Buying Wheel Weights

[45M&P]

I've been lurkin' here awhile decided to join last week. I haven't been able to talk any tire shops out of there WW's, local scrap yards won't sell lead back to the public around here. But I found someone with some WW's that would be willing to sell them for .60 cents a pound. I can't find anything better around here. Is it a good idea to do this? By the time I loose roughly 20% smelting them down, should I just spend a little more money and get already smelted ingots?

[Doby45]

$1 a pound already processed into ingots and shipped by vendors here on our board, you can't beat it. Look in the vendor section for Muddy Creek Sam or Captain..

[Wots]

Just a suggestion.... If your close enough to Indiana I would try the scrap yards over there. At least last year I was getting them for 40 cents a pound. No idea what price they have this year. Let your fingers do the walking.

[Wots]

Just a suggestion.... If your close enough to Indiana I would try the scrap yards over there. At least last year I was getting them for 40 cents a pound. No idea what price they have this year. Let your fingers do the walking.

[bumpo628]

If you lose 20% to scrap, then it's like you paid $0.75 per lb for the ingots you will make.
To pay $1.00 per lb, you would have to lose 40% to scrap. So as long as you do better than that I'd say it's worth it.

[Doby45]

You are also not counting in the cost of actually smelting your WWs.. You can not beat $1 pound for known good ingots, if you are having to pay.

[45M&P]

It sounds like the guy has alot of WW's, I was thinking of asking for a price break if I get 1000 pounds. They seem to sell pretty high in the raw form on Ebay, I could then sell some to recoupe some of the price. It's a gamble though. If I could get them for.50 cents, sell half for .60 cents, it would be like getting them for .40 cents.

[a.squibload]

For 60¢ I would buy 'em, only 'cause clean ingots are not as much fun!

I also buy ingots from here, mainly 'cause they're easy.

Am I "conflicted"?

[bumpo628]

I would buy the lead locally just to relieve some stress from your postal worker.
It's got to the point that my mail deliverer pretty much shot-puts heavy boxes onto my porch!
Some of the boxes look like holy hell by the time they're delivered.
The postal workers do not like the "if it fits it ships" motto, that's for sure.

[a.squibload]

...It's got to the point that my mail deliverer pretty much shot-puts heavy boxes onto my porch!...

From the street???
Dang, she must be HUGE!

[1bluehorse]

If I could find a place to buy 1,000lbs of ww for 50 or 60 cents a lb, I'b buy all I could get and not even think of selling any.

[Ole]

@ .75/lb (after considering waste from clips and unusable weights) that's still only 0.010714285714286 cents per grain. :mrgreen:

Where else can you get a 200 grain boolit for 2 cents? [smilie=f:

[Roundnoser]

If you smelt your own WWs, remember you can sell your steel clips. They add up fast. I sold 300 pounds of clips to the scrap yard for 35 bucks....Hey, at least its better than nothing!

[shotman]

Big thing about buying raw is you get everything, look at whats it worth to you . If you only case boolits then buy the finished stuff
If you make shot dont buy finished Buy raw only 2 zinc s will make a mess in a shotmaker

[a.squibload]

Friday, small tire store, 80lbs free after he helped me sort out the junk!
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_69sguoFlVzY/TaFFzidtAJI/AAAAAAAAAIk/1sAEb1fDWiU/80lbs%20free.JPG

Today Sat., small town service station, 15 lbs $4.
They have several guys asking for WWs and just sold some a few days before.
Pretty reasonable, and they try to keep the trash out of the WW bucket.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_69sguoFlVzY/TaFFzzsaXsI/AAAAAAAAAIs/8EIVj2HW2gU/15lbs%204bucks.JPG

Never hurts to ask!

[shoot-n-lead]

You are also not counting in the cost of actually smelting your WWs.. You can not beat $1 pound for known good ingots, if you are having to pay.

I would say that this statement depends........

My average $25.00 bucket of ww's cost $3.00 in propane and 1.25 hours to smelt and will yield 85lbs of alloy for a total cost of 35 cents per pound of smelted alloy. More than 90% of my ww's are picked up during the course of my day so that there is no additional transportation cost associated with them.

If I paid a dollar per pound delivered to my door, the same 85lbs that I have $28.00 in, would cost me $85.00.

That is a savings of $57.00 if I smelt my own......I think my deal beats a $1.00 per pound.

[Doby45]

Thats also at YOUR cost of $25 for a bucket that yields 85lbs, apples and oranges.. The OP was STARTING at $.60 a pound just to purchase. So my statement stands.

[white eagle]

bird in the hand as they say
.60 would be a good deal
for raw ww
as long as you are able to melt them down
what is it going to hurt ????

[t_dickinson]

Do your homework and don't be afraid of NO.

I called exactly 20 places and got 17 rude denials but 3 yes's.

Those 3 sources have yielded over 600 lbs in 3 weeks and I have about 400 more to pick up. 2 are now exclusive with me and 1 is so-so.

I offered to pay before they even considered giving them to me and after they said yes I asked how many guys they had in the shop. I sent pizzas over for lunch. They just weant to be treated well because they know their product is in demand. I also made sure to mention it was for my personal use because if they think you're going to turn a profit, they seem to get greedy.

I did the same thing with the radiator shops and got 2 sources for 60/40 tin/lead solder. One guy gave me a 5ga bucket for free so I gave him 10 bucks for lunch. The other quoted .50/lb

I am paying .30/lb for the ww and bring my own buckets and a cheap bathroom scale.

Call before you go in or you will put them on the spot in front of their employees. Then be discreet when you go in.

I also get free indoor lead from a local club. This has been an easy process for me thus far.

60 cents seems high. Don't talk cents, talk dollars. Ask if he has a thousand lbs and show up with $400 in twenties. Catch him off guard and he will likely take it. Most find it hard to turn waya cash when they actually see it.

The lead is there by the ton, you just have to learn the art of the deal. Be nice, be honest, be thankful and carry cash!

[geargnasher]

I pay 65 cents for unsmelted mixed junk here, when I can get it. about 20% clips, slag, junk, and iron/zinc/rubber weights. Three years ago I paid 10 cents a pound at the local tire store, it was basically pizza money for the crew, anyone who needed lead knew where to go, and usually there was a surplus of 10-20 buckets at the store. Now that same store is under contract with their weight supplier and battery distributor to turn in all their weights, I know one of the tire-changers there and he said he has to sneak weights home in his pockets just to have a couple of pounds to cast his lead-head jigs. We didn't stock up when they were cheap 'cuz we didn't see it coming.

Gear

[clintsfolly]

One of my sources has a old bath scale and i bring my own buckets! i got new tires for my 3wheeler and the bill was to the WW Man! Donuts,pizza, pop,cast boolits and cash with the right attitude all work in the Hunt for the WW. Clint

[shoot-n-lead]

Thats also at YOUR cost of $25 for a bucket that yields 85lbs, apples and oranges.. The OP was STARTING at $.60 a pound just to purchase. So my statement stands.

Yes, well I just misunderstood the "if you are having to pay" part of the post as it seemed like a blanket statement about buying wheel weights.

[bumpo628]

If you buy 100 lbs of raw WW for $0.60 per lb and it only costs $3 in propane, then you have $63 into it. You would have to lose 37% to scrap to pay $1 per lb. If you only lose about 15% to scrap, then you're paying $63 for 85 lbs or $0.74 per lb. I say go for it.

[a.squibload]

bird in the hand as they say
.60 would be a good deal
for raw ww
as long as you are able to melt them down
what is it going to hurt ????

That's what I've been thinking, cheap is good, free is better,
at 60¢ / lb at least I get some WWs to add to my stash.

But at $1 / lb already clean, I can avoid some work.

Sorry moderators, feel free to edit out the "W" word!

[cptkeybrd]

buy all you can. So cal has gone to steel weights at all tire stores and they are forcing them to go to hazz disposal

[45M&P]

Well I ended up getting a 1000 pounds for .50 cents a pound, probably about 60 pounds of zinc that was mixed in. Whats a good use for zinc?

[45M&P]

Take that back, Fe is steel, some reason I was thinking zinc.

[merlin101]

Well I ended up getting a 1000 pounds for .50 cents a pound, probably about 60 pounds of zinc that was mixed in. Whats a good use for zinc?

Melt them down in a diferent pot and cast some "GREEN lead free " fishing sinkers and sell them on flea-bay!