Old Wheel Weights

[dale2242]

I was given an old bucket with some "vintage" rusty wheel weights.
I tested every one with side cutter pliers.
NOT ONE steel or zinc WW in the bucket.
Oh for the good old days.
I got 32# of clean WW ingots....dale

[redhawk0]

Nice Score....

redhawk

[lightman]

Sometimes the good ole days were really the good ole days! I don't remember exactly when but wheel weight alloy changed. Older weights had a little more tin than modern weights. Thats a good score!

[maxreloader]

If you seek out the skidder and truck tire shops... your success rate will increase... the "regular" car/truck shops will be up to date on FE and Zn weights... the more remote the shop, the better you will do.

[Boolit_Head]

I remember the days when I used to stop by two or three random tire shops and come away whith a couple of hundred ponds of wheel weights for free. That was long before the days anyone ever thought of using zinc.

[Bookworm]

I once worked at a salvage yard. I had buckets and buckets of lead wheel weights. I had so many, that I didn't bother saving them, they were everywhere.

A never-ending supply, that, unfortunately, ended.

Such a sad story.

[tinsnips]

I was just gifted a 5 gallon bucket of ww from 2005 . I friend of mine had them for years. Same thing I tested everyone with a side cutter not one bad weight in the bucket. That will never happen again. When I started years ago you just put the weights in the pot no worries about zinc . If only you could go back in time.

[Don Purcell]

I remember wheel weights from the 70's I could cast them straight and shoot Elmer's .44 mag. load of 22 grs. 2400 and his 250 Keith with no problem. Later, in the mid-eighties I had to drop back one grain to keep the cases from getting sticky when extracting from a Model 29. I could heat treat those eighties wheel weights and the hard extraction went away and go back up to 22 grains.

[quack1]

I remember the days when I used to stop by two or three random tire shops and come away whith a couple of hundred ponds of wheel weights for free. That was long before the days anyone ever thought of using zinc.

And you didn't even have to go to tire stores, any gas station that had a bay had one of those cone shaped, with the bubble level on top, wheel balancers and had a an overflowing bucket or collapsed cardboard box full of used weights in the corner. Mostly, when asking about them, you got a "You can have them all as long as you take the bucket/box too, and sweep out the corner" Those were the good old days, and luckily, I had the foresight to get as many weights as I could.

[Calamity Jake]

I have a FULL 5 gal. bucket of smelted WW and a FULL one of un smelted WW from the mid to late 80's
No more than I shoot anymore I may never get them used up.

[lightman]

And you didn't even have to go to tire stores, any gas station that had a bay had one of those cone shaped, with the bubble level on top, wheel balancers and had a an overflowing bucket or collapsed cardboard box full of used weights in the corner. Mostly, when asking about them, you got a "You can have them all as long as you take the bucket/box too, and sweep out the corner" Those were the good old days, and luckily, I had the foresight to get as many weights as I could.

I actually worked in one of those places back in the 70's when going to high school and college and used a bubble balancer. I also had the forethought to collect all of the broken or damaged weights. I still have a few left.

There were a few zinc weights back then. I don't think any of us knew what they were but I remember smelting weights and having an occasional one float and refuse to melt. Not very many but a few.

[cabezaverde]

I was remotely related to the manager of a very busy auto repair place in our area. It was about 5 minutes from my work.

In early 2000's, I would usually pick up a 5 gallon pail for free every couple of weeks.

[Springfield]

10 years ago when I started casting my own I sought out all the local tire stores, and ended up getting all the weights from one of them. Collected them for 7 years or so until the switch away from lead. I still have an embarrassingly large amount of them left, as I shoot mostly Blackpowder and they are too hard for my current uses and need pure or nearly so. I wish I could find another caster locally who has the opposite problem and we could swap lead.

[facetious]

In the late 80'S I could get a five gallon bucket full for $5.00 I still have about 40 to 50lb's left.

[Tripplebeards]

I haven’t paid for lead ever. I’ve always Worked in tire shops and auto centers and got it for free...helps when I’m the boss.lol I have a couple of ton of melted ingots I made from brand new in the box coww from the late 70’s early 80’s. Got them from sears when they closed last year. I have three different brands I separated before melting. Two brands have a bh of 14 and 14.3 and the other 15. I WQ’d them in ice water and got 33 BH with the 15 BH coww! When I’m ready to use I cut them with the couple hundred pounds of pure lead flooring I pulled from their battery room and smelted. I almost didn’t pull that flooring up. I’m glad I did. It has a BH of about 5. I didn’t know at the time I needed to soften my boolits for expansion at the time as I was just getting into casting last year when doing this. I would assume if yours are old and rusty you’ll be in the 14 bh range. With my current stash I Dont ever see the need for more harder, softer, or any lead in my lifetime. I have a 5 gal pale of mixed coww in the garage that I’m not looking forward to smelting...done enough for one lifetime.lol

[mazo kid]

About 30 years ago I bought 4 five gallon pails full of WW from a tire shop a block from where I worked.....$4.00 per bucket. The last I purchased was from a small tire shop a couple of miles from home, paid $15.00 a bucket for 3 pails. I went there last year to find that the shop had closed. Another small tire shop nearby has also closed. However, at my age, I think the 400+ pounds of WW and over 500 pounds of soft lead will be more than enough to last me.

[gwpercle]

Forty or so years ago , at that time all the wheel weights were wheel weights, my best friend's and his daddy were both in the tire business, I had free unlimited access to all the weights I wanted , powder was $12 to $15 a pound and was I totally unaware that I was at that point in time , living right smack dab in the middle of "the good old days" !
But you know....10 or 20 years from now....these will be the good old days! I guess .
C'est la Vie
Gary

[Murphy]

It's been 11 years ago this month I was out of town for a granddaughters dance recital, about 120 miles from home. I did a little scrounging and happened onto more than my pickup could handle. I picked up 1,400 pounds of WW's in one haul. I could have doubled that (and should have). Every single bucket of them are still sitting stored in a corner of my garage. I had a good stash to begin with before buying them. I didn't have any idea the road WW's were headed down or I would have gone back for more. Ahhhhh, the good ole' days.

Murphy

[Retumbo]

I have a 55 gallon drum of sorted wheel weights behind my shed. Its my rainy day stash should i get through my 800 lbs of lead in my shed. Wheel weights have gone from $0.32/lb to $0.20/lb in the last year. That should tell you something.

[jsizemore]

I was given an old bucket with some "vintage" rusty wheel weights.
I tested every one with side cutter pliers.
NOT ONE steel or zinc WW in the bucket.
Oh for the good old days.
I got 32# of clean WW ingots....dale

Reminds me of my first bucket.