Recovery from Wheel Weights

[chemist308]

Something to think about when buying junk wheel weights from a scrap yard: what kind of recovery can you expect on the cast metal?

Figure if you buy 100 pounds of wheel weights, you're not getting 100 pounds of ingots--and from your ingots to bullets, do you get 100% recovery on weight there? So, from 100 pounds of wheel weights, how many pounds of boolits can you expect to get without cutting your mix with pipe lead?

[imashooter2]

Figure 75 - 80% yield from raw WW.

[Gunslinger]

It depends on how much junk is in the bucket, and how small the weights are. I also think about 80% is realistic.

Why shouldn't you yeld 100% boolits from the ingots? Yes you toss a little with the dross... So I guess we end up with 98%

[clintsfolly]

Figure 80% and be happy a 85% most of my melt have been closer to 85 then 80 Clint

[chris in va]

I bought a 100# worth of wheelweights from a tire dealer. After all the steel clips, zinc, Fe and pure lead stick-ons get drossed and weeded out, I netted about 60# worth of ingots.

[fredj338]

I bought a 100# worth of wheelweights from a tire dealer. After all the steel clips, zinc, Fe and pure lead stick-ons get drossed and weeded out, I netted about 60# worth of ingots.

THis is the rub going forward. If you buy a bucket of weights, yo uhave noi idea qhat's in there. My last couole fo 3gal buckets, about 110#, had almost 40% waste after sorting & smelting. Much more zinc than in the past as well as tell, plastic, valve stems & other junk.

[chris in va]

...and mine is here in Kentucky! I can only imagine the small percentage people in California will be dealing with, especially after 2010.

[Gunslinger]

THis is the rub going forward. If you buy a bucket of weights, yo uhave noi idea qhat's in there. My last couole fo 3gal buckets, about 110#, had almost 40% waste after sorting & smelting. Much more zinc than in the past as well as tell, plastic, valve stems & other junk.

WELCOME TO MY WORLD! And might I add a world that looked likes this when I became a member if its splendid society! Lead weights were banned 5+ years ago. When I started casting zinc, valvestems ++ was already a problem. Here's a thread I started on the subject!

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=45386

[Cloudpeak]

I bought a 100# worth of wheelweights from a tire dealer. After all the steel clips, zinc, Fe and pure lead stick-ons get drossed and weeded out, I netted about 60# worth of ingots.

I agree. My yield's have been dropping the last couple of years. I'm around 30% waste on the last few batches (but stick-on's are in this figure so yield is a little better if you figure them in).

[fredj338]

I agree. My yield's have been dropping the last couple of years. I'm around 30% waste on the last few batches (but stick-on's are in this figure so yield is a little better if you figure them in).
But lead stick-ons are very useable, even desireable. They are near pure lead. Great for LHP w/ a bit of tin or muzzle loaders or mixed 3-1 w/ lino for a good universal alloy. Don't toss those.

[helg]

I have smelted just over 85lbs in ingots from 100lbs total wheel weight parcels - here (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=734156#post734156). Of course, stick-ons and clip-ons were separated, and zinc сrap was taken care of.

[badgeredd]

But lead stick-ons are very useable, even desireable. They are near pure lead. Great for LHP w/ a bit of tin or muzzle loaders or mixed 3-1 w/ lino for a good universal alloy. Don't toss those.

If you are a hunter, you'll find that a 50/50 mix of Clip on WW/stick on will yield a very good boolit for hunting. Water dropped or heat treated they'll be hard enough and soft enough all in one. They seem to me to be more malleable and less likely to shatter or fragment.

Edd

[fredj338]

If you are a hunter, you'll find that a 50/50 mix of Clip on WW/stick on will yield a very good boolit for hunting. Water dropped or heat treated they'll be hard enough and soft enough all in one. They seem to me to be more malable and less likely to shatter or fragment.

Edd
thanks. I like the results I get from 25-1 lead/tin w/ LHP, but i am wroking on some 50/50 pure lead/clipon mix to see if some expansion can still be had around 1200fps.

[lwknight]

I guess I made a good haul even at only 42 pounds. 95% stick on weights and no chaws or stems. yielded 39 pounds good ingots.

[Oldtimer]

I would agree with the 30-40% waste. I recently was able to get scrap weights from a big truck tire dealer. Some of those weigh 6 oz, with most being 2-4 oz. Dont know what a 5 gal bucket of those weigh, but I cant even think about pickin a full one up. Have to dump it out and make a couple of trips. Not much junk in the few buckets I got there. Clips are bigger, but way more lead. A few donuts along works wonders. Bob

[Cloudpeak]

But lead stick-ons are very useable, even desireable. They are near pure lead. Great for LHP w/ a bit of tin or muzzle loaders or mixed 3-1 w/ lino for a good universal alloy. Don't toss those.

Toss 'em? That's crazy talk:mrgreen:

Actually, my stick-on's don't seem to be anywhere close to being as soft as pure lead. (see: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=65978 )

Summary of hardness on a comparative scale (based on measurement of "dent")

Wheel weights - .0633"
Stick on weights. - .067"
Range Scrap - .07"
Lead sheet - .1555"

[blikseme300]

I have stopped using ww's. Seems that the ratio of recovery/cost is no longer in our favor. I have switched to buying virgin foundry alloy.

Bliksem

[Springfield]

I have been getting WW's free for the last 5 years from a local shop, but as of the end of this year I probably won't bother going back anymore. The last batch had almost 25% fe weights, adn then there was the normal Zn and tire stems and such. I'm thinking the buckets starting in Januyary might be half junk, we'll see. At least they are free.

[lwknight]

Springfield, if they are free, its still worth getting, isnt it?
Buying lead and some antimony from a foundry will cost you more than $1.70 per pound delivered.

[fredj338]

Springfield, if they are free, its still worth getting, isnt it?
Buying lead and some antimony from a foundry will cost you more than $1.70 per pound delivered.

Yep, for the cost of driving a few miles to get them, free is good. I expect though, that by the ned of 2010, you'll be lucky to find 10% lead ww in a bucket in Kalif.

[clintsfolly]

sell the zinc to the scrap yards!! clint

[BSkerj]

I have been getting 2 five gallon buckets for free everyweek ...there has been alot more junk in the bucket , but like above they are free and I will make a point of getting them every week. Don't know when it will end so I keep saving them.

[nonferrous]

I sort them right away and lately I have been getting less than 5% scrap out of a bucket, stick ons usually amount to 10 to 15 % after sorting. It works out very close to 50 pounds of ingots from 60 pounds of clip on lead WW.

[evan price]

Bear in mind that even if Cali makes all new weights be non lead, it will still take 2-4 years for all the cars that have lead weights on them right now to wear out their tires, or come in for rebalancing, so there will be lead to get for a while yet, just more work to get it.

[lead_her_fly]

I guess I'm pretty fortunate then. In my area there aren't enough zinc and other kinds to make that big of a difference yet. Oh, sure there are some but still. I am getting about a 90% return rate on smelting and almost 100% on casting.

Even so, it's much more cost effective to cast. Let's say your bucket costs $30 and that yields 100lbs of wheel weights. That comes to 700,000gr. At 60% recovery rate that is 420,000gr. Now, let's say you cast only45ACP 200gr LSWC from that. It gives you 2100 bullets @ 100%. That means that 2100 bullets cost you $30. You cannot buy commercial cast for that price.
Imagine your return rate goes to as high as 90% on the smelt. That changes things dramatically. 3150 bullets for the same $30! Change size to 158gr 38 caliber. Almost 4000 bullets for $30!

Now what does that look like if you get the wheel weights for free? What about the same number of bullets for $20 or even $10! 4000 premium cast bullets for $10! That's a deal! 4000 commercially cast would run you $40/500, $40 * 8 = $320!

I think I will take mine with my fellow casters!

How much are you willing to pay for bullets when they can't be found? We almost came to that shortly after the last election. Not me. I had the exact same supply of material, the exact same moulds, the exact same loads that I have had for years and years!

Put a price on that! ;)

[BLTsandwedge]

AN interesting note about California's lead WW ban- I've been given new, unused weights because the stores don't believe they'll have the demand to use them prior to the ban's effective date. BUT....

Thank God for the California Wheel Weight Ban!!!! There have been so many people and animals killed by WWs here it is ridiculous!! I have a 45 minute commute up Hwy 1 to get to work. I've been late eight or nine times in the past two months because I have to stop and remove the corpses from the road- people killed by WWs. It's damn bad- you wouldn't believe it. I was BBQing last Saturday evening- three condors, a spotted owl and a whole slew of endagered frogs and lizards all came into the yard and just up and died right there. All of 'em were poisoned by WWs- you could see 'em in their mouths. I roasted the owl and dumped the others into the ocean. I bet I just killed a bunch of sea lions by doing that..............but there is an end to the madness! No more wanton, gratuitous WW lethality here in California....no Sir. Not another death.

[jdgabbard]

I find that out of about 100# I get about 60 pounds of WW and about 10-15# of stick on weights. So I guess I get about 75# total, but I don't melt my stick ons into the melt. Instead I save those, for when times really get rough. So far I've got about 60# of them. One of these days I'll alloy them with about the same amount of WWs and start shooting some 50/50...

[fredj338]

Bear in mind that even if Cali makes all new weights be non lead, it will still take 2-4 years for all the cars that have lead weights on them right now to wear out their tires, or come in for rebalancing, so there will be lead to get for a while yet, just more work to get it.
Most tire shops have been making the shift since June this year. All new Euro cars come w/ non lead ww. I've seen a steady drop off of lead based ww in the buckets I get. I'm glad I don't have to pay for them, there is quite a bit of waste in them anymore.

[JohnH]

Recovery From Wheel Weights???!?!?!?!? Whoa, man, for a minute there I thought you were gonna tell us that you'd fallen off the wagon.... swearin' off boolits and goin' to strikly "J" words...

"Hi, My name is chemist308 and I'm a recovering castaholic...." or some such nonsense. Thought you might be looking for new recruits. Be careful how you say that stuff dude. The thought scared me so bad I ran downstairs to make sure I wasn't missin' any....

Just keep tellin yourself, "It's under control, it's under control....It's not a problem so long as you don't hide it... It's under control...." ;)

[leadman]

If you buy from a scrap yard ask them if you can sort the buckets before you buy. I do that and none have objected so far.

Sure increases the yield. I use clip-on only in my shotmaker so it helps to keep the cost lower.

[qajaq59]

I got about a 140 lbs of hospital pure lead shielding from the scrap yard for 35 cents a pound, and it's great. I can mix any alloy I want for my rifles using either w/w or lino. Consequently, if there's a lot of stick-on in the bucket that's fine with me.