Wheel Weight sticker shock! [Archive]

lar45

08-28-2006, 01:32 AM

I've been running low on WW ingots, so I finally got around to the tire shops in town. I stopped in a Les Scwabb and asked about WW, the guy said that they were $15 a bucket. Great I said, I'll take a bunch. We went out to the shop and he started pulling out little 1 gallon sized buckets of WW! I went out and came back with my 5 gal bucket and asked. Is that $15 for your bucket or mine?? He said that was for his 1 gal buckets and his battery distributor gave him a $15 credit for every 1 gal bucket full. !! OH SH*&*&, did I wait too long to stock up again?

I did find a couple of other shops that had them for $15-20 per 5 gal bucket. One shop said that they had to sell theirs to a recyler so their corporate office could see the return on them.

I think I'll have to make a habbit of getting a few buckets every month so I don't get stuck when the supply dries up. That will be a sad day when we can no longer get WW for almost free.

imashooter2

08-28-2006, 09:18 AM

There are a lot of us that already can't get wheel weights. My only source of free lead is an indoor range that is an hour and a half up a toll road.

It isn't going to get any better.

Bucks Owin

08-28-2006, 11:07 AM

RANGER RICK

08-28-2006, 11:35 AM

Lar

Wow that is more than I pay here in Alaska !!!!!!!
At the end of the road here in Homer the going rate is $50.00 per 5 gallon bucket . I have a very hard time getting wheel weights .
I have all my family members on the look out for any type of lead .

RR

45nut

08-28-2006, 11:41 AM

"uncle les" has been less than kind to the unprofessional ww recyclers. Your experience mirrors my own right here at the seat of the LS empire. Personally I will not do business with them further,the local tire factory has crushed LS on pricing tires for my vehicles and their service and warranty matches any promises uncle les may provide. The ww supply here is very tight,some people foolishly toss them in water and some mold them into weights for stock cars . I cringe when I hear of the waste of boolit substance for such activities.

Scrounger

08-28-2006, 12:01 PM

Lar (and others, too, for that matter), being the devious type, the first thought that comes to my twisted mind is to become a "Lead Recycler"! It shouldn't be too hard to gen up a letterhead and receipt proclaiming yourself to be a fledgling company going into the recycle business. I don't know how expensive or difficult it would be to get a local business license for that purpose but I would stress the point to them that you were just starting out and had not yet waded through the EPA B,S. I'd stop short of getting involved with EPA, just saying, "I'm working on that part." Probably better idea is to find out who the nearest recycler is and make a deal with him to buy all his wheelweights and other lead that is suitable for casting. He does the legwork, burns his gas collecting them, even cleans the trash out, and all for a little markup.

StarMetal

08-28-2006, 12:14 PM

Art,

You had me worried there for a second. I thought you were going to say go to the Walmart parking lot with a pair of wheelweight pliers. [smilie=s:

Joe

targetshootr

08-28-2006, 06:07 PM

Guess l've been lucky so far. Being in a tri-city area there's no shortage of tire shops and most of the smaller places are happy to give them away. Even tho the garage is getting crowded with 'em, I still look for more as I travel around especially after seeing these kinds of threads. But I no longer stop at the big places. The farther off the beaten path the better.

jhalcott

08-28-2006, 08:59 PM

I asked at 3 shops/gas stations on the way home Friday and got half a 5 gal bucket from one. The others quoted the EPA line or the corporate recycling info. i asked the one guy if he could SELL them to me,since he was not allowed to give them away. He said "Got a recyclers license":?

snowtigger

08-29-2006, 12:59 AM

I guess I've been lucky so far. I've been able to collect ten 5 gal buckets since my last smelting sessions. I still have about a half ton in ingots.
Also scored about 400 lbs of lead radar shielding today.Price was right, I had to haul it myself!! Do you know what a mid-size car rides like wit h 400 lbs of lead in the trunk? Soft and mushy....
I am going to mix this stuff 50/50 with WW to get a softer alloy. With gas checks, I've had no lead problems yet. Shoot 'em full bore in .44 mag and .454 Cas....

Bucks Owin

08-29-2006, 12:37 PM

Art,

You had me worried there for a second. I thought you were going to say go to the Walmart parking lot with a pair of wheelweight pliers. [smilie=s:

Joe

Well, not if ya got a couple young'uns you can send out with them pliers....[smilie=1:

Dennis :Fire:

uscra112

08-29-2006, 07:01 PM

Unless you are commonly hanging around scrapyards, you may not have noticed that the price of ALL KINDS of scrap has gone thru the roof. I just hauled in over a ton of steel and aluminum, and was pleasantly surpised by the $$ I got. But it's bad for the shooter who needs to BUY scrap lead. Thank the Chinese, etc., they're buying all kinds of metal like crazy.

FISH4BUGS

08-29-2006, 07:42 PM

The Scrap dealer at the State Pier is PAYING $240 a ton for scrap steel. They bring in a ship and take out 75,000 tons at a time. They must be selling it at a markup so it could be $275 a ton or more at the sale. Man, we are in the wrong business.
However, my buckets of WW are still either $10 per 5 gal bucket or a case of harpoon ale per 2 buckets, depending on my source. That's all I care about. 6-8 buckets a year is all I need to keep me happy.

Four Fingers of Death

08-29-2006, 07:55 PM

That's why Diesel is so dear, the Chinese economy is going gang busters and they are buying everything. MIck.

Leadslinger

09-03-2006, 04:58 PM

Along those lines, I made a bullet trap out of a 90 gallon heavy plastic barrel with chopped up tire pieces in it. You don't have to use such a big barrel but this one had a screw on lid. I nailed/glued tire tread to the top of the barrel and made a rack for it to lay the barrel on it's side so I'm shooting into the top. These tread on the lid are to make the lid last a little longer. This is only used for cast stuff when I am practicing. Stopped a WWII vintage Armor Piercing 30-06 round as a test when I first used it. Stops all my cast rounds fine. Haven't opened it up yet to recover lead as I just started doing this a few weeks ago. I place the target in different places once in a while and rotate the barrel occasionally. Stapling the target to the guled down tire treads works great. This way you don't have sand or whatever in your lead when you recover it.

38-72

09-03-2006, 06:27 PM

Just last week, Les Scwabb would not sell WW to me, saying the WW were all contracted to an outside buyer. I visited other tire stores and got the same story. I finally found a tire shop that had a 5 gal bucket for $20.

calaverasslim

09-03-2006, 07:33 PM

U fellas are lucky. Down here they are going for .35 cents a lb, that breaks down to $35 per hundred weight. You better get them now.

steveb

09-03-2006, 10:06 PM

So far I have found a local tire shop thats charging me .08 a lb or right at 15.00 a five gallon bucket. Most all other tire shops have a recycler come in. Im afraid its only a matter of time before this one does the same.

ANeat

09-04-2006, 02:01 PM

One thing Ive done is place a couple of adds in the local papers wanted section. Will pay cash for scrap lead. The local recycling places around me do not pay much for scrap lead. .07 to .10 a pound. I offer .15 a pound and go pick it up. Ive got about 1000 pounds the last few months like this, some WW and some pure lead.

Adam

Muskrat Mike

09-04-2006, 08:45 PM

There are a lot of us that already can't get wheel weights. My only source of free lead is an indoor range that is an hour and a half up a toll road.

It isn't going to get any better.
I have an opportunity to get a bunch of range lead if I'm willing to collect it at the indoor range of our club. they just want it cleaned up. Is it worth the effort? I've never used range lead? I don't know if I'll have the time to do it either because they want it done before the end of September. You aren't near Central PA are You? Lewisberry PA?

imashooter2

09-04-2006, 09:46 PM

I have an opportunity to get a bunch of range lead if I'm willing to collect it at the indoor range of our club. they just want it cleaned up. Is it worth the effort? I've never used range lead? I don't know if I'll have the time to do it either because they want it done before the end of September. You aren't near Central PA are You? Lewisberry PA?

The backstop at the place I get mine from has hard rubber over the steel and there is a lot of powdered rubber in with the lead. I let it smelt until there is serious smoke coming off the pot and then set fire to it. Large flames off the top of the pot for 5-10 minutes. The scrap is also very fine by comparison to WW. You have to work to shovel it out of the buckets and into the smelting pot. Resultant ingots are harder than pure lead, but softer than WW and cast well as is.

Worth it? If I had a steady supply of WW, I'd stack them in and forget about the range scrap. However, the range scrap is the only free lead I can find, so I consider it well worth it.

I'm just off the Philly airport. The place I get my scrap is in the foothills of the Poconos, at a range I get to occasionally to shoot steel or ICORE matches. Lewisburg looks to be 160 miles from here.

Muskrat Mike

09-04-2006, 10:57 PM

The backstop at the place I get mine from has hard rubber over the steel and there is a lot of powdered rubber in with the lead. I let it smelt until there is serious smoke coming off the pot and then set fire to it. Large flames off the top of the pot for 5-10 minutes. The scrap is also very fine by comparison to WW. You have to work to shovel it out of the buckets and into the smelting pot. Resultant ingots are harder than pure lead, but softer than WW and cast well as is.

Worth it? If I had a steady supply of WW, I'd stack them in and forget about the range scrap. However, the range scrap is the only free lead I can find, so I consider it well worth it.

I'm just off the Philly airport. The place I get my scrap is in the foothills of the Poconos, at a range I get to occasionally to shoot steel or ICORE matches. Lewisburg looks to be 160 miles from here.

That's Lewisberry across the river from Harrisburg It would take you two hours and fifteen minutes to get here so I guess it wouldn't be practical. the salvage yards around her get .32 to .35 per pound for wheelweights and you get all the valve stems, cigarette butts etc included for the same price! I guess I've been lucky so far I've only bought them once. I've been able to scrounge some at the small garages that do my service and friends I cast for keep scrounging them up.

Muskrat Mike

09-04-2006, 11:04 PM

The backstop at the place I get mine from has hard rubber over the steel and there is a lot of powdered rubber in with the lead. I let it smelt until there is serious smoke coming off the pot and then set fire to it. Large flames off the top of the pot for 5-10 minutes. The scrap is also very fine by comparison to WW. You have to work to shovel it out of the buckets and into the smelting pot. Resultant ingots are harder than pure lead, but softer than WW and cast well as is.

Worth it? If I had a steady supply of WW, I'd stack them in and forget about the range scrap. However, the range scrap is the only free lead I can find, so I consider it well worth it.

I'm just off the Philly airport. The place I get my scrap is in the foothills of the Poconos, at a range I get to occasionally to shoot steel or ICORE matches. Lewisburg looks to be 160 miles from here.

That's "Lewisberry" Across the river from Harrisburg and it would take you 2 and 1/4 hours to get here so I guess it's not practical. Around here if you can't scrounge enough WW the salvage yards will sell them to you for .32-.35 per pound complete with all the valve stems and cigarette butts you could ask for. I've been lucky so far only had to buy them once.

imashooter2

09-04-2006, 11:33 PM

That's "Lewisberry" Across the river from Harrisburg and it would take you 2 and 1/4 hours to get here so I guess it's not practical. Around here if you can't scrounge enough WW the salvage yards will sell them to you for .32-.35 per pound complete with all the valve stems and cigarette butts you could ask for. I've been lucky so far only had to buy them once.

Well that is 40 miles closer, but it's still a long way for the amount of scrap I can haul in a '93 Mustang. Nice of you to be thinking of me though...

Ed K

10-17-2006, 11:28 AM

I'm just getting started in casting. It seems like my timing is bad: the glory days of all-u-can-eat WWs seem to be just about over. I'll still try to scrounge what I can from tireshops and what not but it has been tough thus far.

Getting paranoid I guess because yesterday I found myself at a local recycler buying a small barrel of WWs. I paid $75 for 550 lbs - about .14/lb. I felt a little bad about it knowing some of you guys are getting them for free but I probably already spent a good portion of that in gas, not to mention the time and aggravation, striking out at the area tire shops.

Now I need to learn the ropes on smelting these buggers into ingots. Sorta looking forward to it. Looks like the only real catches are (1) be safe and (2) avoid zinc (?). I'll have to learn what to look for on those...

Ed

Cherokee

10-17-2006, 12:43 PM

14cents/lb is not bad for WW. I've been getting mine at the scrap yard for years and 10-15 cents/lb is still cheap considering one condom bullet can cost that or more.:Fire:

CSH

10-17-2006, 01:43 PM

I've been getting a few WWs free lately, but you certainly aren't being robbed at $.14/lb. I would buy all I could get at that price.

HORNET

10-17-2006, 04:27 PM

Last batch I bought was $0.20/ lb but it was already ingots so I didn't have to deal with all the crud. A little pricier than wild wheel weights but not bad when you factor in current gas costs and energy costs to do the smelting.[smilie=w:

Ed K

10-17-2006, 04:37 PM

Thanks guys,

I'll still keep on scrounging but when you figure time (not retired & with kids so it's really scarce), gas, etc,. maybe I should keep buying at the .10-.15/lb rate 'cause there's no doubt that even at those prices $100 represents a boatload of bullets. I don't think the price of any of the metals are headed down anytime soon either.

I once heard that Bill Gates would lose money bending over to pck up a Ben Franklin off of the sidewalk. :roll: Well, that's certainly not me but I've also come to the realization that good money can also be saved buying surplus powders, molds and other shooting stuff. I think I'll concentrate on that, buy what WWs I can afford, and still casually scrounge for sources of lead.

jh45gun

10-17-2006, 05:27 PM

Guess I am lucky the local garage I do business with gives me mine for free but then the other places I have checked I struck out so I guess I am lucky I found a source.

Willbird

10-17-2006, 06:09 PM

About a year ago I went round and set up some buckets at a half dozen places with my name and number on them, scrapyard pays .08 so I offered .10. The call like clockwork when the buckets are full and seem to like the relationship :-). Some of the people that will not SELL them to you because of the corp angle, if you have your WIFE call them and ask nice, they will GIVE them to her, and you being the nice husband just go along to help load them heavy buckets :-).

Your local Ford, Chev, Dodge dealer probably sells more tires than you know they do :-), and some of the big three car dealers have been my best hauls on WW, once you hit there once make sure to leave buckets with your name and number on them, smile, remember peoples names for the next time you go, generally yhey will call when the bucket is full again :-)

Bill

JohnH

10-17-2006, 07:23 PM

Netherwolf

10-18-2006, 03:42 AM

With the price of all scrap metal going through the roof, I save the steel clips when I smelt the WW & sell them back to the scrap yard. Also, for those of you who get valve stems mixed in with the WWs, remember that the valve stems are made of brass. I drilled holes in the sides & botom of a coffee can & fill it with the used valve stems then set the bucket in the barrel with my burnable paper, household trash. The trash burns the rubber off of the valve stems. The holes in the coffee can provides an air path so the rubber burns off the stems & the holes in the bottom allows melting/burning rubber to drip away from the stems. I recover the "clean" valve stems the next day, pitch 'em in a 5 gallon bucket then sell them to the scrap yard when it's full.

Netherwolf

monadnock#5

10-18-2006, 07:30 AM

I went to a local tire dealer a year ago to see about wheel weights. I got no help from the guys at the counter, but was persistent, and was finally told to go talk to the owner. I figured what the heck. He made it very clear that only customers got his used wheel weights, and then proceeded to give me two five gallon buckets of weights as a good will gesture. I know where I'm going for snow tires this year.

tommag

10-18-2006, 10:08 AM

I called a scrap dealer the other day and he asked how much I'd give for ww. I replied .25 and he said "how about .50" He then told me to check a couple of other places and hung up on me.

I checked some metals markets and was surprized to learn that lead was going for .72 or so. I guess I'd better bite the boolit and get a 1000 or so while I still can.

Ed K

10-18-2006, 12:46 PM

Feeling better today...

I scored a free bucket and another for $5. I plan on doing all I can to scrounge but from what I hear out there (on this board), .14/lb at my local recycler is not too bad when you consider they just fork lift a barrel into my truck. As I posted earler, being a new caster with zero PB in the bank, I'll probably do a little of both until I've got enough of a buffer that I can relax a little.

Edit @ 10:00 PM same day. Stopped by two more places this afternoon: one told me to get lost and the other wanted $25/bucket - that's .17/lb! Back to striking out I guess. I'd rather give the recycler .14/lb for a barrel full that would nearly break the springs on my pickup than run around burning gas and begging a bucket at a time at that price.

Keep chugging along...

Netherwolf

10-19-2006, 07:37 AM

I had a place that was letting me have their scrap WW for free 3 months agao. I stocked up with what I thought would be enough so I backed off. Now I'm thinking I should have kept making my weekly pickups. I hope they've had their heads in the sand & don't start charging me.
Netherwolf

Bass Ackward

10-19-2006, 08:17 AM

This hapens every economic cycle. Prices rise. Guys come out of nowhere for recycling because there is money in it. When the prices fall, they will abandon these places like lepers. Then these places will be spoiled and just want someone to take them off their hands. Many go to landfils here.

So.... the smart man learns how to play the cycles. When they can't give them away, take all you can get. What you should be collecting now is empty bucketes. Punch / drill holes in the bottom of your buckets and the weights can set outside. Rain will actually clean off some of the crap. Than you have weights to carry you through these periods.

So buy only what you think you will need now. Cheaper to buy small lots because the odds are we are more than half way through this economic cycle and in the next couple of years you will start hearing about recessions and depressions otherwise known as free wheel weight times. If you were smart and spent some of this time developing the relationships and laying the ground work with these places now.

ron brooks

10-19-2006, 09:49 AM

Bass Ackward,

I don't know about the others, but what i am more worried about than price is the lead wheel weights being replaced by the zinc wheel weights. Seems the way we are going soon there will be no lead wheel weights, then ALL lead bullets will be outlawed.

Ron

robertbank

10-19-2006, 10:26 AM

Wife and I bought two sets of tires at local Canadian Tire Store. My wheelweights are now free and I get about 200 lbs a month this time of year. Less after the change over season. Probably won't last forever but I am taking advantage of it now. Most shops here charge 15 cents a lb. Recyclers can't pay much more than that as shipping south is expensive.

Take Care Eh

Bob

Ed K

10-19-2006, 02:45 PM

Went to a decent sized tire shop today and spoke with a nice fellow. He asked if he could help me and I said why yes do you have any used/scrap WWs you'd like to part with?

He looks at me a little funny at first and then asks how many would I like (as if maybe I'd like a half dozen). I offered to take whatever he had. He turns and heads back into the bay shop.

A couple of minutes later he comes out with a cardboard box weighing about 10 lbs and sheepishly offers them saying that's all he could find. He then says "we've never saved them before we just sweep them up and throw them in the dumpster" :(

He them offers to take my name and number and will now work on saving them for me :cool: I do him one better and hand him a 5-galbucket with my name and number on it (thanks to you boolit guys for that idea :drinks: )

Can you tell this scrounger is beginning to have fun with this ?:-D

robertbank

10-19-2006, 07:11 PM

A box of Molson's come Super Bowl time and you will have a friend for life.

Take Care Eh

Bob

Hi-Performance Bullet Coatings

10-21-2006, 12:12 PM

Just this morning the wife said her car didn't seem "right". Checked it out and found the belt had shifted in a tire. Went to get them replaced and spied a couple of 5 gal buckets of weights.
I asked if he wanted to get rid of them and the reply was "you can have them if you take the half a drum out back with you."
Needless to say I now have about 700 lbs of ww that need melting :-D