lead. I do however have a crane on the back of the truck that is supposed to lift up to 1000lbs. It is really only good for about 550lbs. The mouting to the floor is the weak link. Next is the knuckle beater crank.
I once collected 3 5gal buckets of range lead. By the time I got it unloaded, I was completely spent.
BTW, Plastic buckets wont handle the weight they can contain. I always carry several empties to split up a big find.

Skullet
11-25-2012, 10:51 PM
I am just getting started with this but I can still find them for 35-40 per bucket and they have weighed in at about 140-150 per. I am hoping to find a better source but for now it is cheaper than buying them precast.

Frozone
11-26-2012, 12:57 PM
You guys seem to have the theory down, but as it has been said “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”

You need to consider the clips and trash. I get a large USPS box full of clips out of every 5 gallons.

The "trash" in the bucket (from paper and valve cores/stems to zincs) adds up too.
85 - 100 pounds is a realistic amount of lead from a 5 gallon bucket

Tokarev
11-26-2012, 01:04 PM
I get rather close to 200 lb in a 5gal bucket. 100lb is too little.

markshere2
11-26-2012, 09:57 PM
Waaaaay too many variables...to come up with an average number...

I sort at my tablesaw... I sort by sight, but they're adding variations to what zinc ww's look like.

A quick test is to drop the ww onto the cast iron tablesaw top. Zinc pings and WW alloy thunks.

I have taken to sorting into boolit casting alloy, zinc and pure lead stickons.

I smelt on in a cast iron pot in turkey cooker. I run it cool and I've never (yet) melted a zinc WW into the mix. They all float on top when I am scooping clips and dirt off.

I've got a metric buttload of steel clips left over and probably 100 lbs of zinc to recycle when it becomes important to do so.

Junior1942
11-27-2012, 10:49 AM
Re: how many pounds in a 5gal bucket

About 100 lbs if you're buying and 125 lbs if you're selling.

sparky45
11-28-2012, 12:43 PM
Junior has the best answer so far. It's like getting paid what you're worth instead of what you think you're worth.

ebner glocken
11-28-2012, 01:43 PM
Well, I'm no athlete or weight lifter but... (I'm 6'2", 215#, just under 40, and in fair shape). I can get a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights lifted in the back of a pickup w/o issue. Lots of steel clips and air bewteen the weights. Now I do have a 5 gallon bucket of ignots stacked neatly in a 5 gallon bucket and it's all 2 men can do to scoot it across a concrete floor. Neither have ever been weighed at my house. But I'm tellin ya it would take a brutis to pick up that bucket of ignots much less get it lifted anywhere useful. I durn near busted my gizzard trying.

Ebner

mold maker
11-29-2012, 11:33 AM
I used to be 6'3" and 285, bullit proof, and could lift my weight, to chest high. It was fun to shame the other guys, but that was a long time ago. Now about 90-100 lbs is all I can lift, and thats not on to a truck. I have since wised up and installed a crain on the back of the truck.
You'll pay for the grunt work you do. Pain and injury are the results of lifting more than you absolutely have to.
Be smart and take a couple empty buckets, to split up the weight. They are standard equipment on my truck.[/B]

sergeant69
11-30-2012, 10:58 PM
amen to that. just ask my PERMENANTELY hurtin back that now has 2 titanium rods, bolts, screws in it. 24/7, it hurts. no more 8' 4x4's around a construction site for me. what a dumb-***!

NMLRA Guy
01-27-2013, 11:45 PM
Useful and interesting info.

Smoke4320
05-31-2013, 12:21 PM
I used to be 6'3" and 285, bullit proof, and could lift my weight, to chest high. It was fun to shame the other guys, but that was a long time ago. Now about 90-100 lbs is all I can lift, and thats not on to a truck. I have since wised up and installed a crain on the back of the truck.
You'll pay for the grunt work you do. Pain and injury are the results of lifting more than you absolutely have to.
Be smart and take a couple empty buckets, to split up the weight. They are standard equipment on my truck.[/B]

Straight on that .. I was foolish too.. if anyone could do something I could do it better and faster
paying greatly for it now .. knees hurt , back hurts , 150 Lbs is about all I can lift before the back starts screaming

bsgp8ntball
06-05-2013, 01:31 PM
when buying from my local recycler i usually get just a shade under 150lbs in a 5lb bucket if it is completely full. Usually a well filled bucket nets 135lbs.

el roboto
10-10-2013, 01:10 PM
After smelt, 80-120lbs of lead per.bucket depending on how many cigarette butts and valve stems are in the bucket. I could only find one shop to sell to me and they have 3 buckets every 6 momths for me. I set the price at 30 a bucket. Beats 1$ a pound from ebay and they love the price.

ShinyPartsUp
11-04-2013, 02:08 AM
Bad back here from a guy they used to call "The human crane". Getting a second opinion in 2 weeks on surgery for the 5 disks that are screwed up. Save your back.

Last week I drove around and every shop seems to have a high value for a bucket of WW. Only one shop would sell to me -- but at $75 a bucket! I passed. But somebody is buying it, evidently. He called me a jerk when I was shocked at the price after I said, "No way at that price!"and walked away . I was honestly just very very surprised at the price.

rcn11thacr
01-12-2014, 05:35 PM
First timer at smelting with a question for the experts. I've gotten several buckets from local shops and have yet to smelt yet. Lots of the weights are of the stick on variety. Are they made of lead and ok to smelt? Hope this isnt off track of the thread...

propwashp47
01-12-2014, 07:16 PM
rcn11thacr- they are soft lead not pure but close, fine to smelt and mix them with coww 50%-50 & sow + 2% tin will make your coww last 2x longer. that alloy will be good for up to 1200-1300 fps , if you have a good fit. last 5 gal bucket was all soww heaped high 160 lbs no trash for $50.00 they used a floor jack handle and two young guys to carry it to my car . on the back note I am getting a mri on Tuesday for 3 bad disks and surgery. I used 5 -30 lbs buckets to get it unloaded and a two wheeler to move to the smelt area. take are of your back its a lot easier . good luck on your 1st melt

rcn11thacr
01-27-2014, 10:23 PM
Thanks for the information propwashp47.

bnowlin48
03-05-2014, 11:35 PM
I weighed one today. It was about 3/4 (or a little more) full and weighed 118#. I've been sorting out the steel and zink and checking them with a pair of side cutters to see if they dent. Some are marked with an AL and they are painted grey. Are these lead of some sort of aluminum alloy? I also have a source for scrap plumbing lead. I understand that this sheet lead, flashings shower pans etc. is more likely to be pure lead and therefore softer than the WW. Does that match up with your experience and or conventional wisdom? I've made a lot of lead weights for Soap Box Derby cars in the past but I'm just getting into bullets. Any help you might have will be appreciated.

B.E.N.

mold maker
03-06-2014, 01:38 PM
The AL marked weights are made to use on Aluminum wheels. The painted wights are epoxy painted so as not to oxidize and stain the expensive wheels on todays cars.
Your use of pliers is the best way I've found, to cull out the rejects. Beaware that the epoxy coating has a harder feel than raw lead WWs.
The stick on weights are also being found in Zn and Fe. Use the pliers on them also.

rupe01
03-12-2014, 05:05 PM
My WW supplier's price has gone up also since i last went a year ago (i work out of state). They used to ask $20, and now it's $30. I managed to get two full 5-gal buckets and gave them $70 so they would remember me! They were happy......but it turns out that i am now competing against the tire-shop owner, who wants them for his fishing sinkers! He wasn't there that day! Lol!

mold maker
03-13-2014, 05:23 PM
I used to get all my mechanic work and tires, for the families 6 cars, at the same shop. The owner and I had an agreement that I got the weights, and he got my business. He ask me the other day where I had been, and I reminded him of our agreement.
It's already cost him all the maintenance and 2 sets of tires. He now understands how important a few used wheel weights can be.
I start back next Monday picking up his weights and he changes my oil, and front pads. I now have 2 suppliers of PB.

Lead
05-04-2014, 05:26 PM
I own a shop in east tx an all the shops here let me have them,but offer 25 cause the scap yard give around 25-30 so I save them a trip also is my selling point.

kryogen
07-19-2014, 11:08 PM
Hey guys dont panic im 120 pounds and can probably lift 50. Doesnt matter, have a stronger guy break his back for you and then use ramps to unload.... I just unloaded 5 full buckets, no strain.... Gravity going down isnt so bad.

smilin jack
07-26-2014, 12:09 AM
Got five 5 gallon buckets of muffin tin ingots the other day. They were about 1/2 full and the five buckets plus a 1/2 full plastic dish pan was 340 pounds on an old barn feed sack scales.
340/5 = 68 pounds for each 1/2 full bucket. The dish pan throws a wrench in the figuring, so maybe 60 pounds for the 1/2 full buckets.
John and I put a 4 foot 2x4 thru the handles and two of us loaded in the truck. Not too bad then.
The old guy was getting rid of reloading stuff (down sizing) and talking retirement home. He wanted 25 cents a pound and got no argument from us.

Making 230gr .452", 158gr .358", 177gr .309" so far from the WW muffin ingots. Sizing is with an old Lyman 45.

Dave

ncbearman
07-28-2014, 10:20 AM
I used to get all my mechanic work and tires, for the families 6 cars, at the same shop. The owner and I had an agreement that I got the weights, and he got my business. He ask me the other day where I had been, and I reminded him of our agreement.
It's already cost him all the maintenance and 2 sets of tires. He now understands how important a few used wheel weights can be.
I start back next Monday picking up his weights and he changes my oil, and front pads. I now have 2 suppliers of PB.

This right here is the best way to do it if you can. Especially with multi car families. Even the bigger shops will realize the benefit if they are smart. The question is with them though can they go outside of the corporate regulations set up to recycle their WW. The smaller guys can and do quite often. But they also don't have the volume the big shops do. I have 2 guys I know that turn wrenches and I get all their WW..........free...........for now.

Bentracin
12-03-2014, 04:09 AM
My last 5 gal plastic bucket weighed 144# half truck weights no zinc.

Possum Lickaa
03-07-2016, 11:54 PM
I know I am responding to a 7 year old thread... But I have found that a case of beer can get me as many bucket of WW as my car will handle. Show up at your local, non-franchise tire shop about an hour or so before closing and ask them if they would be willing to part with a couple of buskets of WW, and mention that you'd like to give them a case of beer to show your appreciation. You won't be disappointed. I did this and left the shop with around 400# of WW.

Flailguy
01-27-2018, 11:49 PM
A 5 gall bucket of cupcake ingots weighs 270lbs.

Murphy
01-28-2018, 12:22 PM
It's been awhile since I visited this thread. I said it long ago and I'll say it again.

Smelt the 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights into ingot form, then weight the ingots. THAT, is how much was in THAT 5 gallon bucket. The next may produce a lot more, or a lot less.

Simply put, no two buckets of wheel weights have ever yielded the same amount of usable ingots.

Murphy

Note: Hopefully, the above doesn't come across wrong to some. It's just a simple fact I discovered long ago. Even before zinc, steel and stick on wheel weights seemed to be in every bucket one found.

RP
01-28-2018, 07:51 PM
Bet he knows why the chicken crossed the road to way to go Murphy lol you ruined it for everyone again

lightman
01-29-2018, 10:43 AM
I think the original post was about how much a bucket of wheel weights would weigh. While that will not tell you how many ingots a bucket will produce, it will help you to know how much to pay for them. As the other post show, the weight of a bucket can vary quite a bit. I recently bought 30 something buckets and the weight varied from about 130# to 160# with most being somewhere in between. These were level full, not heaping full. The buckets of stick on weights were a little lighter, in the 110-120# range. The stick-ons did not seem to compact as much. And yeah, a bucket of ingots can easily go 100# more than raw weights.

mold maker
01-31-2018, 09:40 AM
In either raw or ingots, the handle is in danger of coming off, or my back will refuse to stand for the abuse.
I remember when lifting a full bucket onto the back of my truck was nothing. That might be the reason for my current condition.

Budzilla 19
01-31-2018, 05:20 PM
If a bucket of cupcake ingots weighs in the 270# plus or minus, I need to stop gathering ww’s, I got close to a 1000 pounds holding down my reloading bench! Can’t rock it back and forth, lol. But, .............. that being said, I know I will take em if I can get them! Jeff Foxworthy style “ if you need an equipment dolly to move your ingots around............................. you might be a boolit caster!” Hahahaha!

RP
02-06-2018, 11:42 PM
I learned fast not to trust a bucket handle lol. I carried a piece of plywood flat shovel a dolly and some extra buckets with me when I was hunting WWS.
I give them a new bucket dolly the full one out to the truck and dump it on the plywood well half of it. Load the half bucket in the truck and put the rest in another bucket. So when I got home all I have is half full buckets. Another tip if this applies to you wait to your two strong sons came home to unload lol.
This is not a bad way to do it you may find your full bucket has a lot of trash and you know it there not when you get home.

TRM
02-08-2018, 03:28 PM
How many gal. In a 5 gal. Bucket . Or which weighs more Ton of feathers or a ton of lead...

Hossfly
02-22-2018, 09:48 PM
Picked up 3 heaping full 5 gallon tractor fluid buckets today of WW and trash and all weighed 654# unsorted cost $90.00 i know about 20% will be zinc still pretty good deal as i can still do this in my old age. Going to Chiropractor next week. Sure smoothed out that ride back home in that old truck tho.

HH928
02-23-2018, 06:06 PM
I think the problem with the question of how many pounds of lead in a 5 gallon bucket is that it varies from year to year and state to state. For example, some states (like Washington State) are phasing out lead wheel weights and a 5 gal bucket from there will have considerably less lead than lead from many other states that have not done this yet. Also, each year it seems that the composition or amount of lead/antimony/tin in wheel weights seems to change, not mentioning the increasing number of Zink and Steel wheel weights. If you buy WWs from eBay, it probably depends on the seller what you get....and what state it's from....and whether or not the seller is good a sorting out everything but lead. Therefore, because of the above, "the weight of a bucket of wheel weights" is always changing. And, this question remains valid.

Same thing goes for scrap range lead. Pistol ranges will give more usable lead than rifle only ranges.

HH928
02-23-2018, 06:08 PM
That said, I know of a range that is used for muzzle loaders only so that range lead may be nearly pure lead.

HH928
02-23-2018, 06:10 PM
Then, there is the lead that comes from skeet and trap ranges...hard stuff....but iron shot occasionally gets mixed in (don't ask me why, I don't know, unless waterfowl hunters are tuning up for the hunt). A magnet should be able to remove this but that sounds like a lot of trouble.

HH928
02-23-2018, 06:11 PM
And, of course, some dentists still use lead shielding for x-rays but I've not seen anything published about reclaiming dental photo lead.

HH928
02-23-2018, 06:15 PM
I have a question, what would a bucket of dental lead shielding weigh and how would you extract it from the flexible lead apron that dentists use? I suspect that a bucket of that "lead" would not weigh much as WWs and am not sure how or if it could be extracted for making boolits. Does anyone know? I have a source for worn out lead aprons.

EnglishTom
02-26-2018, 04:55 AM
As 95% of w/w here in the uk are zinc or steel I don't care what a bucketful weighs just wish I could get a bucketful

Knightflyer
04-17-2018, 10:50 AM
picked up 3 heaping full 5 gallon tractor fluid buckets today of ww and trash and all weighed 654#... Going to chiropractor next week. Sure smoothed out that ride back home in that old truck tho.

lololol!!

Knightflyer
04-17-2018, 11:24 AM
I have a question, what would a bucket of dental lead shielding weigh and how would you extract it from the flexible lead apron that dentists use? I suspect that a bucket of that "lead" would not weigh much as WWs and am not sure how or if it could be extracted for making boolits. Does anyone know? I have a source for worn out lead aprons.

If it were me, I'd start with a seam ripper and just tear one apart, then go from there. Where the heck did you score used lead aprons??

Update: I did a search and found this on HPS.org: Protective clothing worn by radiographers contains lead and often other metals (e.g., tin, tungsten, antimony, barium) to shield the wearer from radiation. These metals are homogeneously mixed with synthetic rubber or polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Between two and five thin sheets of metal-impregnated rubber/PVC are placed between sheets of nylon fabric coated with urethane on the side against the lead-impregnated rubber/vinyl. The materials are cut into a pattern and sewn together to form the protective garment. The manufacturers of these garments vary the number of sheets, the percentage of metal, the grade of rubber or PVC, and the mixture of metals to affect flexibility, durability, radiation absorption efficiency, and weight.

So... you could get the lead by melting the whole thing down I suppose, but it would be a tedious and stinky operation, and potentially dangerous from the junk in the smoke of burning PVC.

birdadly
05-13-2018, 08:41 PM
Nearly full bucket of wheel weights, about 2” of room left at the top...

74# steel
7# zinc
23# SOWW
36# COWW

140# total. Cost $13 for donuts and Mt Dew for the workers. I’ll get that back (plus a little) selling the steel/zinc to the scrap yard and I’ll have 59# of lead for myself.

Yep. -Brad

HABCAN
06-19-2018, 02:32 PM
Usta was from the pails I collected long years ago (I still have 10, thanks be to a Merciful God!) I'd net about 80%. A recent gift of 'new' is yielding ~60% if I'm lucky. A friend new to casting says he's throwing away more than he gets, netting about 45% thanks to iron, zinc, and ceramic. The times they ARE a-changin'!!

birdadly
06-21-2018, 03:11 PM
Also changing is the dang scrapyard! I haven’t brought my junk (steel) wheel weights there in about 3 years, but today they gave me Steel price ($.08/lb) unless I could tell them they’re all lead! I said no, there’s actually NO lead, since you asked. I never told them that before because they used to just give Lead price. They actually sort them if they pay the steel price, ugh. -Brad

Rubino1988
12-18-2018, 09:39 PM
I usually get a little over 100 pounds of mixed wheel weights

Twisted
02-24-2019, 12:27 PM
My first post :grin: I just did 11 bucket and ended up with 682 lbs of ingots. Paid $300.00 for the lot so that makes it 44 cents a pound for finished product. I am new to reloading and am just collecting material while it is available. My goal is to get 3000 lbs stockpiled with hopes it will be a lifetime supply. Most of my shooting will be into a bullet trap so I can reclaim most of it. It is not worth it to me to take the non lead ones to the scrap yard. To much junk getting in and out... I wont take a chance on cutting a tire. I melt no higher then 650 degrees so the zinc ones I miss wont melt. Do the pencil test on some and it came out to 16 to 18 BH. Is that the normal hardness? 236709

lightman
02-24-2019, 02:19 PM
Welcome Aboard!

That looks like a nice score! Stocking up is a good idea. So is your bullet trap. Lead has been getting harder to find and probably will continue to do so. Your 16-18 BHN reading sounds kind of hard for wheel weights unless you water dropped them. I usually see between 11 and 13 BHN, sometimes 14.

Good Job!

Twisted
02-24-2019, 07:50 PM
Welcome Aboard!

That looks like a nice score! Stocking up is a good idea. So is your bullet trap. Lead has been getting harder to find and probably will continue to do so. Your 16-18 BHN reading sounds kind of hard for wheel weights unless you water dropped them. I usually see between 11 and 13 BHN, sometimes 14.

Good Job!

I just did a recheck on the same ingots and several others and now get a pencil reading of 10 to 13. Don't know if the first test was to soon after casting or I just had a brain fart. I checked the 32 acp boolits that are in my avatar and they came out 16 to 18. I poured those when casting the ingots to test out my new custom mold. I filed to the center for the test so maybe those little fellows are going to just be harder. Anyway....I am happy to be here and look forward to many of good reads. I hope to pick up another 4 to 6 buckets in the next couple weeks.

shaggybull
02-26-2019, 02:46 PM
You might check out forklift boneyard is any in your area. I scored a counter balance couple years ago weighs in right at 4400 lbs.

Twisted
02-26-2019, 08:21 PM
You might check out forklift boneyard is any in your area. I scored a counter balance couple years ago weighs in right at 4400 lbs.

Good to know...Thank you!

HH928
03-05-2019, 08:59 AM
If it were me, I'd start with a seam ripper and just tear one apart, then go from there. Where the heck did you score used lead aprons??

Update: I did a search and found this on HPS.org: Protective clothing worn by radiographers contains lead and often other metals (e.g., tin, tungsten, antimony, barium) to shield the wearer from radiation. These metals are homogeneously mixed with synthetic rubber or polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Between two and five thin sheets of metal-impregnated rubber/PVC are placed between sheets of nylon fabric coated with urethane on the side against the lead-impregnated rubber/vinyl. The materials are cut into a pattern and sewn together to form the protective garment. The manufacturers of these garments vary the number of sheets, the percentage of metal, the grade of rubber or PVC, and the mixture of metals to affect flexibility, durability, radiation absorption efficiency, and weight.

So... you could get the lead by melting the whole thing down I suppose, but it would be a tedious and stinky operation, and potentially dangerous from the junk in the smoke of burning PVC.

I have a relative who is a dentist and has a bunch of these lead (composite?) radiation shield aprons in a scrap pile but it sounds like the gain in lead is not worth the trouble. Bummer.

HH928
03-05-2019, 09:01 AM
If it were me, I'd start with a seam ripper and just tear one apart, then go from there. Where the heck did you score used lead aprons??

Update: I did a search and found this on HPS.org: Protective clothing worn by radiographers contains lead and often other metals (e.g., tin, tungsten, antimony, barium) to shield the wearer from radiation. These metals are homogeneously mixed with synthetic rubber or polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Between two and five thin sheets of metal-impregnated rubber/PVC are placed between sheets of nylon fabric coated with urethane on the side against the lead-impregnated rubber/vinyl. The materials are cut into a pattern and sewn together to form the protective garment. The manufacturers of these garments vary the number of sheets, the percentage of metal, the grade of rubber or PVC, and the mixture of metals to affect flexibility, durability, radiation absorption efficiency, and weight.

So... you could get the lead by melting the whole thing down I suppose, but it would be a tedious and stinky operation, and potentially dangerous from the junk in the smoke of burning PVC.

Knightflyer,

Thanks for checking this out!

Twisted
03-08-2019, 03:25 PM
237602

Bought this big bucket full :-P

JMN
11-20-2022, 12:21 AM
2022 update - The proportion of non-lead weights is way up. I call it 110lbs for a 5 gallon bucket that is full (even with the top of the bucket). Annoying but still worthwhile if I can collect them for free from repair shops or at most pay them 8 cents a pound