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Thread: Next Source of Low Cost Lead? Wheel Weights are Turning More Iron....

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    Next Source of Low Cost Lead? Wheel Weights are Turning More Iron....

    Took a look at the container slowly filling with used wheel weights that I have access to twice a year. Much Fe(iron) weights in the bucket. Iron are less cost compared to lead and businesses servicing tires need to make a living too. At the local scrap yard the large box of used wheel weights had some lead but again appear to be increasing in iron weights. Read one post that a scrap yard had stopped taking wheel weights because the majority had turned to iron and was no longer worth there effort to process.

    So here is the question: What is the next source of low cost lead like wheel weights used to be?

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
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    Drive around and pester roofing guys to get their flashing?

  3. #3
    Boolit Master Oklahoma Rebel's Avatar
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    if they still make lead flashing
    An armed man in a citizen.
    An unarmed man is a subject.
    A disarmed man is a slave.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master Oklahoma Rebel's Avatar
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    I am trying like heck to stock up with not only lead but antimony rich alloys and tin, so I can make use of pure and soft lead I find
    An armed man in a citizen.
    An unarmed man is a subject.
    A disarmed man is a slave.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    There is plenty on older houses. Look at the chimneys. Check the older parts of town.

  6. #6
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    Flint city water lines?

    Older houses are a good source, lead was the plastic for much of the prior century. I see a lot more plain than anything else. This makes me think in time casters will get mostly soft lead scrap and buy sweetener from place such as rotometals to mix with it. I have noticed they now sell lead that is approx. COWW's https://www.rotometals.com/antimonia...antimony-lead/ at $2 a pound

    That alloy 50/50 with soft is good pistol casting. Now on the other hand today you could buy linotype for $2 a pound in Swapping and Selling and that would sweeten a whole lot more soft lead than that foundry COWW substitute, and COWW lead itself at $1 a pound in S&S forum right now. So if you want to put together a nest egg of sweet alloys now might be better than later. Leaving you in a better position to use the soft lead that will probably be the low cost supply going forward.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

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  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Indoor range scrap is the new WW. Finding it is going to be a bit of a challenge to many. Indoor ranges don't have the saturation that tire shops do...
    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

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  8. #8
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    I'm picking up 5-6 buckets of weights today. The guy tells me there's another 25 or so available. I'm also haggling with a tire shop about six buckets. Here in Texas it's still worth it as I'm getting a lot of useable lead.

    One thing not helping is all new vehicles are coming with non-lead weights. So that first tire purchase adds scrap to the bucket.
    Semper Fi!


    Currently casting for .223, .308, .30-06, .30-40 Krag, 9mm, .38/.357, 10mm, 44 Mag and 45 ACP.

    I like strange looking boolits!

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  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Thats a good question. I guess imashooter2 has one of the best answers, reclaimed bullets. A lot of us have been saying to get it now while you still can. Roofing lead and plumbing lead is going to continue to get scarce too. I used to get phone company lead from a couple of guys but that has be being replaced with plastic for several years. I only know of 2 lead splice covers in service now, in my whole town!

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    Soft lead is not a problem for me we just dug 100' lead water line up yesterday cost a sore back hauling it. The digger though that maybe he needed, not.They just sell it. My problem is finding something cheap to mix with pure lead.

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master

    mold maker's Avatar
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    It's time for us to start thinking of the next generation of caster if they are to exist. Those of us who have cast for years and have ample supplies need to make sure that our stash doesn't end up as scrap, when the time comes.
    Those new casters will have it much harder to supply their needs, and building a stash of their own.
    Take a new caster/shooter under your wing and donate some seed for their future. Teaching them to ID lead and how it's mixed to a purpose, is valuable info that isn't found in a book.
    When I started, tire shops would give me all the weights I wanted, but I only knew one other reloader and no casters. Internet was still 30 years in the future and it was strictly learn by your own mistakes. Boy did I make lots of them.
    Our hobby will become just another thing of the past, unless we promote and help the next generation.
    Information not shared. is wasted.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master




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    Picked up five full buckets this morning. Was told there's another 10 buckets he'll pick up later next week.

    There appears to be a lot of junk in the buckets, but they were free. I'll start sorting tomorrow and post the results.
    Semper Fi!


    Currently casting for .223, .308, .30-06, .30-40 Krag, 9mm, .38/.357, 10mm, 44 Mag and 45 ACP.

    I like strange looking boolits!

    NRA Patriot Life Endowment member.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Nice score but your back in going to hate you!

  14. #14
    Boolit Master




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    My back has been hating me since 1979 when I broke it.

    The buckets are in the back of my wife's Tahoe. I'll set my sorting table up close to that and transfer the weights into smaller buckets to move them.
    Semper Fi!


    Currently casting for .223, .308, .30-06, .30-40 Krag, 9mm, .38/.357, 10mm, 44 Mag and 45 ACP.

    I like strange looking boolits!

    NRA Patriot Life Endowment member.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    Mold Maker that is what I am doing, finding lead for my grandsons. My two sons are both plumbers we salvage all the lead we can find.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master Cowboy_Dan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mold maker View Post
    It's time for us to start thinking of the next generation of caster if they are to exist. Those of us who have cast for years and have ample supplies need to make sure that our stash doesn't end up as scrap, when the time comes.
    Those new casters will have it much harder to supply their needs, and building a stash of their own.
    Take a new caster/shooter under your wing and donate some seed for their future. Teaching them to ID lead and how it's mixed to a purpose, is valuable info that isn't found in a book.
    When I started, tire shops would give me all the weights I wanted, but I only knew one other reloader and no casters. Internet was still 30 years in the future and it was strictly learn by your own mistakes. Boy did I make lots of them.
    Our hobby will become just another thing of the past, unless we promote and help the next generation.
    I might be that next generation you speak of. I am 31 and started casting a couple of years ago. I am building up my stocks, but more importantly I have built a boolit trap to reuse my castings. Question is, should I resmelt what I collect or just throw them in the castin pot?
    "It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence."
    -W. K. Clifford "The Ethics of Belief"

    "They hate you if you're clever, and they despise a fool."
    -John Lennon "A Working Class Hero"

  17. #17
    Boolit Master BNE's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cowboy_Dan View Post
    I might be that next generation you speak of. I am 31 and started casting a couple of years ago. I am building up my stocks, but more importantly I have built a boolit trap to reuse my castings. Question is, should I resmelt what I collect or just throw them in the castin pot?
    its up to you, BUT most would separate then smelt the different groups.

    I try to separate into the following groups:
    coww
    soft/pure
    foundry type (several types in this group)
    range

    With the above groups, I can mix for almost any Bullet type.
    I'm a Happy Clinger.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master trapper9260's Avatar
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    I had made up a bullet stop for my make shift range of up to 110 yards. It is full with sand. So when i do any shooting to test ammo or to shoot to get better i do it into my bullet stop. Then when I feel i need to clean it out for the lead i will just go in it . But for hunting is another matter. But I do not worry about it. I go to the salvage yard to get the soft lead from them. Since for WW. for how it is mix and all.I do not bother to buy it now.If it is given is another thing.I just get the alloy to the mix from Roto.
    Life Member of NRA,NTA,DAV ,ITA. Also member of FTA,CBA

  19. #19
    Boolit Master 6622729's Avatar
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    Something to begin considering as you keep adding to your pile of lead, all it's going to take to nullify the largest pile of lead is legislation banning lead on the range. So, while I probably have 1400lbs in hand and can't stop staring at the offers that come along to add more, I pass. I used to say if I have too much I can always sell it off. Legislation would instantly make your stash worthless. Personally at my age (mid 50's) I'm balancing my perceived present and future needs with the potential of lead being banned at some point.

    Quote Originally Posted by mfraser264 View Post
    Took a look at the container slowly filling with used wheel weights that I have access to twice a year. Much Fe(iron) weights in the bucket. Iron are less cost compared to lead and businesses servicing tires need to make a living too. At the local scrap yard the large box of used wheel weights had some lead but again appear to be increasing in iron weights. Read one post that a scrap yard had stopped taking wheel weights because the majority had turned to iron and was no longer worth there effort to process.

    So here is the question: What is the next source of low cost lead like wheel weights used to be?

  20. #20
    Boolit Buddy ikarus1's Avatar
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    I would think legislation would make any sizeable stash much much more valuable. And nobody is going to ban lead on my backyard range

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check