WidenersTitan ReloadingReloading EverythingInline Fabrication
Lee PrecisionLoad DataRepackboxMidSouth Shooters Supply
RotoMetals2
Page 5 of 10 FirstFirst 12345678910 LastLast
Results 81 to 100 of 190

Thread: How much in a 5 gallon bucket?

  1. #81
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    54
    I went lead hunting today with ZERO luck. Large tire stores like Sears, Walmart and Goodyear won't give or sell them to you around here. They are picked up by a company that has a contract with these companies and treated like hazardous material. I found one local tire store that two 5 gal. buckets full of mixed metals. (WW,screws, bolts, stems, cigarette butts and candy wrapers) They wanted $55 each so I left them. I found a plumbing company that was replacing a lot of cast iron piping in a large manufacturing company and they are going to save me the lead from the joints. Should be a couple of hundred pounds of free lead.

  2. #82
    Boolit Buddy *Paladin*'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Southern Utah
    Posts
    459
    Welcome .452! I need to call a few plumbers. That's one of the few sources I haven't hit up yet...
    -Steve
    Have gun, will travel.
    Iraq Vet '05-'06
    Afghanistan Vet '09-'10
    RIP- TSgt Jason Norton and SSgt Brian McElroy, KIA 22 Jan '06, near Taji, Iraq. You'll never be forgotten.

  3. #83
    Boolit Man

    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    New Hampsha'
    Posts
    96
    Hi,

    New guy here. Been lurking for awhile and finally got my first bucket-o-lead. I called 14 places and got some pretty blunt "no's". I kept at it and now have 4 sources for weights.

    Sent a couple pizzas to the first place and coffee and dougnuts to the other 3. A little schmoozing went a long way and all 4 spots said they will sell only to me (we'll see).

    So, I picked up my first load. A heaping 5 gallon bucket weighing in at 140 lbs. Cost me $30 and I think that's a good deal considering how hard it is to get.

    I thought I was a pretty strong guy. I work out regularly and am in my early 30's.

    NOPE! This **** is a different kind of heavy man. Almost blew a few organs out the ...

    It looks like the llead is going to pile up here in a hurry and I don't even have the equipment to melt it yet! Got some work to do.

    Stand bye for lots of ?????????????????

    Regards,

    A. in NH

  4. #84
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    WI
    Posts
    314
    Hey dickinson, I'm in the same boat! Although I've only gone to 5 places so far. I started strong with my first place GIVING me a 170lb bucket! That was a week ago so I thought by now I'd have a garage full from visiting the other shops in town... nope... they either said no or already have buyers they deal with, hmpf! But I still have a few more to stop at!

    Also don't have the equipment yet, but wanted to get a stash built up for when I'm ready!

  5. #85
    Boolit Master roverboy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Moss,Tn.
    Posts
    1,110
    I'm in the same boat as T Dickinson and Birdadly. I'm having a little trouble finding WW but have managed to get 15-20 lbs. I don't have all the equipment yet either. One tire dealer I called and left a message hasn't called back.
    Mrs. Hogwallop up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T.

  6. #86
    Boolit Buddy drklynoon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    South georgia
    Posts
    425
    Local fellers here, just quoted 50$ a bucket. I'm gonna keep looking. I just can't see paying that much without knowing whats in the bucket. 5 gallons of zinc won't make any bullets.
    Nathan

    Casting and reloading novice

  7. #87
    Boolit Buddy drklynoon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    South georgia
    Posts
    425
    Scrap man quoted me .20 $ a # so I'm heading out there tomorrow to get a 100 #'s
    Nathan

    Casting and reloading novice

  8. #88
    Boolit Buddy *Paladin*'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Southern Utah
    Posts
    459
    Quote Originally Posted by drklynoon View Post
    Scrap man quoted me .20 $ a # so I'm heading out there tomorrow to get a 100 #'s
    .20 cents per lb! Buy it all, because that's a pretty good buy! Around here, salvage yards want $1 or more per lb...
    -Steve
    Have gun, will travel.
    Iraq Vet '05-'06
    Afghanistan Vet '09-'10
    RIP- TSgt Jason Norton and SSgt Brian McElroy, KIA 22 Jan '06, near Taji, Iraq. You'll never be forgotten.

  9. #89
    Boolit Buddy Philngruvy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Thonotosassa, Florida/ Pensacola, N. Carolina
    Posts
    225
    $.20/lb is great. The scrap yards are paying $.12/lb for steel so the steel weights and clips could be sold back making the $.20/lb an even sweeter deal!
    "The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man -- and give some back."
    Al Swearengen, from "Deadwood"

  10. #90
    Boolit Buddy drklynoon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    South georgia
    Posts
    425
    Nice I'll try that on the sell back. I'll be heading down there later this week. I wish I had the cash to buy all of it but I'll settle for a couple hundered pounds for now. If only I could find some durn tin.
    Nathan

    Casting and reloading novice

  11. #91
    Boolit Buddy *Paladin*'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Southern Utah
    Posts
    459
    Quote Originally Posted by drklynoon View Post
    Nice I'll try that on the sell back. I'll be heading down there later this week. I wish I had the cash to buy all of it but I'll settle for a couple hundered pounds for now. If only I could find some durn tin.
    Ask your salvage yard if they have any pewter or solder drippings. I just get my "sweetener" from 2nd hand shops.
    -Steve
    Have gun, will travel.
    Iraq Vet '05-'06
    Afghanistan Vet '09-'10
    RIP- TSgt Jason Norton and SSgt Brian McElroy, KIA 22 Jan '06, near Taji, Iraq. You'll never be forgotten.

  12. #92
    Boolit Bub morrisammo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Fort Hood Texas
    Posts
    58
    I go to ONE tire shop,,, he is a gun guy,, and I buy the weights from him,,, $20 per 5 gal,,

    I just got two,,, Buckets,,, one of the things that makes a caster happy!!!

    good old lead!!

  13. #93
    Boolit Mold
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    The hills of Tennessee
    Posts
    20
    I paid 50 last weekend for a bucket that was packed to the top nearly all clip on WW with very little steel or zinc. I'll ballpark the rendered ingots coming out at about 85-90 pounds not counting the stickons because I'm waiting for better weather to burn off the tape.

    Today I bought 490 pounds of Ames ingots at 1.60 a pound. More than I cared to pay but less than what it would have cost me to drive to Chicago and bring it back with gas at 3.50 a gallon.

  14. #94
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Greater Portland OR.
    Posts
    1,741
    Just smelted a 5 gal. bucket of clip-on weights. Bucket was full. I had sorted out stick-on and bad stuff. Based on ingot count I got 125# of ingots. I had sorted this bucket at least twice and got rid of all trash and most of the zinc weights. Found a few zinc weights as I sorted before going into smelting pot. This may give you an idea of what a sorted bucket may yield.

  15. #95
    Boolit Master
    bumpo628's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    1,256
    I just got two buckets of stick on wheel weights. There was 160 lbs in one and 155 lbs in the other.

    Out of the 315 lbs of the two buckets, there was:
    48 lbs steel
    6 lbs zinc
    16 lbs clip-on wheel weights
    245 lbs stick-on wheel weights
    Last edited by bumpo628; 04-04-2011 at 12:05 AM.
    Ronald Reagan once said that the most terrifying words in the English language are: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help".
    Download my alloy calculator here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=105952

  16. #96
    Boolit Man
    Bomberman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    97
    I finally ran out of my lead supply and had the humbling experience of trying to secure a source for wheel weights. I went to a local junk yard (where I've bought car parts before) and the guy acted like I was trying to steal gold ingots from him...wouldn't even quote me a price. I offered $25 a bucket and he said he'd call me...never did. Got the rejection from a couple of other places but one cute receptionist referred me to a small tire place off the beaten path. Went there, gave my pitch, and the guy says "Last I heard lead was selling for 11 cents a pound, figure there's close to 200 lbs in a bucket, how's $25 a bucket sound." I said great, I'll take two. He yells for an employee to come load my truck with the two buckets and tells me that they usually get a bucket full about every month and to come back anytime for more. YES! Now I'm busy melting them down to make room for more.
    Last edited by Bomberman; 04-08-2011 at 12:05 PM.

  17. #97
    Boolit Buddy Andy_P's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    419
    Some interesting things about 5 gallons of wheelweight alloy:

    - a 5 gal pail of "raw" wheelweights weighs about 150 lbs;
    - a 5 gal pail of wheelweight ingots weighs about 275 lbs; and
    - a 5 gal solid ingot of pure wheelweight would weigh about 450 lbs.

    It doesn't pack as tightly as you might imagine.

  18. #98
    Boolit Man rickomatic's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Snohomish, WA
    Posts
    83
    Got my first bucket of wheel weights in a long time yesterday. Actually saw an ad on craigslist for them. I see lots of "lead wanted" ads there, but this is the first time I saw a tire shop actually advertising to sell them. I paid $35 for a full 5 gal bucket. They loaded it for me, and I had a nice long chat with the owner of the store about the government messing things up.
    Anyway, spent about an hour sorting them when I got home, and this is what I came up with.

    lead ww = 106#
    lead stick on = 16#
    Steel clip on+stick on = 14#
    zinc clip on = 14#

    That figures to about $.30 per # before smelting off the clips, so I think I did ok.
    "If God hadn't wanted us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat."

  19. #99
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    493
    Thanks for the stickey. Good info!

  20. #100
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    33

    ww

    Wow you guys are getting alot better yeild than I am.

    Full bucket

    35lbs stick on
    20 clip on
    the rest is garbage

    This could be because these are comming from car dealers and not tire stores. We have almost all alloy wheels nowdays and they all have tape weights on them.

Page 5 of 10 FirstFirst 12345678910 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
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