how many pounds in a 5gal bucket?

[rcn11thacr]

First timer at smelting with a question for the experts. I've gotten several buckets from local shops and have yet to smelt yet. Lots of the weights are of the stick on variety. Are they made of lead and ok to smelt? Hope this isnt off track of the thread...

[propwashp47]

rcn11thacr- they are soft lead not pure but close, fine to smelt and mix them with coww 50%-50 & sow + 2% tin will make your coww last 2x longer. that alloy will be good for up to 1200-1300 fps , if you have a good fit. last 5 gal bucket was all soww heaped high 160 lbs no trash for $50.00 they used a floor jack handle and two young guys to carry it to my car . on the back note I am getting a mri on Tuesday for 3 bad disks and surgery. I used 5 -30 lbs buckets to get it unloaded and a two wheeler to move to the smelt area. take are of your back its a lot easier . good luck on your 1st melt

[rcn11thacr]

Thanks for the information propwashp47.

[bnowlin48]

I weighed one today. It was about 3/4 (or a little more) full and weighed 118#. I've been sorting out the steel and zink and checking them with a pair of side cutters to see if they dent. Some are marked with an AL and they are painted grey. Are these lead of some sort of aluminum alloy? I also have a source for scrap plumbing lead. I understand that this sheet lead, flashings shower pans etc. is more likely to be pure lead and therefore softer than the WW. Does that match up with your experience and or conventional wisdom? I've made a lot of lead weights for Soap Box Derby cars in the past but I'm just getting into bullets. Any help you might have will be appreciated.

B.E.N.

[mold maker]

The AL marked weights are made to use on Aluminum wheels. The painted wights are epoxy painted so as not to oxidize and stain the expensive wheels on todays cars.
Your use of pliers is the best way I've found, to cull out the rejects. Beaware that the epoxy coating has a harder feel than raw lead WWs.
The stick on weights are also being found in Zn and Fe. Use the pliers on them also.

[rupe01]

My WW supplier's price has gone up also since i last went a year ago (i work out of state). They used to ask $20, and now it's $30. I managed to get two full 5-gal buckets and gave them $70 so they would remember me! They were happy......but it turns out that i am now competing against the tire-shop owner, who wants them for his fishing sinkers! He wasn't there that day! Lol!

[mold maker]

I used to get all my mechanic work and tires, for the families 6 cars, at the same shop. The owner and I had an agreement that I got the weights, and he got my business. He ask me the other day where I had been, and I reminded him of our agreement.
It's already cost him all the maintenance and 2 sets of tires. He now understands how important a few used wheel weights can be.
I start back next Monday picking up his weights and he changes my oil, and front pads. I now have 2 suppliers of PB.

[Lead]

I own a shop in east tx an all the shops here let me have them,but offer 25 cause the scap yard give around 25-30 so I save them a trip also is my selling point.

[kryogen]

Hey guys dont panic im 120 pounds and can probably lift 50. Doesnt matter, have a stronger guy break his back for you and then use ramps to unload.... I just unloaded 5 full buckets, no strain.... Gravity going down isnt so bad.

[smilin jack]

Got five 5 gallon buckets of muffin tin ingots the other day. They were about 1/2 full and the five buckets plus a 1/2 full plastic dish pan was 340 pounds on an old barn feed sack scales.
340/5 = 68 pounds for each 1/2 full bucket. The dish pan throws a wrench in the figuring, so maybe 60 pounds for the 1/2 full buckets.
John and I put a 4 foot 2x4 thru the handles and two of us loaded in the truck. Not too bad then.
The old guy was getting rid of reloading stuff (down sizing) and talking retirement home. He wanted 25 cents a pound and got no argument from us.

Making 230gr .452", 158gr .358", 177gr .309" so far from the WW muffin ingots. Sizing is with an old Lyman 45.

Dave

[ncbearman]

I used to get all my mechanic work and tires, for the families 6 cars, at the same shop. The owner and I had an agreement that I got the weights, and he got my business. He ask me the other day where I had been, and I reminded him of our agreement.
It's already cost him all the maintenance and 2 sets of tires. He now understands how important a few used wheel weights can be.
I start back next Monday picking up his weights and he changes my oil, and front pads. I now have 2 suppliers of PB.

This right here is the best way to do it if you can. Especially with multi car families. Even the bigger shops will realize the benefit if they are smart. The question is with them though can they go outside of the corporate regulations set up to recycle their WW. The smaller guys can and do quite often. But they also don't have the volume the big shops do. I have 2 guys I know that turn wrenches and I get all their WW..........free...........for now.

[Bentracin]

My last 5 gal plastic bucket weighed 144# half truck weights no zinc.

[Possum Lickaa]

I know I am responding to a 7 year old thread... But I have found that a case of beer can get me as many bucket of WW as my car will handle. Show up at your local, non-franchise tire shop about an hour or so before closing and ask them if they would be willing to part with a couple of buskets of WW, and mention that you'd like to give them a case of beer to show your appreciation. You won't be disappointed. I did this and left the shop with around 400# of WW.

[Flailguy]

A 5 gall bucket of cupcake ingots weighs 270lbs.

[Murphy]

It's been awhile since I visited this thread. I said it long ago and I'll say it again.

Smelt the 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights into ingot form, then weight the ingots. THAT, is how much was in THAT 5 gallon bucket. The next may produce a lot more, or a lot less.

Simply put, no two buckets of wheel weights have ever yielded the same amount of usable ingots.

Murphy

Note: Hopefully, the above doesn't come across wrong to some. It's just a simple fact I discovered long ago. Even before zinc, steel and stick on wheel weights seemed to be in every bucket one found.

[RP]

Bet he knows why the chicken crossed the road to way to go Murphy lol you ruined it for everyone again

[lightman]

I think the original post was about how much a bucket of wheel weights would weigh. While that will not tell you how many ingots a bucket will produce, it will help you to know how much to pay for them. As the other post show, the weight of a bucket can vary quite a bit. I recently bought 30 something buckets and the weight varied from about 130# to 160# with most being somewhere in between. These were level full, not heaping full. The buckets of stick on weights were a little lighter, in the 110-120# range. The stick-ons did not seem to compact as much. And yeah, a bucket of ingots can easily go 100# more than raw weights.

[mold maker]

In either raw or ingots, the handle is in danger of coming off, or my back will refuse to stand for the abuse.
I remember when lifting a full bucket onto the back of my truck was nothing. That might be the reason for my current condition.

[Budzilla 19]

If a bucket of cupcake ingots weighs in the 270# plus or minus, I need to stop gathering ww’s, I got close to a 1000 pounds holding down my reloading bench! Can’t rock it back and forth, lol. But, .............. that being said, I know I will take em if I can get them! Jeff Foxworthy style “ if you need an equipment dolly to move your ingots around............................. you might be a boolit caster!” Hahahaha!

[RP]

I learned fast not to trust a bucket handle lol. I carried a piece of plywood flat shovel a dolly and some extra buckets with me when I was hunting WWS.
I give them a new bucket dolly the full one out to the truck and dump it on the plywood well half of it. Load the half bucket in the truck and put the rest in another bucket. So when I got home all I have is half full buckets. Another tip if this applies to you wait to your two strong sons came home to unload lol.
This is not a bad way to do it you may find your full bucket has a lot of trash and you know it there not when you get home.