WW lead supply here is getting more grim.

[1longshot]

I went to my main suppliers over the past week here in town. 1 turned me away and said he would be saving all future weights for race car lead. Another told me they would not be giving any lead away because they get a credit for it from the Battery Company? My most reliable source had a half a square bucket full and I thought I had scored when the cute blond girl from the front of the office came back and said "he can't have all of those, we use them for something". I offered money because I usually get them there for free, but she declined. I did not press the matter.

On my way to work I stopped in a small town. Sorry for the lack of where's and details, and found three tire shops. 1 offered to save me lead if I brought them a bucket, and the other said $70 for a full five gallon of all lead WW, i.e. they were all pure lead. If not we could meet somewhere lower for less then full, steel, zinc.. ect...

We'll see what the future holds. For now I am going to try to stock up from my tin supplier (in solder form) so I have some barter material. Already have probably 15lbs of 60/40 in small ingots. And more coming.

Thanks for listening/reading to my situation

1longshot

[Lead Fred]

Why do you think the Libtards have made it a hazardous material. Even tho it can be found in the wild in 36 states.

In a few years, they will have wiped out boolit and sinker making.

[jmsj]

1longshot,
I don't think you are alone in this situation. I think w/ the current economy that people are trying to make their tires last longer. Between the end of the use of lead WW's and the battery co.'s getting shops to turn in their used WW's it's only going to get worse, unfortunately for us.
It seems to me that after people get their tax returns that tire sales go up. So I am hopefull that I'll get one or two more "good" runs before the new law kicks in. Until recently I have not had hardly any non-lead WW's from my suppliers. But lately their have been more and more non-lead WW's.
Good luck, jmsj

[clintsfolly]

the main problem is that the new cars come with steel or zinc because there's not much of a way to tell where a tire/ rim will go!! Clint

[arjacobson]

I just got a half a 5 gallon bucket this weekend. The counter man went to talk to the service manager who said"we are saving those for a guy" when he looked at me he said"thats the guy-LOL) Got them for $10.00. Starting to see alot of steel weights though. 4-5 zincs and a couple of chrome plated lead stick ons.. I will continue to work on my modest stash of lead.....

[*Paladin*]

I just got a half a 5 gallon bucket this weekend. The counter man went to talk to the service manager who said"we are saving those for a guy" when he looked at me he said"thats the guy-LOL) Got them for $10.00. Starting to see alot of steel weights though. 4-5 zincs and a couple of chrome plated lead stick ons.. I will continue to work on my modest stash of lead.....

Yeah, surprisingly, I still see few zinc, but same deal here. A lot of steel. The last 1/2 bucket I got weighed almost 80 lbs before sorting and smelting. By the time I was done smelting, I got about 50 lbs of lead. The rest was nearly all steel WW's and of course the clips. Most shops I go to tell me they are switching over to steel soon. How soon, none could say. Only that "corporate" told them they'll be getting steel for use in the future.

[Ole]

Future lead scores will probably be medical lead, range lead, reclaimed shot, and the like.

The writing has been on the wall for a few years, but lead wheel weights are going the way of the doo doo bird. :(

Be thankful for what you have and stretch it out as much as you can.

[GLL]

I have given up here in southern California ! Free is a thing of the past! The cost of driving around searching for sources plus the cost of propane to render them into ingots is becoming expensive and frustrating. I can buy clean WW ingots from VERY reliable sources right here on the Forum and come out about even ! Plus there are a variety of other nice alloys available for sale in our classifieds ! I now just remelt and blend into new ingots in a size and shape I prefer !

My extra time is now spent at the local pub so I am not too sure it is cost effective after all ! :) :)

Jerry

[Mustangpalmer1911]

I got about 20lbs from Firestone today for FREE! I asked the kid behind the counter if what they did with them and they recycle them like everyone else now. Anyway he said makeing sinkers huh I said well ya you can say that and he said I got ya and grabed me a bag full. I said I will be back during drill weekends with a box of donughts for the shop for a bucket full.

[Dustinxxx]

Ya ive been looking all over phoenix and everyone tells me the same thing at the tire shops. We have to recycle those . Very hard to find these days

[lwknight]

It won't be all that much longer till people think that $3.00 per pound for boolit alloy is a good deal.

[Ole]

It won't be all that much longer till people think that $3.00 per pound for boolit alloy is a good deal.

I agree with you and I think at that price people will start shooting their bullets into homemade traps and recycling their lead.

[Jal5]

Stopped at a local privately owned tire shop, one that I had passed many times before. Today I had time and went in to ask about what they do with old WW. The owner told me that they generally reuse them. I asked about broken ones they cannot use and he says they threw them out but if I left him a bucket he would save them for me. Tomorrow I will drop off a bucket and we will see what he can produce for me. I might talk to him about trading steel or zinc ww I get from other sources for the lead ones if he is open to that. Walking back to my truck I spotted two ww in the parking lot!

[finishman2000]

a friend of a friend used to sell ww's. he has a 20' container filled with shelves of brand spankin new ww's. been sitting there for 4 years now and i think i can get them for a decent price soon.

[theinfamouselguapo]

Food for thought -

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=lead&months=120

Overall I think the biggest threat is restrictive legislation. Exactly two states have enacted no-lead WW bans. But the effect has been across the entire fruited plains.

In my view the only way to stop this in it's tracks is to head it off at the state legislative pass.

[Hastings]

We don't have any restrictive legislation here yet in Canada that I know of, but it's probably coming. I'm noticing gradually more and more steel weights in the mix lately, because it seems new cars are coming with the steel - even in stick-on form. My yields from a couple 5 gallon buckets from a month ago were about 70% - compared to around 80% a few years back.

One advantage to living in the north-land is "tire seasons". Many folks don't have separate rims for their winter tires and end up getting the tires switched off the same rims with new WWs each time. In the off season, most small shops take about 3 months to fill just one of my buckets. In early spring and late fall, these same shops can fill a bucket a week for 6 weeks straight. It's like WW heaven here - and that season is fast approaching again!

[Slinger]

Well, I must be lucky! I've got about 1,100 - 1,200 lbs of ww's and a tire dealer has about 10 or more 5-gallon buckets full of used ww. He won't sell them to anyone but me and he told me I could have as many as I wanted. It will cost me, but we've known one another for alot of years, so he said whatever's fair. I'll probably only get two or three buckets. I'm getting old and don't shoot as much as I used to. I quit casting many years ago and just bought what I needed. The last couple years I've been stockpiling ww, lead, etc. I'm getting to the point that I'm going to start casting again, as the cost of buying cast slugs is getting out of hand. I feel sorry for the young guys out there that want to cast & shoot. The ww are drying up and the cost of components, like everything else, is becoming prohibitive.

[fredj338]

Food for thought -

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=lead&months=120

Overall I think the biggest threat is restrictive legislation. Exactly two states have enacted no-lead WW bans. But the effect has been across the entire fruited plains.

In my view the only way to stop this in it's tracks is to head it off at the state legislative pass.

Isn't gonna happen. Even if Kommifronia were the only state, it would affect the nation. Why, Kalif probably has more cars on the road than 25 other states combined. The manuf aren't going to make two kinds of weights. Euro & japan cars haev gone to non lead years ago. Just a matter of time & that is around the corner.

[451whitworth]

I agree with you and I think at that price people will start shooting their bullets into homemade traps and recycling their lead.
funny, that's what i've been doing all along.

[Matt_G]

Well, I must be lucky! I've got about 1,100 - 1,200 lbs of ww's and a tire dealer has about 10 or more 5-gallon buckets full of used ww. He won't sell them to anyone but me and he told me I could have as many as I wanted. It will cost me, but we've known one another for alot of years, so he said whatever's fair. I'll probably only get two or three buckets. I'm getting old and don't shoot as much as I used to. I quit casting many years ago and just bought what I needed. The last couple years I've been stockpiling ww, lead, etc. I'm getting to the point that I'm going to start casting again, as the cost of buying cast slugs is getting out of hand. I feel sorry for the young guys out there that want to cast & shoot. The ww are drying up and the cost of components, like everything else, is becoming prohibitive.

I know you said you probably wouldn't use them, but you should get ALL 10 of those buckets.
You can make some money AND help out those younger guys you spoke of. I guarantee you, in a couple of years, some young guy just trying to start out would be eternally grateful you saved those WW's from the recyclers.

[Roundnoser]

I've been picking up small hauls of WWs from local shops (1/4 to 1/2 full 5 gal. buckets) over the winter, and storing them in my garage for smelting this spring. I had a really warm day last week and no "honey do" list, so I processed about 100 pounds.

A couple years ago, I had almost "0" steel/zink weights. Now, I'm getting maybe 5 - 10% junk weights! Its discouraging.

[gtivan]

Last month i about lost all hope. Went to the usual place and the owner said 0.25 a pound but to come back in a couple of weeks. So i went back and his manager tried to get me to pay 0.95 per pound saying that was what local scrap yard paid. I passed and called local scrap yard and they were seiiling pure lead at 0.80, damn i hate rip off artists.

but last week was having lunch and walked into a tireshop before heading back to work. he said sure but they have a lot of steel in them. so i nabbed a full 5 gal bucket for $25.00 to see how i came out. 50 pounds stick on, 60 pounds clip on, 30 pounds steel. very few zinc.

that was a good day.

[*Paladin*]

As grim as things are getting, I managed to get 260~ lbs of WW's yesterday. Cost me $35. Got it all smelted today, and I gotta say, my pile o' ingots is getting pretty good. I'm not going to stop collecting WW's, mind you, but I'm feeling a lot better about the available resources on hand in my garage. By my estimate, I should have approx 1400 lbs in ingots now.

I guess the intent, other than bragging :mrgreen:, is there are still shops out there that will still part with the silver stuff. But they are few and far between.

[evan price]

I hit up my lead farm and got a half a bucket. On the way out of town I hit a store that had always said "NO" before, right before closing. They said "NO" again... but the manager said this time, "We just don't save them at all, they go in the trash can." I offered to leave a bucket but he said his shop space is tight... anyway, as I was about to leave, he says "If you want to clean off the balancer you can have all the weights in the pockets... been bugging my guys to clean it up."
His spin machine has a top covered with plastic pockets, and the pockets were all overflowing with used weights, pieces of tape weights, etc. I made small talk and picked a half a bucket of WW on the spot for free. Then I noticed some used tires stacked up to go outside, he said I could take a couple. Got a pair of 14" heavy duty Carlisle trailer tires, darn near new tread, for free. Told me somebody had them on a car and they got pulled off to put on car tires.