I live in a medium sized town (about 75,000) with the nearest larger town over 200 miles away. None (and I mean zip, zero, nada) of the tire dealers in town will give, sell or otherwise part with wheel weights. There is one, big metal recycler in town that is adamant in not selling ANYTHING to individuals. Everything goes to commercial metal recyclers. To add insult to injury, almost all scrap metal in this town goes to that recycler. Everywhere that has lead scrap seems to send it to this one recycler.
So, to sum up, I am screwed.
...until I visited a small, independent recycler just outside of town. They do mostly non-metal recycling -- plastic, paper, etc. While I was there, I just happened to ask about lead. They told me that they generally have around 200 lbs of wheel weights and about 600 lbs of pure lead. When they get "enough" stockpiled, they take it to the evil metal recycler. After the paramedics revived me and they were still on site, I asked if they were willing to sell to an individual. They answered, "Sure. 50¢/lb for wheel weights and 60¢/lb for the pure."
I think I died and went to heaven at some point in there. While they don't have enough for me to start supplying lead in the trading forum, the guy said that what they get is pretty steady and they usually have enough on hand to keep me happy.
*bliss*
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